Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?(A)
    My God, my Holy One,(B) you[a] will never die.(C)
You, Lord, have appointed(D) them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock,(E) have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure(F) to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.(G)
Why then do you tolerate(H) the treacherous?(I)
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?(J)
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked(K) foe pulls all of them up with hooks,(L)
    he catches them in his net,(M)
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense(N) to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?(O)

I will stand at my watch(P)
    and station myself on the ramparts;(Q)
I will look to see what he will say(R) to me,
    and what answer I am to give to this complaint.[b](S)

The Lord’s Answer

Then the Lord replied:

“Write(T) down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald[c] may run with it.
For the revelation awaits an appointed time;(U)
    it speaks of the end(V)
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait(W) for it;
    it[d] will certainly come
    and will not delay.(X)

“See, the enemy is puffed up;
    his desires are not upright—
    but the righteous person(Y) will live by his faithfulness[e](Z)
indeed, wine(AA) betrays him;
    he is arrogant(AB) and never at rest.
Because he is as greedy as the grave
    and like death is never satisfied,(AC)
he gathers to himself all the nations
    and takes captive(AD) all the peoples.

“Will not all of them taunt(AE) him with ridicule and scorn, saying,

“‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods
    and makes himself wealthy by extortion!(AF)
    How long must this go on?’
Will not your creditors suddenly arise?
    Will they not wake up and make you tremble?
    Then you will become their prey.(AG)
Because you have plundered many nations,
    the peoples who are left will plunder you.(AH)
For you have shed human blood;(AI)
    you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.(AJ)

“Woe to him who builds(AK) his house by unjust gain,(AL)
    setting his nest(AM) on high
    to escape the clutches of ruin!
10 You have plotted the ruin(AN) of many peoples,
    shaming(AO) your own house and forfeiting your life.
11 The stones(AP) of the wall will cry out,
    and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.

12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed(AQ)
    and establishes a town by injustice!
13 Has not the Lord Almighty determined
    that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,(AR)
    that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?(AS)
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory(AT) of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.(AU)

Footnotes

  1. Habakkuk 1:12 An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition; Masoretic Text we
  2. Habakkuk 2:1 Or and what to answer when I am rebuked
  3. Habakkuk 2:2 Or so that whoever reads it
  4. Habakkuk 2:3 Or Though he linger, wait for him; / he
  5. Habakkuk 2:4 Or faith

20 The Lord is in his holy temple;(A)
    let all the earth be silent(B) before him.

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