1:1The oracle which Habakkuk the
prophet saw. 1:2THE LORD, how long will I cry, and
you will not hear? I cry out to you "Violence!" and will you not
save? 1:3Why do you show me iniquity, and
look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is
strife, and contention rises up. 1:4Therefore
the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth; for the wicked
surround the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.
1:5"Look among the nations,
watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which
you will not believe though it is told you. 1:6For, behold,
I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through
the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
1:7They are feared and dreaded. Their
judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. 1:8Their horses
also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening
wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from
afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour. 1:9All of them
come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like
sand. 1:10Yes, he scoffs at kings, and
princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he
builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it. 1:11Then he
sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength
is his god."
1:12Aren't you from everlasting,
THE LORD my God, my Holy One? We will not die. THE LORD, you have appointed
him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish. 1:13You who have purer eyes than to
see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who
deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man
who is more righteous than he, 1:14and make men like the fish of the
sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 1:15He takes up all of them with the
hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet.
Therefore he rejoices and is glad. 1:16Therefore
he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by
them his life is luxurious, and his food is good. 1:17Will he
therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
2:1I will stand at my watch, and set
myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
2:2THE LORD answered me, "Write
the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. 2:3For the vision is yet for the
appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won't prove false.
Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won't
delay. 2:4Behold, his soul is puffed up. It
is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith. 2:5Yes, moreover, wine is
treacherous. A haughty man who doesn't stay at home, who enlarges his
desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can't be satisfied, but gathers
to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples. 2:6Won't all these take up a parable
against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, 'Woe to him who
increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion!
How long?' 2:7Won't your debtors rise up
suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their
victim? 2:8Because you have plundered many
nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men's
blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who
dwell in it. 2:9Woe to him who gets an evil gain
for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered
from the hand of evil! 2:10You have devised shame to your
house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul. 2:11For the stone will cry out of the
wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it. 2:12Woe to him who builds a town with
blood, and establishes a city by iniquity! 2:13Behold,
isn't it of THE LORD of Hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the
nations weary themselves for vanity? 2:14For the
earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of THE LORD, as the
waters cover the sea.
2:15"Woe to him who gives his
neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that
you may gaze at their naked bodies! 2:16You are
filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The
cup of THE LORD's right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will
cover your glory. 2:17For the violence done to Lebanon
will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them
afraid; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to
every city and to those who dwell in them.
2:18"What value does the
engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image,
even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to
make mute idols? 2:19Woe to him who says to the wood,
'Awake!' or to the mute stone, 'Arise!' Shall this teach? Behold, it is
overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst
of it. 2:20But THE LORD is in his holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before him!"
3:1A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet,
set to victorious music.
3:2THE LORD, I have heard of your fame.
I stand in awe of your deeds, THE LORD.
Renew your work in the midst of the years.
In the midst of the years make it
known.
In wrath, you remember mercy.
3:3God came from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran.
Selah.
His glory covered the heavens,
And his praise filled the earth.
3:4His splendor is like the sunrise.
Rays shine from his hand, where his
power is hidden.
3:5Plague went before him,
And pestilence followed his feet.
3:6He stood, and shook the earth.
He looked, and made the nations
tremble.
The ancient mountains were crumbled.
The age-old hills collapsed.
His ways are eternal.
3:7I saw the tents of Cushan in
affliction.
The dwellings of the land of Midian
trembled.
3:8Was THE LORD displeased with the
rivers?
Was your anger against the rivers,
Or your wrath against the sea,
That you rode on your horses,
On your chariots of salvation?
3:9You uncovered your bow.
You called for your sworn arrows.
Selah.
You split the earth with rivers.
3:10The mountains saw you, and were
afraid.
The tempest of waters passed by.
The deep roared and lifted up its
hands on high.
3:11The sun and moon stood still in
the sky,
At the light of your arrows as they
went,
At the shining of your glittering
spear.
3:12You marched through the land in
wrath.
You threshed the nations in anger.
3:13You went forth for the salvation
of your people,
For the salvation of your anointed.
You crushed the head of the land of wickedness.
You stripped them head to foot.
Selah.
3:14You pierced the heads of his
warriors with their own spears.
They came as a whirlwind to scatter
me,
Gloating as if to devour the wretched
in secret.
3:15You trampled the sea with your
horses,
Churning mighty waters.
3:16I heard, and my body trembled.
My lips quivered at the voice.
Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place,
Because I must wait quietly for the
day of trouble,
For the coming up of the people who
invade us.
3:17For though the fig tree doesn't
flourish,
Nor fruit be in the vines;
The labor of the olive fails,
The fields yield no food;
The flocks are cut off from the fold,
And there is no herd in the stalls:
3:18Yet I will rejoice in THE LORD.
I will be joyful in the God of my
salvation!
3:19THE LORD, the Lord, is my strength.
He makes my feet like deer's feet,
And enables me to go in high places.
For the music director, on my stringed instruments.
