Habakkuk 1 - 2 — Legacy Standard Bible

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.”