Habakkuk 2
2
The LORD's Answer to Habakkuk
1I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the LORD will tell me to say and what answer he#2.1 One ancient translation he; Hebrew I will give to my complaint.
2The LORD gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on clay tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance. 3#Heb 10.37Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed. 4#Rom 1.17; Gal 3.11; Heb 10.38And this is the message: ‘Those who are evil will not survive,#2.4 Probable text will not survive; Hebrew unclear. but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.’ ”
Doom on the Unrighteous
5Wealth is deceitful. Greedy people are proud and restless — like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves. 6The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, “You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?”
7But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you! 8You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.#2.8; 2.17 the people… cities; or the land, the city, and those who live in it.
9You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by violence, and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger! 10But your schemes have brought shame on your family; by destroying many nations you have only brought ruin on yourself. 11Even the stones of the walls cry out against you, and the rafters echo the cry.
12You are doomed! You founded a city on crime and built it up by murder. 13The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labour, and all they have built goes up in flames. The LORD Almighty has done this. 14#Is 11.9But the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD's glory as the seas are full of water.
15You are doomed! In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your neighbours; you made them stagger as though they were drunk. 16You in turn will be covered with shame instead of honour. You yourself will drink and stagger. The LORD will make you drink your own cup of punishment, and your honour will be turned to disgrace. 17You have cut down the forests of Lebanon; now you will be cut down. You killed its animals; now animals will terrify you. This will happen because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.#2.17; 2.8 the people… cities; or the land, the city, and those who live in it.
18What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it — a god that can't even talk! 19You are doomed! You say to a piece of wood, “Wake up!” or to a block of stone, “Get up!” Can an idol reveal anything to you? It may be covered with silver and gold, but there is no life in it.
20The LORD is in his holy Temple; let everyone on earth be silent in his presence.
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Habakkuk 2: GNBUK
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Habakkuk 2
2
1I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer as to my reproof. 2And Jehovah answered me and said, Write the vision, and engrave it upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it. 3For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but it hasteth to the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; for it will surely come, it will not delay. 4Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him: but the just shall live by his faith.
5And moreover, the wine is treacherous: he is a proud man, and keepeth not at rest, he enlargeth his desire as Sheol, and he is like death and cannot be satisfied; and he assembleth unto him all nations, and gathereth unto him all peoples. 6Shall not all these take up a proverb about him, and a taunting riddle against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? — and to him that loadeth himself with pledges! 7Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and they awake up that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? 8Because thou hast plundered many nations, all the rest of the peoples shall plunder thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city, and all that dwell therein. 9Woe to him that getteth iniquitous gain to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the grasp of evil! 10Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thine own soul. 11For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. 12Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by unrighteousness! 13Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain? 14For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea.
15Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, — that pourest out thy flask, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! 16Thou art filled with shame instead of glory; drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of Jehovah's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and a shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. 17For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of beasts which made them afraid; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city, and all that dwell therein. 18What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it? the molten image, and the teacher of falsehood, that the maker of his work dependeth thereon, to make dumb idols? 19Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake! to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall it teach? Behold it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. 20But Jehovah is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him!
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.