Habakkuk 1:12-2:14

New International Version

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

¹²Lord, 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.
¹³Your 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)
¹⁴You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
¹⁵The 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.
¹⁶Therefore 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.
¹⁷Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?^(O)

2 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

²Then the Lord replied:

“Write^(T) down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald^[c] may run with it.
³For 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)

⁴“See, the enemy is puffed up;
    his desires are not upright—
    but the righteous person^(Y) will live by his faithfulness^[e]^(Z)—
⁵indeed, 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.

⁶“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?’
⁷Will not your creditors suddenly arise?
    Will they not wake up and make you tremble?
    Then you will become their prey.^(AG)
⁸Because 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)

⁹“Woe to him who builds^(AK) his house by unjust gain,^(AL)
    setting his nest^(AM) on high
    to escape the clutches of ruin!
¹⁰You have plotted the ruin^(AN) of many peoples,
    shaming^(AO) your own house and forfeiting your life.
¹¹The 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!
¹³Has 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)
¹⁴For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory^(AT) of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.^(AU)