2 I will take my stand at my post,
and station myself on the rampart,
and I will watch to see what He will say to me,
and what I will answer regarding my argument.
Vision for an Appointed Time
2 Then Adonai answered me and said:
“Write down the vision,[a]
make it plain on the tablets,
so that the reader may run with it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time.
It hastens to the end
and will not fail.
If it should be slow in coming, wait for it,
For it will surely come—it will not delay.”[b]
Trust, Judgment and Glory
4 Behold, the puffed up one—
his soul is not right within him,
But the righteous will live by his trust.[c]
5 Indeed, because this wine betrays,
a proud man never rests.
He enlarges his desire like Sheol,
Like death, he is never satisfied.
So he gathers to himself all nations,
and collects all peoples for himself.
6 Will not all take up a proverb against him or a scornful riddle about him?
“Oy to one expanding what isn’t his!
How long?
Oy to one burdening himself with heavy debts!”
7 Will biting you arise suddenly,
and those shaking you awaken,
as you will become plunder for them?
8 Since you looted many nations,
all the survivors will plunder you—
because of human bloodshed
and violence done to the land, the city and all its inhabitants.
9 Oy to one surely getting unjust gain for his house—
to set his nest on high,
to escape the reach of calamity!
10 You schemed shame for your house,
by cutting off many peoples,
so going wrong yourself.
11 For a stone will cry out[d] from a wall,
and wooden beams will answer.
12 Oy to him who builds a city by bloodshed,
and establishes a town with injustice!
13 Behold, is it not from Adonai-Tzva’ot
that peoples toil to fuel a fire,
and nations exhaust themselves for emptiness?
14 For the earth will be filled with knowing the glory of Adonai,
as the waters cover the sea.
15 Oy to one who makes his neighbor drink,
who pours out Your fury, and even making him drunk
In order to gaze at his nakedness!
16 You are filled with disgrace rather than glory.
Drink—you too—and be uncircumcised.
The cup of Adonai’s right hand will surround you,
and disgrace will come upon your glory.
17 For the violence done to Lebanon will spread over you,
destruction of beasts terrifying them,
because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land,
the city and to all its inhabitants.
18 What use is an idol when its craftsman has carved it?
Or a metal image—a teacher of lies?
For a craftsman has trusted in the image that he created,
to make dumb idols.
19 Oy to one who says to wood: “Awake!”
To a dumb stone: “Rouse yourself!” Can it teach?
Look, it is plated with gold and silver,
but it has no spirit within it.
20 But Adonai is in His holy Temple.
Let all the land be silent before Him.
Footnotes
- Habakkuk 2:2 cf. Rom. 4:24; Rev. 1:19.
- Habakkuk 2:3 cf. Heb. 10:37b.
- Habakkuk 2:4 Or faithfulness; cf. Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38.
- Habakkuk 2:11 cf. Luke 19:40.