\NormalFont\ShortTitle{Habakkuk}

{\MT Habakkuk


\par }\ChapOne{1}{\MM \VerseOne{1}The message that Habakkuk the prophet received,


\par }{\Q \VS{2}“Yahweh, how long will I cry for help, and you will not hear?

\par }{\Q I cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you will not save.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}Why do you make me see iniquity and look upon wrongdoing?

\par }{\Q Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention rises up.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}Therefore the law is weakened, and justice does not last for any time.

\par }{\Q For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore false justice goes out.”


\par }{\MM \par }
{\SP Yahweh replies to Habakkuk

\par }{\Q \VS{5}“Look at the nations and examine them; be amazed and astonished!

\par }{\Q For I am surely about to do something in your days that you will not believe when it is reported to you.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}For look! I am about to raise up the Chaldeans—that fierce and impetuous nation—

\par }{\Q they are marching throughout the breadth of the land to seize homes that were not their own.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}They are terrifying and fearsome; their judgment and splendor proceed from themselves.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Their horses also are swifter than leopards, quicker than the evening wolves.

\par }{\Q So their horses stamp,

\par }{\Q and their horsemen come from a great distance—they fly like an eagle hurrying to eat.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}They all come for violence;

\par }{\Q their multitudes go like the desert wind, and they gather captives like sand.
\FTNT{*}{{\FR 1:9 }{\FT{The Hebrew text translated here as
}}{\FQA{their multitudes go like the desert wind
 is very difficult; many modern versions have other interpretations.
}}}


\par }{\Q \VS{10}So they mock kings, and rulers are only a mockery for them.

\par }{\Q They laugh at every stronghold, for they heap up earth and take them.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Then the wind will rush on; it will move past—guilty men, those whose might is their god.”


\par }{\MM \par }
{\SP Habakkuk asks Yahweh another question

\par }{\Q \VS{12}“Are you not from ancient times, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die.

\par }{\Q Yahweh has ordained them for judgment, and you, Rock, have established them for correction.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}Your eyes are too pure to gaze upon evil, and you are not able to look on wrongdoing with favor;

\par }{\Q why then have you looked favorably on those who betray?

\par }{\Q Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they are?


\par }{\Q \VS{14}You make men like fish in the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}He brings all of them up with a fishhook;

\par }{\Q he drags men away in his fishnet;

\par }{\Q he gathers them together in his dragnet;

\par }{\Q so he rejoices and he is glad.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}Therefore he sacrifices to his net

\par }{\Q and burns incense to his dragnet,

\par }{\Q for by his net he lives in luxury,

\par }{\Q and his food is the richest kind.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}Will he therefore keep emptying his net,

\par }{\Q and will he continually slaughter the nations without mercy?”



\par }\PoetryChap{2}{\Q \VerseOne{1}I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the watchtower,

\par }{\Q and I will watch carefully to see what he will say to me

\par }{\Q and how I should turn from my complaint.
\FTNT{*}{{\FR 2:1 }{\FT{Instead of
}}{\FQA{how I should turn from my complaint
 , which is what the Hebrew text has, some modern versions have
}}{\FQA{how I should answer when he replies to my complaint
 or
}}{\FQA{how I should answer when he rebukes me
 .
}}}


\par }{\MM \VS{2}Yahweh answered me and said,

\par }{\Q “Record this vision, and write plainly on the tablets so that the one reading them might run.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}For the vision is yet for a future time and will finally speak and not fail.

\par }{\Q Though it delays, wait for it. For it will surely come and will not tarry.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}Look! The one whose desires are not right within him is puffed up. But the righteous will live by his faith.


\par }{\MM \par }
{\Q \VS{5}For wine is a betrayer of the arrogant young man so that he will not abide,

\par }{\Q but enlarges his desire like the grave and, like death, is never satisfied.

\par }{\Q He gathers to himself every nation and gathers up for himself all of the peoples.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}Will not all these create a saying to ridicule him and a taunting song about him, saying,

\par }{\Q 'Woe to the one increasing what is not his! For how long will you increase the weight of the pledges you have taken?'


\par }{\QB \VS{7}Will the ones biting at you not rise up suddenly, and the ones terrifying you awaken?

\par }{\QB You will become a victim for them.


\par }{\QB \VS{8}Because you have plundered many peoples, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you.

\par }{\QB For you have shed human blood and acted with violence against the land, the cities, and all who live in them.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}'Woe to the one who carves out evil gains for his house,

\par }{\QB so he can set his nest on high to keep himself safe from the hand of evil.'


