Habakkuk 2
2
1I will stand like a guard and watch.
I will wait to see what the Lord will say to me.
I will wait and learn how he answers my questions.
God Answers Habakkuk
2The Lord answered me, “Write down what I show you. Write it clearly on a sign so that the message will be easy to read.#2:2 Write down … easy to read Or “Write the vision clearly on tablets so that the person who reads it can run and tell other people.” 3This message is about a special time in the future. This message is about the end, and it will come true. Just be patient and wait for it. That time will come; it will not be late. 4This message cannot help those who refuse to listen to it, but those who are good will live because they believe it.
5“Wine can trick a person. In the same way a strong man’s pride can fool him, but he will not find peace. He is like death—he always wants more and more. And, like death, he will never be satisfied. He will continue to defeat other nations and to make those people his prisoners. 6But soon enough, all those people will laugh at him and tell stories about his defeat. They will laugh and say, ‘It’s too bad that the man who took so many things will not get to keep them! He made himself rich by collecting debts.’
7“Strong man, you have taken money from people. One day they will wake up and realize what is happening, and they will stand against you. Then they will take things from you, and you will be very afraid. 8You have stolen things from many nations, so they will take much from you. You have killed many people and destroyed lands and cities. You have killed all the people there.
9“Look at you people! You get rich by cheating people, and it hurts your own family! You build your houses high on the cliffs to protect yourself from danger. 10You planned shameful things, and that will bring shame to your own family. You have done wrong, and it will cost you your life. 11The stones of the walls will cry out against you. Even the wooden rafters#2:11 rafters Boards that support the roof. in your own house will prove that you are wrong.
12“Look at them! They kill people to build their city and do wicked things to make their walled city strong. 13But the Lord All-Powerful has decided that a fire will destroy everything that those people worked to build. All their work will be for nothing. 14Then people everywhere will know about the Glory of the Lord. This news will spread just as water spreads out into the sea. 15It will be very bad for those who become angry and make other people suffer. Like an angry drunk, they knock others to the ground and strip them naked, just to see their naked bodies.#2:15 Like an angry drunk … bodies The Hebrew text here is hard to understand.
16“But they will know the Lord’s anger. It will be like a cup of poison in the Lord’s right hand. They will taste that anger, and then they will fall to the ground like drunks.
“Evil ruler, you will drink from that cup. You will get shame, not honor. 17You hurt many people in Lebanon and stole many animals there. So you will be afraid because of the people who died and because of the bad things you did to that country. You will be afraid because of what you did to those cities and to the people who lived there.”
The Message About Idols
18Their false god will not help them, because it is only a statue that someone covered with metal. It is only a statue, so whoever made it cannot expect it to help. That statue cannot even speak! 19Look at them! They speak to a wooden statue and tell it, “Get up! Rescue me.” They talk to a stone that cannot speak and say, “Wake up!” Don’t you know those things cannot help you? That statue may be covered with gold and silver, but there is no life in it.
20But the Lord is in his holy temple, so the whole earth should be silent in his presence and show him respect.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Havakuk (Hab) 2
2
1I will stand at my watchpost;
I will station myself on the rampart.
I will look to see what [God] will say through me
and what I will answer when I am reproved.
2Then Adonai answered me; he said,
“Write down the vision clearly on tablets,
so that even a runner can read it.
3For the vision is meant for its appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and it does not lie.
It may take a while, but wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.
4“Look at the proud: he is inwardly not upright;
but the righteous will attain life through trusting faithfulness.
5Truly, wine is treacherous;
the arrogant will not live at peace
but keeps expanding his desires like Sh’ol;
like death, he can never be satisfied;
he keeps collecting all the nations for himself,
rallying to himself all the peoples.
6Won’t all these take up taunting him
and say about him, in mocking riddles,
‘Woe to him who amasses other people’s wealth! —
how long must it go on? —
and to him who adds to himself the weight
of goods taken in pledge!
7Won’t your own creditors suddenly stand,
won’t those who make you tremble wake up?
You will become their spoil.
8Because you plundered many nations,
all the rest of the peoples will plunder you;
because of the bloodshed and violence done
to the land, the city and all who live there.
9“‘Woe to him who seeks unjust gain for his household,
putting his nest on the heights,
in order to be safe from the reach of harm.
10By scheming to destroy many peoples,
you have brought shame to your house
and forfeited your life.
11For the very stones will cry out from the wall,
and a beam in the framework will answer them.
12“‘Woe to him who builds a city with blood
and founds a town on injustice,
13so that people toil for what will be burned up,
and nations exhaust themselves to no purpose.
Isn’t all this from Adonai-Tzva’ot?
14For the earth will be as full
of the knowledge of Adonai’s glory
as water covering the sea.
15“‘Woe to him who has his neighbor drink,
adds his own poison and makes him drunk,
in order to see him naked.
16You are filled with shame, not glory.
You, drink too, and stagger!
The cup of Adonai’s right hand
will be turned against you;
your shame will exceed your glory.
17For the violence done to the L’vanon
will overwhelm you,
and the destruction of the wild animals
will terrify you;
because of the bloodshed and violence done
to the land, the city and all who live there.’”
18What good is an idol, once its maker has shaped it,
a cast metal image and a teacher of lies,
that its maker puts his trust in it,
and goes on making non-gods, unable to talk?
19Woe to him who tells a piece of wood, “Wake up!”
or a speechless stone, “Rouse yourself!”
Can this thing teach? Why, it’s covered with gold and silver,
without the slightest breath in it!
20But Adonai is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him.
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