Category: Habakkuk

Chaldeans Used to Punish Judah

1 Theoracle (a burdensome message—a pronouncement from God) which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2 O Lord, how long will I call for help

And You will not hear?

I cry out to You, “Violence!”

Yet You do not save.

3 Why do You make me see iniquity,

And cause me to look on wickedness?

For destruction and violence are before me;

Strife continues and contention arises.

4 Therefore, the law is ineffectiveandignored

And justice is never upheld,

For the wicked surround the righteous;

Therefore, justice becomes perverted.

5 [The Lordreplied,] “Look among the nations! See!

Be astonished! Wonder!

For I am doing something in your days—

You would not believe it if you were told.

6 For behold, I am raising up theChaldeans [who rule inBabylon],

That fierce and impetuous nation

Who march throughout the earth

To take possession of dwelling places that do not belong to them.

7 The Chaldeans are dreaded and feared;

Their justice and authority originate with themselvesandare defined only by their decree.

8 Their horses are swifter than leopards

And keener than [hungry] wolves in the evening,

Their horsemen come galloping,

Their horsemen come from far away;

They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.

9 They all come for violence;

Their horde of faces moves [eagerly] forward,

They gather prisoners like sand.

10 They make fun of kings

And rulers are a laughing matter to them.

They ridicule every stronghold

And heap up rubble [for earth mounds] and capture it.

11 Then they will sweep by like the wind and pass on.

But they will be held guilty,

They [and all men] whose own powerandstrength is their god.”

12 Are You not from everlasting,

O Lord, my God, My Holy One?

We will not die.

O Lord, You have appointed the Chaldeans [who rule in Babylon] to execute [Your] judgment,

And You, O Rock, have established them to correctandchastise.

13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil,

And You cannot lookfavorablyon wickedness.

Why then do You look favorably

On those who act treacherously?

Why are you silent when the wicked (Chaldean oppressors) destroy

Those more righteous than they?

14 Why do You make men like the fish of the sea,

Like reptilesandcreeping things that have no ruler [and are helpless against their enemies]?

15 The Chaldeansbring all of them up with a hook,

And drag them away with a net,

And gather them together in their fishing net;

So they rejoice and are glad.

16 Therefore, they offer sacrifices to their net

And burn incense to their fishing net;

Because through these things their catch is largeandthey live luxuriously,

And their food is plentiful.

17 Will they continue to empty their net

And [mercilessly] go on destroying nations without sparing?

God Answers the Prophet

1 I will stand at my guard post

And station myself on the tower;

And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me,

And what answer I will give [as His spokesman] when I am reproved.

2 Then the Lordanswered me and said,

“Write the vision

And engrave it plainly on [clay] tablets

So that the one who reads it will run.

3 For the vision is yet for the appointed [future] time

It hurries toward the goal [of fulfillment]; it will not fail.

Even though it delays, wait [patiently] for it,

Because it will certainly come; it will not delay.

4 “Look at the proud one,

His soul is not right within him,

But the righteous will live by his faith [in the true God].

5 Moreover, wine is treacherousandbetrays the arrogant man,

So that he does not stay at home.

His appetite is large like Sheol,

And he is like death, never satisfied.

He gathers to himself all nations

And collects to himself all peoples [as if he owned them].

6 “Will all these [victims of his greed] not take up a taunting song against him,

And in mocking derision against him

Say, ‘Woe (judgment is coming) to him who increases that which is not his—

How long [will he possess it]?

And [woe to him who] makes himself wealthy with loans.’

7 Will your creditors not rise up suddenly,

And those who collect from you awaken?

Then you will become plunder for them.

8 Because you [king of Babylon] have looted many nations,

All peoples who are left will loot you—

Because of human bloodshed and for the violence done to the land,

To the city and all its inhabitants.

9 “Woe (judgment is coming) to him who obtains wicked gain for his house [and thinks by so doing]

To set his nest on high,

That he may be rescued from the hand of evil.

10 You have devised a shameful thing for your house

By cutting offandputting an end to many peoples;

So you are sinning against your own lifeandforfeiting it.

11 For the stone will cry out from the wall [to accuse you—built in sin!]

And the rafter will answer it out of the woodwork.

