Habakkuk 2
2
The Lord Answers Habakkuk Again
1While standing guard
on the watchtower,
I waited for the Lord's answer,
before explaining the reason
for my complaint.#2.1 I … complaint: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
2Then the Lord told me:
“I will give you my message
in the form of a vision.
Write it clearly enough
to be read at a glance.
3 #
He 10.37. At the time I have decided,
my words will come true.
You can trust what I say
about the future.
It may take a long time,
but keep on waiting—
it will happen!
4 #
Ro 1.17; Ga 3.11; He 10.38. “I, the Lord, refuse to accept
anyone who is proud.
Only those who live by faith
are acceptable to me.”#2.4 Only … me: Or “But those who are acceptable to me will live because of their faithfulness.”
Trouble for Evil People
5Wine#2.5 Wine: The Standard Hebrew Text; the Dead Sea Scrolls “Wealth.” is treacherous,
and arrogant people
are never satisfied.
They are no less greedy
than death itself—
they open their mouths as wide
as the world of the dead
and swallow everyone.
6But they will be mocked
with these words:
You're doomed!
You stored up stolen goods
and cheated others
of what belonged to them.
7But without warning,
those you owe
will demand payment.
Then you will become
a frightened victim.
8You robbed cities and nations
everywhere on earth
and murdered their people.
Now those who survived
will be as cruel to you.
9You're doomed!
You made your family rich
at the expense of others.
You even said to yourself,
“I'm above the law.”
10But you will bring shame
on your family
and ruin to yourself
for what you did to others.
11The very stones and wood
in your home
will testify against you.
12You're doomed! You built a city
on crime and violence.
13 #
Si 14.19. But the Lord All-Powerful
sends up in flames
what nations and people
work so hard to gain.
14 #
Is 11.9. Just as water fills the sea,
the land will be filled
with people who know
and honor the Lord.
15You're doomed!
You get your friends drunk,
just to see them naked.
16Now you will be disgraced
instead of praised.
The Lord will make you drunk,
and when others see you naked,
you will lose their respect.
17You destroyed trees and animals
on Mount Lebanon;
you were ruthless to towns
and people everywhere.
Now you will be terrorized.
Idolatry Is Foolish
18What is an idol worth?
It's merely a false god.
Why trust a speechless image
made from wood or metal
by human hands?
19What can you learn from idols
covered with silver or gold?
They can't even breathe.
Pity anyone who says to an idol
of wood or stone,
“Get up and do something!”
20Let all the world be silent—
the Lord is present
in his holy temple.
Currently Selected:
Habakkuk 2: CEV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Habakkuk 2
2
Habakkuk 2
1¶ I will stand upon my watch and affirm my foot upon the fortress and will watch to see what he will say in me and what I shall answer to my question.
2And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that reads it.
3For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it because it will surely come; wait for it.
4Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him will become filled with pride, but the just in his faith shall live.
5¶ Even more than he who is given over to wine, the transposer, the proud man, shall not remain, who enlarges his desire as Sheol and is as death and cannot be satisfied, but gathered unto him all the Gentiles and heaps unto him all the peoples;
6Shall not all these take up a parable against him and a taunting enigma against him and say, Woe to him that multiplied that which was not his! And for how long would he pile thick clay upon himself?
7Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee and awake those that shall take thy place, and thou shalt be for a prey unto them?
8Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the other peoples shall spoil thee because of human blood and for the robberies of the land, of the cities, and of all that dwell therein.
9Woe to him that covets ill-gotten gain by violence for his house that he may set his nest on high, that he may escape from the power of evil!
10Thou hast taken shameful counsel for thy house by cutting off many peoples and hast committed a sin against thy life.
11For the stone shall cry out from the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
12Woe to him that builds the city with blood and founds the village with iniquity!
13 Is this not of the Lord of the hosts? Therefore the peoples shall labour for the fire, and the Gentiles shall weary themselves in vain.
14For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
15¶ Woe unto him that gives his neighbours drink, that puts thy bottle to them, and makes them drunken also, that thou may look on their nakedness!
16Thou hast filled thyself with dishonour instead of honour; drink thou also, and thy foreskin shall be uncovered; the cup of the Lord’s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful vomit shall fall upon thy glory.
17For the violence of Lebanon shall fall upon thee and the destruction of the wild beasts shall break thee, because of the human blood, and of the robbery of the land, of the cities, and of all that dwell therein.
18Of what profit is the graven image that its maker has sculpted; the molten image, that teaches lies, so that in making dumb images the maker trusts in his work?
19Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Can it ever teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.
20But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International