Habakkuk 1 - 2, Acts 24 - 25, Psalm 94

Habakkuk Calls for Help

1The ¹^,^aoracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld.

²^aHow long, O ¹Yahweh, will I call for help,And You will not hear?I cry out to You, “Violence!”Yet You do ^bnot save.³Why do You make me ^asee wickednessAnd cause me to look on trouble?Indeed, ^bdevastation and violence are before me;^cAnd there is strife, and contention is lifted up.⁴Therefore the ^alaw is ¹ignored,And justice never comes forth.For the wicked ^bsurround the righteous;Therefore justice comes forth ^cperverted.

Yahweh Raises the Dreaded Chaldeans

⁵“^aSee among the nations! And look!Be also astonished! ^bBe astounded!Because I am doing ^csomething in your days—You would not believe if it was recounted to you.⁶“For behold, I am ^araising up the Chaldeans,That bitter and hasty nationWho walks on the breadth of the landTo ^bpossess dwelling places which are not theirs.⁷“They are dreaded and ^afeared;Their ^bjustice and exaltation come forth from themselves.⁸“Their ^ahorses are swifter than leopardsAnd ¹sharper than ^bwolves in the evening.Their ²horsemen come galloping;Their horsemen come from afar;They fly like an ^ceagle swooping down to devour.⁹“All of them come for violence.¹Their horde of ^afaces moves forward.And they gather captives like sand.¹⁰“And they ^amock at kings,And rulers are a laughing matter to them.They ^blaugh at every fortressAnd ^cheap up dirt and capture it.¹¹“Then they will sweep through like the ^awind and pass on.But they will be held ^bguilty,They whose ^cpower is their god.”

Yahweh Has Placed Them to Judge

¹²Are You not from ^aeverlasting,O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One?We will not die.You, O Yahweh, have ^bplaced them to judge;And You, O ^cRock, have established them to reprove.¹³Your eyes are too ^apure to see evil,And You cannot look on trouble.Why do You ^blookOn those who deal ^ctreacherously?Why are You ^dsilent when the wicked ^eswallow upThose more righteous than they?¹⁴And You have made men like the fish of the sea,Like creeping things without a ruler over them.¹⁵The Chaldeans ^abring all of them up with a hook,^bDrag them away with their net,And gather them together in their fishing net.Therefore they are glad and rejoice.¹⁶Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their netAnd ¹burn incense to their fishing netBecause through ^athese things their portion is richAnd their food is fat.¹⁷Will they therefore empty their ^anetAnd continually ^bkill nations without sparing?

The Righteous Will Live by His Faith

2I will ^astand on my guard postAnd station myself on the fortification;And I will ^bkeep watch to see ^cwhat He will speak to meAnd how I may respond ¹when I am reproved.²Then Yahweh answered me and said,“^aWrite down the visionAnd write it on tablets distinctly,That ¹the one who ²reads it may run.³“For the vision is yet for the ^aappointed time;It pants toward its end, and it will not ¹lie.Though it tarries, ^bwait for it;For it will certainly come; it ^cwill not delay.⁴“Behold, as for the ^aproud one,His soul is not right within him;But the ^brighteous will live by his ¹faith.⁵“And indeed, ^awine betrays the ^bhaughty manSo that he does not ^cstay at home.He ^denlarges his appetite like Sheol,And he is like death, never satisfied.He also gathers to himself all nationsAnd assembles to himself all peoples.⁶“Will not all of these ^alift up a taunt-song against him,Even satire and riddles against himAnd say, ‘^bWoe to him who increases what is not his—For how long—And makes himself ¹rich with loans?’⁷“Will not ¹your creditors ^arise up suddenly,And those who make you tremble awaken?Indeed, you will become spoil for them.⁸“Because you have ^ataken many nations as spoil,All that is left of the peoples will take you as spoil—Because of human bloodshed and violence ¹done to the land,To the town and all its inhabitants.⁹“Woe to him who is greedy for ^aevil gain for his houseTo ^bput his nest on high,To be delivered from the hand of evil!¹⁰“You have counseled a ^ashameful thing for your houseBy cutting off many peoples;So you are ^bsinning against your own soul.¹¹“Surely the ^astone will cry out from the wall,And the rafter will answer it from the ¹framework.¹²“Woe to him who ^abuilds a city with bloodshedAnd founds a town with injustice!¹³“Is it not, behold, from Yahweh of hostsThat peoples ^atoil for fire,And nations grow weary for nothing?¹⁴“For the earth will be ^afilledWith the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,As the waters cover the sea.¹⁵“Woe to you who make ¹your neighbors drink,Who mix in your venom even to make them drunkSo as to look on their nakedness!¹⁶“You will be filled with disgrace rather than glory.Now you yourself ^adrink and ¹expose your own nakedness.The ^bcup in Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you,And ^cutter disgrace will come upon your glory.¹⁷“For the ^aviolence ¹done to Lebanon will cover you,And the devastation of its beasts ²by which you terrified them,^bBecause of human bloodshed and ^cviolence ³done to the land,To the town and all its inhabitants.¹⁸“What ^aprofit is the graven image when its maker has engraved it,Or a molten image, a ^bteacher of ¹lies?For its maker ^ctrusts in his own makingWhen he fashions speechless idols.¹⁹“Woe to him who ^asays to a piece of wood, ‘^bAwake!’To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’And that is your teacher?Behold, it is overlaid with ^cgold and silver,And there is ^dno breath at all inside it.²⁰“But ^aYahweh is in His holy temple.¹Let all the earth ^bbe silent before Him.”

