Bible (Berean Standard)/Habakkuk

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Habakkuk’s First Complaint

This is the burden that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision:


 * How long, O LORD, must I call for help
 * but You do not hear,
 * or cry out to You, “Violence!”
 * but You do not save?
 * Why do You make me see iniquity?
 * Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?
 * Destruction and violence are before me.
 * Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds.
 * Therefore the law is paralyzed,
 * and justice never goes forth.
 * For the wicked hem in the righteous,
 * so that justice is perverted.

The LORD’s Answer


 * “Look at the nations and observe—
 * be utterly astounded!
 * For I am doing a work in your days
 * that you would never believe
 * even if someone told you.
 * For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans —
 * that ruthless and impetuous nation
 * which marches through the breadth of the earth
 * to seize dwellings not their own.
 * They are dreaded and feared;
 * from themselves they derive justice and sovereignty.
 * Their horses are swifter than leopards,
 * fiercer than wolves of the night.
 * Their horsemen charge ahead,
 * and their cavalry comes from afar.
 * They fly like a vulture,
 * swooping down to devour.
 * All of them come bent on violence;
 * their hordes advance like the east wind;
 * they gather prisoners like sand.
 * They scoff at kings
 * and make rulers an object of scorn.
 * They laugh at every fortress
 * and build up siege ramps to seize it.
 * Then they sweep by like the wind
 * and pass on through.
 * They are guilty;
 * their own strength is their god.”

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

(Psalm 11:1–7)


 * Are You not from everlasting,
 * O LORD, my God, my Holy One?
 * We will not die.
 * O LORD, You have appointed them
 * to execute judgment;
 * O Rock, You have established them
 * for correction.
 * Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil,
 * and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
 * So why do You tolerate the faithless?
 * Why are You silent
 * while the wicked swallow up
 * those more righteous than themselves?
 * You have made men like the fish of the sea,
 * like creeping things that have no ruler.
 * The foe pulls all of them up with a hook;
 * he catches them in his dragnet,
 * and gathers them in his fishing net;
 * so he rejoices gladly.
 * Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet
 * and burns incense to his fishing net,
 * for by these things his portion is sumptuous
 * and his food is rich.
 * Will he, therefore, empty his net
 * and continue to slay nations without mercy?

The LORD Answers Again


 * I will stand at my guard post
 * and station myself on the ramparts.
 * I will watch to see what He will say to me,
 * and how I should answer when corrected.

Then the LORD answered me:


 * “Write down this vision
 * and clearly inscribe it on tablets,
 * so that a herald may run with it.
 * For the vision awaits an appointed time;
 * it testifies of the end and does not lie.
 * Though it lingers, wait for it,
 * since it will surely come and will not delay.
 * Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright —
 * but the righteous will live by faith —
 * and wealth indeed betrays him.
 * He is an arrogant man never at rest.
 * He enlarges his appetite like Sheol,
 * and like Death, he is never satisfied.
 * He gathers all the nations to himself
 * and collects all the peoples as his own.

Woe to the Chaldeans


 * Will not all of these take up a taunt against him,
 * speaking with mockery and derision:


 * ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his
 * and makes himself rich with many loans!
 * How long will this go on?’
 * Will not your creditors suddenly arise
 * and those who disturb you awaken?
 * Then you will become their prey.
 * Because you have plundered many nations,
 * the remnant of the people will plunder you—
 * because of your bloodshed against man
 * and your violence against the land, the city,
 * and all their dwellers.


 * Woe to him who builds his house
 * by unjust gain,
 * to place his nest on high
 * and escape the hand of disaster!
 * You have plotted shame for your house
 * by cutting off many peoples
 * and forfeiting your life.
 * For the stones will cry out from the wall,
 * and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork.


 * Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
 * and establishes a town by iniquity!
 * Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts
 * that the labor of the people only feeds the fire,
 * and the nations weary themselves in vain?
 * For the earth will be filled
 * with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
 * as the waters cover the sea.


 * Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors,
 * pouring it from the wineskin until they are drunk,
 * in order to gaze at their nakedness!
 * You will be filled with shame instead of glory.
 * You too must 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.
 * For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you,
 * and the destruction of animals will terrify you,
 * because of your bloodshed against men
 * and your violence against the land, the city,
 * and all their dwellers.


 * What use is an idol,
 * that a craftsman should carve it—
 * or an image,
 * a teacher of lies?
 * For its maker trusts in his own creation;
 * he makes idols that cannot speak.
 * Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’
 * or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’
 * Can it give guidance?
 * Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
 * yet there is no breath in it at all.”


 * But the LORD is in His holy temple;
 * let all the earth be silent before Him.

Habakkuk’s Prayer

This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth:


 * O LORD, I have heard the report of You;
 * I stand in awe, O LORD, of Your deeds.
 * Revive them in these years;
 * make them known in these years.
 * In Your wrath, remember mercy!


 * God came from Teman,
 * and the Holy One from Mount Paran.

Selah
 * His glory covered the heavens,
 * and His praise filled the earth.
 * His radiance was like the sunlight;
 * rays flashed from His hand,
 * where His power is hidden.
 * Plague went before Him,
 * and fever followed in His steps.
 * He stood and measured the earth;
 * He looked and startled the nations;
 * the ancient mountains crumbled;
 * the perpetual hills collapsed.
 * His ways are everlasting.


 * I saw the tents of Cushan in distress;
 * the curtains of Midian were trembling.
 * Were You angry at the rivers, O LORD?
 * Was Your wrath against the streams?
 * Did You rage against the sea
 * when You rode on Your horses,
 * on Your chariots of salvation?
 * You brandished Your bow;
 * You called for many arrows.

Selah
 * You split the earth with rivers.
 * The mountains saw You and quaked;
 * torrents of water swept by.
 * The deep roared with its voice
 * and lifted its hands on high.
 * Sun and moon stood still
 * in their places
 * at the flash of Your flying arrows,
 * at the brightness of Your shining spear.
 * You marched across the earth with fury;
 * You threshed the nations in wrath.
 * You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
 * to save Your anointed.
 * You crushed the head of the house of the wicked
 * and stripped him from head to toe.

Selah
 * With his own spear You pierced his head,
 * when his warriors stormed out to scatter us,
 * gloating as though ready
 * to secretly devour the weak.
 * You trampled the sea with Your horses,
 * churning the great waters.


 * I heard and trembled within;
 * my lips quivered at the sound.
 * Decay entered my bones;
 * I trembled where I stood.
 * Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress
 * to come upon the people who invade us.

Habakkuk Rejoices


 * Though the fig tree does not bud
 * and no fruit is on the vines,
 * though the olive crop fails
 * and the fields produce no food,
 * though the sheep are cut off from the fold
 * and no cattle are in the stalls,
 * yet I will exult in the LORD;
 * I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!
 * GOD the Lord is my strength;
 * He makes my feet like those of a deer;
 * He makes me walk upon the heights!