Habakkuk Waits for God’s Response
1I will stand at my guard post
and station myself on the lookout tower.
I will watch to see what he will say to me
and what I should reply about my complaint.
God’s Second Answer
2The Lord answered me:
Write down this vision;
clearly inscribe it on tablets
so one may easily read it.
3For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
it testifies about the end and will not lie.
Though it delays, wait for it,
since it will certainly come and not be late.
4Look, his ego is inflated;
he is without integrity.
But the righteous one will live by his faith.
5Moreover, wine betrays;
an arrogant man is never at rest.
He enlarges his appetite like Sheol,
and like Death he is never satisfied.
He gathers all the nations to himself;
he collects all the peoples for himself.
The Five Woe Oracles
6Won’t all of these take up a taunt against him,
with mockery and riddles about him?
They will say,
“Woe to him who amasses what is not his —
how much longer? —
and loads himself with goods taken in pledge.”
7Won’t your creditors suddenly arise,
and those who disturb you wake up?
Then you will become spoil for them.
8Since you have plundered many nations,
all the peoples who remain will plunder you —
because of human bloodshed
and violence against lands, cities,
and all who live in them.
9Woe to him who dishonestly makes
wealth for his house
to place his nest on high,
to escape the grasp of disaster!
10You have planned shame for your house
by wiping out many peoples
and sinning against your own self.
11For the stones will cry out from the wall,
and the rafters will answer them
from the woodwork.
12Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
and founds a town with injustice!
13Is it not from the Lord of Armies
that the peoples labor only to fuel the fire
and countries exhaust themselves for nothing?
14For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory,
as the water covers the sea.
15Woe to him who gives his neighbors drink,
pouring out your wrath
and even making them drunk,
in order to look at their nakedness!
16You will be filled with disgrace instead of glory.
You also — drink,
and expose your uncircumcision!
The cup in the Lord’s right hand
will come around to you,
and utter disgrace will cover your glory.
17For your violence against Lebanon
will overwhelm you;
the destruction of animals will terrify you
because of your human bloodshed and violence
against lands, cities, and all who live in them.
18What use is a carved idol
after its craftsman carves it?
It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies.
For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it
and makes worthless idols that cannot speak.
19Woe to him who says to wood: Wake up!
or to mute stone: Come alive!
Can it teach?
Look! It may be plated with gold and silver,
yet there is no breath in it at all.
20But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let the whole earth
be silent in his presence.