HABAKKUK 2

1

2

3

¹I WILL stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I shall answer concerning my complaint.

²And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

³For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.

⁴Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

⁵Yea, moreover, wine is a treacherous dealer, a haughty man, and that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as hell, and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples.

⁶Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges!

⁷Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

⁸Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.

⁹Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

¹⁰Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul.

¹¹For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

¹²Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!

¹³Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

¹⁴For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that addest thy venom thereto, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

¹⁶Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and be as one uncircumcised: the cup of the LORD’S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and foul shame shall be upon thy glory.

¹⁷For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.

¹⁸What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and the teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

¹⁹Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

²⁰But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.