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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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Habakkuk 2
2
The Righteous Will Live by Faith
1I will stand at my post,
and station myself on the rampart.
And I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
2Then Yahweh answered me and said,
“Write the vision and make it plain on the tablet
so that it might be read quickly.#Literally “it might run reading upon it”
3For there is yet a vision for the appointed time;
it will give witness to the end, and it will not lie.
If it tarries, wait for it,
for it will surely come and not delay.
4Look! His spirit within him is puffed up;
it is not upright.
But the righteous shall live by his faithfulness.
5How much less#Literally “And moreover because” the defiant;#“Defiant” follows the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QpHab)
the arrogant, treacherous man?
He who broadens his throat like Sheol,
and who, like death, is not satisfied,
and who gathers to himself all the nations,
and harvested for himself all the peoples,
will not succeed.
6Shall not all of these take up a taunt against him,
with ridicule and riddles against him, saying,
‘Woe to him who heaps up what is not his’?
For how long?
And, ‘Woe to him who makes himself heavy with pledges’?
7Will not your creditors suddenly rise up
and awaken those who make you tremble?
Then you shall be as plunder for them.
8Because you plundered many nations,
all the remaining nations will plunder you
on account of the blood of humanity
and violence against the land,
and against cities and all who live in them.
9Woe to him who obtains profit from evil gain for his house,
to set his nest on high,
to be saved from the hand of misfortune!
10You have plotted shame for your house,
cutting off many peoples
and sinning against your life.
11For the stone will cry out from the wall,
and the plaster from the wood will answer it.
12Woe to him who builds a city by bloodguilt,
and who founds a city by wickedness!
13Look! Is it not from Yahweh of hosts
that people labor for mere fire,
and nations exhaust themselves for mere vanity?
14For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,
like the waters covering the sea.
15Woe to him who gives a drink to his neighbors,
pouring out your wrath and also making them drunk
in order to see their nakedness!
16You will be sated with shame rather than glory.
Drink also yourself, and expose yourself!
The cup of the right hand of Yahweh
will come around upon you
and disgrace upon your glory.
17For the violence of Lebanon will cover you,
and the destruction of wild animals will shatter them
on account of the blood of humanity,
and the violence against the land,
against a city and all the inhabitants in it.
18What value is an idol
when its carver has fashioned it,
a molten idol, a teacher of lies?
For he who fashioned his creation trusts in it,
though making mute idols!
19Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Wake up!’
And to a lifeless stone, ‘Arise!’
Can he teach?
Look, it is covered with gold and silver,
and there is no breath within it.
20But Yahweh is in his holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before him.”
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