Habakkuk · Catholic Public Domain Version
Habakkuk 2 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
1 I will stand firm during my watch, and fix my position over the fortification. And I will observe carefully, to see what might be said to me and what I might respond to my opponent.
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 And the Lord responded to me and said: Write the vision and explain it on tablets, so that he who reads it may run through it.
2 Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
3 For as yet the vision is far off, and it will appear in the end, and it will not lie. If it expresses any delay, wait for it. For it is arriving and it will arrive, and it will not be hindered.
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 Behold, he who is unbelieving, his soul will not be right within himself; but he who is just shall live in his faith.
4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.
5 And in the manner that wine deceives the heavy drinker, so will the arrogant man be deceived, and he will not be honored. He has enlarged his life like hellfire, and himself like death, and he is never fulfilled. And he will gather to himself all nations, and he will amass for himself all peoples.
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 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and an enigmatic utterance about him? And it will be said, “Woe to him who increases what is not his own.” How long, then, will he lay down dense clay against himself?
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 Shall they not suddenly rise up, who would bite you, and be stirred up, who would tear you, so that you will be a prey for them?
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 despoiled many peoples, all those who are left of the people shall despoil you, because of the blood of men, and the iniquity of the earth, of the city and all who dwell therein.
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 gathers together an evil greed for his house, so that his nest may be exalted, and thinking that he might free himself from the hand of evil.
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 devised confusion for your house, you have cut to pieces many peoples, and your soul has sinned.
10 You have devised shame to your house by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.
11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the wood that is between the joints of the building will respond.
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 town with blood and prepares a city by iniquity.
12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
13 Are not these things before the Lord of hosts? For the people will labor amid a great fire, and the nations will labor in emptiness, and they will fail.
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 shall be filled, that they might know the glory of the Lord, like the waters spreading over 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 anyone who gives a drink to a friend, releasing a drug and inebriating, so as to look upon 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 are filled with disgrace in place of glory. So then, drink and fall fast asleep, for the cup of the right hand of the Lord will surround you, and a disgraceful vomit 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 the iniquity of Lebanon will cover you, and the devastation of animals which will deter them from the blood of men, and the iniquity of the earth and the city, and of all who dwell therein.
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 Of what benefit is the graven image? For its maker has formed it, a molten and imaginary deception. For its maker has hoped in a figment of his own creation, so as to make a dumb likeness.
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, “Awaken,” to the silent stone, “Arise.” Is it able to teach? Behold, it has been entirely covered with gold and silver; and there is no spirit at all in its inner workings.
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. May all the earth be silent before his face.
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)