Habakkuk · Berean Standard Bible
Habakkuk 2 Berean Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 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.
1 I will stand at my watch and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
2 Then the LORD answered me: “Write down this vision and clearly inscribe it on tablets, so that a herald may run with it.
2 Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
3 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.
3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it, because it will surely come. It won’t delay.
4 Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright — but the righteous will live by faith —
4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.
5 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.
5 Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous: an arrogant man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol; he is like death and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations and heaps to himself all peoples.
6 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?’
6 Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’
7 Will not your creditors suddenly arise and those who disturb you awaken? Then you will become their prey.
7 Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?
8 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.
8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.
9 Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!
9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
10 You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life.
10 You have devised shame to your house by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.
11 For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork.
11 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.
12 Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by iniquity!
12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
13 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?
13 Behold, isn’t it from Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.
15 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!
15 “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!
16 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.
16 You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
17 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.
17 For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals will terrify you, because of men’s blood and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.
18 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.
18 “What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?
19 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.”
19 Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.
20 But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.
20 But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
Cross references (20)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Isaiah 21:8; Isaiah 62:6; 2 Samuel 18:24; Psalm 85:8; Psalm 73:16–17
- 2 Isaiah 30:8; Revelation 14:13; Revelation 1:18–19; Deuteronomy 31:22; Revelation 21:5–8
- 3 Psalm 27:14; Hebrews 10:36–37; Ezekiel 12:25; Lamentations 3:25–26; Psalm 102:13
- 4 Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38; Galatians 3:11–12; Galatians 2:16; John 3:36
- 5 Isaiah 5:11–12; Proverbs 20:1; Proverbs 27:20; Proverbs 31:4–5; Isaiah 2:11–12
- 6 Jeremiah 50:13; Jeremiah 29:22; Isaiah 14:4–19; Numbers 23:7; Job 20:15–29
- 7 Proverbs 29:1; Isaiah 13:16–18; Isaiah 48:14–15; Daniel 5:25–31; Isaiah 45:1–3
- 8 Isaiah 33:1; Habakkuk 2:17; Jeremiah 27:7; Jeremiah 50:17–18; Jeremiah 50:28
- 9 Jeremiah 49:16; Jeremiah 22:13–19; Proverbs 18:11–12; 1 Kings 21:2–4; Obadiah 4
- 10 Nahum 1:14; 2 Kings 9:26; Numbers 16:38; 2 Kings 10:7; Jeremiah 36:31
- 11 Luke 19:40; Joshua 24:27; James 5:3–4; Job 31:38–40; Genesis 4:10
- 12 Micah 3:10; Nahum 3:1; Daniel 4:27–31; Jeremiah 22:13–17; Revelation 17:6
- 13 Jeremiah 51:58; Proverbs 21:30; Isaiah 50:11; Psalm 127:1–2; Malachi 1:4
- 14 Isaiah 11:9; Psalm 22:27; Psalm 72:19; Isaiah 6:3; Psalm 86:9
- 15 Jeremiah 51:7; Genesis 9:22; Revelation 18:3; Revelation 17:2; Hosea 7:5
- 16 Isaiah 47:3; Nahum 3:5–6; Revelation 18:6; Psalm 75:8; Hosea 7:5
- 17 Habakkuk 2:8; Zechariah 11:1; Psalm 55:23; Revelation 18:20–24; Proverbs 28:17
- 18 Jeremiah 10:8; 1 Corinthians 12:2; Isaiah 44:9–10; Zechariah 10:2; Jeremiah 2:27–28
- 19 Psalm 135:17; Jeremiah 10:4; Jeremiah 10:9; 1 Kings 18:26–29; Psalm 97:7
- 20 Zechariah 2:13; Zephaniah 1:7; Psalm 46:10; Psalm 11:4; Isaiah 6:1
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… Epistle to the Romans, "But now, without the law, has the righteousness of God been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; for the just shall live by faith." But this fact, that the just shall live by faith, had been previously announced by the prophets.
… into four divisions--prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance--and as each of these divisions has its own virtues, faith is among the parts of justice, and has the chief place with as many of us as know what that saying means, "The just shall live by faith." But if Faith is a goddess, I wonder why these keen lovers of a multitude …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
And thus it is written, "The just lives by faith," for we do not as yet see our good, and must therefore live by faith; neither have we in ourselves power to live rightly, but can do so only if He who has given us faith to believe in His help do help us when we believe and pray.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
The faithful; because it is "by faith that the just shall live." For there is in the Church this order, some go before, others follow; and those who go before make themselves "an example" to those who follow; and those who follow imitate those who go before.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)