Paul’s Trial Before Felix the Governor

24Now after ^afive days the high priest ^bAnanias came down with some elders, ¹with an ²attorney named Tertullus, and they ³brought charges to ^cthe governor against Paul. ²And after Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “As we have attained much peace through you—and because by your provision reforms are being carried out for this nation— ³we welcome this in every way and everywhere, ^amost excellent Felix, with all thankfulness. ⁴“But, that I may not weary you any further, I plead with you by your forbearance to hear us briefly. ⁵“For we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout ¹the world, and a ringleader of the ^asect of the Nazarenes. ⁶“And he even tried to ^adesecrate the temple; and ¹then we arrested him. ²[We wanted to judge him according to our own Law. ⁷“But Lysias the commander came along, and with much violence took him out of our hands, ⁸ordering his accusers to come before you.] By examining him yourself concerning all these matters you will be able to ascertain the things of which we accuse him.” ⁹^aAnd the Jews also joined in the attack, asserting that these things were so.

¹⁰And when ^athe governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul answered: “Knowing that for many years you have been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense, ¹¹since you are able to ascertain the fact that no more than ^atwelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ¹²“^aAnd neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor across the city did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or ^bcausing ¹a riot. ¹³“^aNor are they able to prove to you of what they are now accusing me. ¹⁴“But this I confess to you, that according to ^athe Way, which they call a ^bsect, I do serve ¹^,^cthe God of our fathers, ^dbelieving everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets; ¹⁵having a hope in God, for which ^athese men are waiting, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. ¹⁶“In view of this, ^aI also ¹do my best to maintain always a conscience without fault both before God and before men. ¹⁷“Now ^aafter several years I ^bcame to bring ¹alms to my nation and offerings; ¹⁸in which they found me, having been ^apurified in the temple, without any ^bcrowd or uproar. But there were some ^cJews from ¹Asia— ¹⁹who ought to have been present before you and to ^amake accusation, if they should have anything against me. ²⁰“Or else let these men themselves tell what wrongdoing they found when I stood before ^athe Sanhedrin, ²¹other than for this one statement which ^aI shouted out while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.’”

²²But Felix, having a more accurate knowledge about ^athe Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the ¹commander comes down, I will decide your case.” ²³Then he gave orders to the centurion for him to be ^akept in custody and yet ^bhave some rest, and not to prevent any of ^chis friends from ministering to him.

²⁴But some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his ¹wife who was a Jewess, and summoned Paul and heard him speak about ^afaith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵But as he was discussing ^arighteousness, ^bself-control, and ^cthe judgment to come, Felix became frightened and answered, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will call for you.” ²⁶At the same time, he was also hoping that ^amoney would be given him by Paul; therefore he also used to summon for him quite often and converse with him. ²⁷But after two years had passed, Felix ¹was succeeded by Porcius ^aFestus, and ^bwishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul ^cimprisoned.

Paul Before Festus

25Festus then, having arrived in ^athe province, after three days went up to Jerusalem from ^bCaesarea. ²And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews ^abrought charges against Paul, and they were pleading with him, ³requesting a favor against ¹Paul, that he might ²have him brought to Jerusalem (while they ^aset an ambush to kill him on the way). ⁴Festus then ^aanswered that Paul ^bwas being kept in custody at ^cCaesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly. ⁵“Therefore,” he *said, “let the influential men among you go down there with me, and if there is anything wrong ¹about the man, let them accuse him.”

