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Habakkuk
2_How long, O LORD, must I call for help
but You do not hear,
or cry out to You, “Violence!”
but You do not save?
3_Why do You make me see iniquity?
Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me.
Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds.
4_Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
The LORD’s Answer
5_“Look at the nations and observe
be utterly astounded!
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would never believe
even if someone told you.
6_For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans
that ruthless and impetuous nation
which marches through the breadth of the earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
7_They are dreaded and feared;
from themselves they derive justice and sovereignty.
8_Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves of the night.
Their horsemen charge ahead,
and their cavalry comes from afar.
They fly like a vulture,
swooping down to devour.
9_All of them come bent on violence;
their hordes advance like the east wind;
they gather prisoners like sand.
10_They scoff at kings
and make rulers an object of scorn.
They laugh at every fortress
and build up siege ramps to seize it.
11_Then they sweep by like the wind
and pass on through.
They are guilty;
their own strength is their god.”
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
(Psalm 11:1–7)
12_Are You not from everlasting,
O LORD, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
O LORD, You have appointed them
to execute judgment;
O Rock, You have established them
for correction.
13_Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil,
and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
So why do You tolerate the faithless?
Why are You silent
while the wicked swallow up
those more righteous than themselves?
14_You have made men like the fish of the sea,
like creeping things that have no ruler.
15_The foe pulls all of them up with a hook;
he catches them in his dragnet,
and gathers them in his fishing net;
so he rejoices gladly.
16_Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet
and burns incense to his fishing net,
for by these things his portion is sumptuous
and his food is rich.
17_Will he, therefore, empty his net
and continue to slay nations without mercy?
The LORD Answers Again
1_I will stand at my guard post
and station myself on the ramparts.
I will watch to see what He will say to me,
and how I should answer when corrected.
2_Then the LORD answered me:
“Write down this vision
and clearly inscribe it on tablets,
so that a herald may run with it.
3_For the vision awaits an appointed time;
it testifies of the end and does not lie.
Though it lingers, wait for it,
since it will surely come and will not delay.a
4_Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright
but the righteous will live by faith
5_and wealth indeed betrays him.
He is an arrogant man never at rest.
He enlarges his appetite like Sheol,
and like Death, he is never satisfied.
He gathers all the nations to himself
and collects all the peoples as his own.
Woe to the Chaldeans
6_Will not all of these take up a taunt against him,
speaking with mockery and derision:
‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his
and makes himself rich with many loans!
How long will this go on?’
7_Will not your creditors suddenly arise
and those who disturb you awaken?
Then you will become their prey.
8_Because you have plundered many nations,
the remnant of the people will plunder you—
because of your bloodshed against man
and your violence against the land, the city,
and all their dwellers.
9_Woe to him who builds his house
by unjust gain,
to place his nest on high
and escape the hand of disaster!
10_You have plotted shame for your house
by cutting off many peoples
and forfeiting your life.
11_For the stones will cry out from the wall,
and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork.
12_Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
and establishes a town by iniquity!
13_Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts
that the labor of the people only feeds the fire,
and the nations weary themselves in vain?
14_For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
15_Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors,
pouring it from the wineskin until they are drunk,
in order to gaze at their nakedness!
16_You will be filled with shame instead of glory.
You too must drink
and expose your uncircumcision!f
The cup in the LORD’s right hand
will come around to you,
and utter disgrace will cover your glory.
17_For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you,
and the destruction of animals will terrify you,
because of your bloodshed against men
and your violence against the land, the city,
and all their dwellers.
18_What use is an idol,
that a craftsman should carve it—
or an image,
a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation;
he makes idols that cannot speak.
19_Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’
or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’
Can it give guidance?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
yet there is no breath in it at all.”
20_But the LORD is in His holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before Him. |
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