Habakkuk 2
2
1What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst.
I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon.
I’ll wait to see what God says,
how he’ll answer my complaint.
Full of Self, but Soul-Empty
2-3And then God answered: “Write this.
Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters
so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness
pointing to what’s coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!
And it doesn’t lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait.
It’s on its way. It will come right on time.
* * *
4“Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—
full of himself but soul-empty.
But the person in right standing before God
through loyal and steady believing
is fully alive, really alive.
5-6a “Note well: Money deceives.
The arrogant rich don’t last.
They are more hungry for wealth
than the grave is for cadavers.
Like death, they always want more,
but the ‘more’ they get is dead bodies.
They are cemeteries filled with dead nations,
graveyards filled with corpses.
Don’t give people like this a second thought.
Soon the whole world will be taunting them:
6b-8 “‘Who do you think you are—
getting rich by stealing and extortion?
How long do you think
you can get away with this?’
Indeed, how long before your victims wake up,
stand up and make you the victim?
You’ve plundered nation after nation.
Now you’ll get a taste of your own medicine.
All the survivors are out to plunder you,
a payback for all your murders and massacres.
9-11“Who do you think you are—
recklessly grabbing and looting,
Living it up, acting like king of the mountain,
acting above it all, above trials and troubles?
You’ve engineered the ruin of your own house.
In ruining others you’ve ruined yourself.
You’ve undermined your foundations,
rotted out your own soul.
The bricks of your house will speak up and accuse you.
The woodwork will step forward with evidence.
12-14“Who do you think you are—
building a town by murder, a city with crime?
Don’t you know that God-of-the-Angel-Armies
makes sure nothing comes of that but ashes,
Makes sure the harder you work
at that kind of thing, the less you are?
Meanwhile the earth fills up
with awareness of God’s glory
as the waters cover the sea.
15-17“Who do you think you are—
inviting your neighbors to your drunken parties,
Giving them too much to drink,
roping them into your sexual orgies?
You thought you were having the time of your life.
Wrong! It’s a time of disgrace.
All the time you were drinking,
you were drinking from the cup of God’s wrath.
You’ll wake up holding your throbbing head, hung over—
hung over from Lebanon violence,
Hung over from animal massacres,
hung over from murder and mayhem,
From multiple violations
of place and people.
18-19“What’s the use of a carved god
so skillfully carved by its sculptor?
What good is a fancy cast god
when all it tells is lies?
What sense does it make to be a pious god-maker
who makes gods that can’t even talk?
Who do you think you are—
saying to a stick of wood, ‘Wake up,’
Or to a dumb stone, ‘Get up’?
Can they teach you anything about anything?
There’s nothing to them but surface.
There’s nothing on the inside.
20“But oh! God is in his holy Temple!
Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!”
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Habakkuk 2: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
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.
3At the time I have decided,#He 10.37.
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“I, the LORD, refuse to accept#Ro 1.17; Ga 3.11; He 10.38.
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.
13But the LORD All-Powerful
sends up in flames
what nations and people
work so hard to gain.
14Just as water fills the sea,#Is 11.9.
the land will be filled
with people who know
and honour 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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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012