⁶And after he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to ^aCaesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on ^bthe judgment seat and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷And after Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing ^amany and serious charges against him ^bwhich they could not prove, ⁸while Paul said in his own defense, “^aI have committed no sin either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.” ⁹But Festus, ^awishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “^bAre you willing to go up to Jerusalem and to be tried before me on these matters?” ¹⁰But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s ^ajudgment seat, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. ¹¹“If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I ^aappeal to Caesar.” ¹²Then when Festus had conferred with ¹his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”

Festus and Agrippa Discuss Paul’s Trial

¹³Now when several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at ^aCaesarea ¹and greeted Festus. ¹⁴And while they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man who was ^aleft as a prisoner by Felix; ¹⁵and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews ^abrought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. ¹⁶“I ^aanswered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before ^bthe accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. ¹⁷“So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on ^athe judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought before me. ¹⁸“When the accusers stood up, they were not bringing any charges against him for the evil deeds I was expecting, ¹⁹but they had some ^apoints of disagreement with him about their own ¹^,^breligion and about a certain Jesus, a dead man whom Paul asserted to be alive. ²⁰“^aAnd being perplexed about how to investigate ¹such matters, I was asking whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there to be tried on these matters. ²¹“But when Paul ^aappealed to be held in custody for ¹the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.” ²²Then ^aAgrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he *said, “you shall hear him.”

Paul Before Agrippa and Bernice

²³So, on the next day when ^aAgrippa came ¹together with ^bBernice amid great pomp, and entered the hall ²accompanied by the ³commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the order of Festus, Paul was brought in. ²⁴And Festus *said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom ^aall the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that ^bhe ought not to live any longer. ²⁵“But I found that he had committed ^anothing worthy of death, and since he himself ^bappealed to ¹the Emperor, I decided to send him. ²⁶“¹Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. ²⁷“For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.”

God of Vengeance, Shine Forth

94O Yahweh, God of ¹^,^avengeance,God of ²vengeance, ³^,^bshine forth!²^aBe lifted up, O ^bJudge of the earth,Render recompense ^cto the proud.³How long shall the wicked, O Yahweh,How long shall the ^awicked exult?⁴They pour forth words, they ^aspeak arrogantly;All workers of iniquity ^bvaunt themselves.⁵They ^acrush Your people, O Yahweh,And ^bafflict Your inheritance.⁶They ^aslay the widow and the sojournerAnd murder the orphans.⁷^aThey have said, “Yah does not see,Nor does the God of Jacob discern.”⁸Discern, you ^asenseless among the people;And when will you have insight, ^byou fools?⁹He who ^aplanted the ear, ¹does He not hear?He who formed the eye, ²does He not see?¹⁰He who ¹^,^adisciplines the nations, will He not rebuke,Even He who ^bteaches man knowledge?¹¹Yahweh ^aknows the thoughts of man,¹That they are vanity.¹²Blessed is the man whom ^aYou discipline, O Yah,And ^bwhom You teach out of Your law;¹³That You may grant him ^acalm from the ^bdays of calamity,Until ^ca pit is dug for the wicked.¹⁴For ^aYahweh will not abandon His people,Nor will He ^bforsake His inheritance.¹⁵For ¹^,^ajudgment will ²again be righteous,And all the upright in heart will ³follow it.¹⁶Who will ^aarise for me against evildoers?Who will take his stand for me ^bagainst workers of iniquity?¹⁷If ^aYahweh had not been my help,My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.¹⁸If I should say, “^aMy foot has stumbled,”Your lovingkindness, O Yahweh, will hold me up.¹⁹When my anxious thoughts ¹multiply within me,Your ^aconsolations delight my soul.²⁰Can a ¹^,^athrone of destruction be allied with You,One ^bwhich forms ²trouble by statute?²¹They ^aband themselves together against the ¹life of the righteousAnd ^bcondemn ²the innocent to death.²²But Yahweh has been my ^astronghold,And my God the ^brock of my refuge.²³He has ^abrought back their ¹iniquity upon themAnd will ²^,^bdestroy them in their evil;Yahweh our God will ³destroy them.