12 “Woe (judgment is coming) to him who builds a city with bloodshed

And establishes a town by violence!

13 Is it not indeed from the Lordof hosts

That peoples labor [only] for the fire [that will destroy their work],

And nations grow weary for nothing [that is, things which have no lasting value]?

14 But [the time is coming when] the earth shall be filled

With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

As the waters cover the sea.

15 “Woe (judgment is coming) to you who make your neighbors drink,

Who mix in your venom to make them drunk

So that you may look at their nakedness!

16 You will be filled with disgrace instead of honor.

Now drink and expose your own nakedness!

The cup [of wrath] in the Lord’sright hand will come around to you [O destroyer],

And utter disgrace will be on your own glory.

17 For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you;

The destruction of the animals will terrify you

On account of human bloodshed and the violence done to the land,

To the city and all its inhabitants.

18 “What profit is the carved image when its maker has formed it?

It is only a cast image, and a teacher of lies.

For its maker trusts in his own creation [as his god]

When he makes speechless idols.

19 Woe (judgment is coming) to him who says to the wooden image, ‘Awake!’

And to the speechless stone, ‘Arise!’

And that is your teacher?

Look, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

And there is no breath at all inside it.

20 But the Lordis in His holy temple.

Let all the earth hushandbe silent before Him.”

God’s Salvation of His People

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set towildandenthusiastic music.

2 O Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear.

O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years,

In the midst of the years make it known;

In wrath [earnestly] remember compassionandlove.

3 God [approaching from Sinai] comes from Teman (Edom),

And the Holy One fromMount Paran. Selah (pause, and calmly think of that).

His splendorandmajesty covers the heavens

And the earth is full of His praise.

4 His brightness is like the sunlight;

He has [bright] raysflashingfrom His hand,

And there [in the sunlike splendor] is the hiding place of His power.

5 Before Him goes the pestilence [of judgment as in Egypt],

And [the burning] plague [of condemnation] follows at His feet [as in Sennacherib’s army].

6 He stood and measured the earth;

He looked and startled the nations,

Yes, the eternal mountains were shattered,

The ancient hills bowed lowandcollapsed.

His ways are eternal.

7 I [Habakkuk, in my vision] saw the tents of Cushan under distress;

The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.

8 Did the Lordrage against the rivers,

Or was Your anger against the rivers,

Or was Your wrath against the [Red] Sea,

That You rode on Your horses,

On Your chariots of salvation?

9 Your bow was made bare;

The rods of chastisement were sworn. Selah (pause, calmly think of that).

You split the earth with rivers [bringing waters to dry places].

10 The mountains saw You and [they] trembledandwrithed [as if in pain];

The downpour of waters swept by [as a deluge].

The deep uttered its voiceandraged,

It lifted its hands high.

11 The sun and moon stood in their places [as before Joshua];

They went away at the light of Your [swift] arrows,

At the radianceandgleam of Your glittering spear.

12 In indignation You marched through the earth;

In anger You trampledandthreshed the nations.

13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people,

For the salvationandrescue of Your anointed [people Israel].

You struck thehead from the house of the wicked

To lay him open from the thigh to the neck. Selah (pause, and calmly think of that).

14 With the enemy’s own spears, You pierced

The head of his hordes.

They stormed out to scatter us,

Rejoicing like those

Who secretly devour the oppressed [of Israel].

15 You have trampled on the sea with Your horses,

On the surge of many waters.

16 I heard and my whole inner self trembled;

My lips quivered at the sound.

Decayandrottenness enter my bones,

And I tremble in my place.

Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress,

For the people to arise who will invadeandattack us.

17 Though the fig tree does not blossom

And there is no fruit on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive fails

And the fields produce no food,

Though the flock is cut off from the fold

And there are no cattle in the stalls,

18 Yet I will [choose to] rejoice in the Lord;

I will [choose to] shout in exultation in the [victorious] God of my salvation!

19 The Lord Godis my strength [my source of courage, my invincible army];

He has made my feet [steady and sure] like hinds’ feet

And makes me walk [forward with spiritual confidence] on myhigh places [of challenge and responsibility].

For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.