\par }{\QB \VS{10}You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many people, and have sinned against yourself.


\par }{\QB \VS{11}For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters of timber will answer them,


\par }{\Q \VS{12}'Woe to the one who builds a city with blood, and who establishes a town in iniquity.'


\par }{\QB \VS{13}Is it not from Yahweh of hosts

\par }{\QB that peoples labor for fire and all the other nations weary themselves for nothing?


\par }{\QB \VS{14}Yet the land will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}'Woe to the one who forces his neighbors to drink—

\par }{\Q you express your anger
\FTNT{†}{{\FR 2:15 }{\FT{There is some question about whether the Hebrew should be translated as
}}{\FQA{anger
 or as
}}{\FQA{wineskin
 .
}}} over and you make them drunk

\par }{\Q in order to look at their nakedness.'


\par }{\QB \VS{16}You will be filled with shame instead of glory.

\par }{\Q Now it is your turn! Drink, and you will expose your uncircumcised foreskin!

\par }{\QB The cup in Yahweh's right hand is coming around to you,

\par }{\QB and disgrace will cover your glory.


\par }{\QB \VS{17}The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you and the destruction of animals will terrify you.

\par }{\QB For you have shed human blood and you have acted with violence against the land, the cities, and all who live in them.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}What does the carved figure profit you? For the one who has carved it, or who casts a figure from molten metal, is a teacher of lies;

\par }{\Q for he trusts his own handiwork when he makes these mute gods.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}'Woe to the one saying to the wood, Wake up! Or to the silent stone, Arise!' Do these things teach?

\par }{\Q See, it is overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no breath at all within it.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}But Yahweh is in his holy temple! Be silent before him, all the land.”



\par }\Chap{3}{\MM \VerseOne{1}The prayer of Habakkuk the prophet:
\FTNT{*}{{\FR 3:1 }{\FT{The Hebrew text adds the expression
}}{\FQA{on shigionoth
 , which may refer to musical directions for singers.
}}}


\par }{\Q \VS{2}Yahweh, I have heard your report, and I am afraid.

\par }{\Q Yahweh, revive your work in the midst of these times; in the midst of these times make it known;

\par }{\Q remember to have compassion in your wrath.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.
\par }{\QS Selah
\par }

{\Q His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}With brightness like the light, two-pronged rays flash from his hand;

\par }{\Q and there he hid his power.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}Deadly disease went before him,

\par }{\Q and the plague followed him.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations.

\par }{\Q Even the eternal mountains were shattered, and the everlasting hills bowed down.

\par }{\Q His path is everlasting.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction, and the fabric of the tents in the land of Midian trembling.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Was Yahweh angry at the rivers? Was your wrath against the rivers,

\par }{\Q or your fury against the sea,

\par }{\Q when you rode upon your horses and your victorious chariots?


\par }{\Q \VS{9}You have brought out your bow without a cover; you put arrows to your bow!
\par }{\QS Selah
\par }

{\Q You divided the earth with rivers.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}The mountains saw you and twisted in pain.

\par }{\Q Downpours of water passed over them; the deep sea raised a shout.

\par }{\Q It lifted up its waves.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}The sun and moon stood still in their high places

\par }{\Q at the flash of your arrows as they fly,

\par }{\Q at the lightning of your flashing spear.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}You have marched over the earth with indignation. In wrath you have threshed the nations.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed one.

\par }{\Q You shatter the head of the house of the wicked to lay bare from the base up to the neck.
\par }{\QS Selah\par }


{\Q \VS{14}You have pierced the head of his warriors with his own arrows since they came like a storm to scatter us,

\par }{\Q their gloating was like one who devours the poor in a hiding place.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}You have traveled over the sea with your horses, and heaped up the great waters.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}I heard, and my inner parts trembled! My lips quivered at the sound.

\par }{\Q Decay comes into my bones, and under myself I tremble

\par }{\Q as I wait quietly for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}Though the fig tree does not bud

\par }{\QB and there is no produce from the vines;

\par }{\QB and though the produce of the olive tree disappoints

\par }{\QB and the fields yield no food;

\par }{\QB and though the flock is cut off from the fold

\par }{\QB and there are no cattle in the stalls, this is what I will do.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}Still, I will rejoice in Yahweh.

\par }{\QB I will be joyful because of the God of my salvation.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}The Lord Yahweh is my strength

\par }{\QB and he makes my feet like the deer's.

\par }{\QB He makes me go forward on my high places.

\par }{\QC —To the music director, on my stringed instruments.


\par }