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.
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Habakkuk 2: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Habakkuk 2
2
1I will #Isa. 21:8 take my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and #Jer. 6:17; Ezek. 33:2 look out to see #Ps. 85:8what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith
2And the Lord answered me:
#
Isa. 8:1; 30:8; [Rev. 1:19] “Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
3For still #[Dan. 10:14]; See Ezek. 7:5-7 the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, #Zeph. 3:8; See Isa. 8:17 wait for it;
# Cited Heb. 10:37; [2 Pet. 3:9] it will surely come; it will not delay.
4“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but #Cited Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38; [John 3:36]the righteous shall live by his faith.#2:4 Or faithfulness
5“Moreover, wine#2:5 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll wealth is #ch. 1:13; Isa. 21:2 a traitor,
an arrogant man who is never at rest.#2:5 The meaning of the Hebrew of these two lines is uncertain
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
like death #[Prov. 27:20] he has never enough.
#
Jer. 27:7; [ch. 1:6; Dan. 2:37, 38] He gathers for himself all nations
and collects as his own all peoples.”
Woe to the Chaldeans
6Shall not all these #Mic. 2:4; See Num. 23:7 take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,
# ver. 19; Isa. 5:8 “Woe to him #[ch. 1:6] who heaps up what is not his own—
for #See Zech. 1:12 how long?—
and #[Ezek. 18:7]loads himself with pledges!”
7 # See Isa. 21:5-9 Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
and those awake who will make you tremble?
Then you will be spoil for them.
8 # [Isa. 33:1] Because you have plundered many nations,
all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
# ver. 17 for the blood of man and #[Isa. 33:1] violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
9 # [See ver. 6 above] “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
# [Isa. 14:13] to #Jer. 49:16; [Num. 24:21]set his nest on high,
to be safe from the reach of harm!
10You have devised shame for your house
# [ch. 1:17] by cutting off many peoples;
you have forfeited your life.
11For #[Luke 19:40]the stone will cry out from the wall,
and the beam from the woodwork respond.
12 # [See ver. 6 above] “Woe to him #See Mic. 3:10who builds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity!
13Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts
that #Jer. 51:58peoples labor merely for fire,
and nations weary themselves for nothing?
14 #
Isa. 11:9 For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of #Ps. 72:19the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
15 # [See ver. 6 above] “Woe to him #[ver. 5; Jer. 51:7] who makes his neighbors drink—
you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
in order to gaze #Lam. 4:21; [Gen. 9:22]at their nakedness!
16You will have your fill #Nah. 3:5 of shame instead of glory.
#
Jer. 25:15, 26 Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!
#
Jer. 25:15, 26 The cup in the Lord’s right hand
will come around to you,
and #[Nah. 3:6]utter shame will come upon your glory!
17 # ver. 8 The violence #[Isa. 14:8; Jer. 22:23]done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,
# ver. 8 for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
18 #
Isa. 44:10 “What profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, #Jer. 10:8, 14; Zech. 10:2 a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes #Ps. 115:5; 1 Cor. 12:2speechless idols!
19 # ver. 6, 9, 12, 15 Woe to him #See 1 Kgs. 18:26, 27 who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and #Ps. 135:17; Jer. 10:14there is no breath at all in it.
20But #Ps. 11:4; Mic. 1:2 the Lord is in his holy temple;
# [Zeph. 1:7; Zech. 2:13] let all the earth keep silence before him.”
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