1 I will stand upon my watch, and fix my foot upon the tower: and I will watch, to see what will be said to me, and what I may answer to him that reproveth me. 2 And the Lord answered me, and said: Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables: that he that readeth it may run over it. 3 For as yet the vision is far off, and it shall appear at the end, and shall not lie: if it make any delay, wait for it: for it shall surely come, and it shall not be slack. 4 Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself: but the just shall live in his faith. 5 And as wine deceiveth him that drinketh it: so shall the proud man be, and he shall not be honoured: who hath enlarged his desire like hell: and is himself like death, and he is never satisfied: but will gather together unto him all nations, and heap together unto him all people. 6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a dark speech concerning him: and it shall be said: Woe to him that heapeth together that which is not his own? how long also doth he load himself with thick clay? 7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee: and they be stirred up that shall tear thee, and thou shalt be a spoil to them? 8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all that shall be left of the people shall spoil thee: because of men’s blood, and for the iniquity of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. 9 Woe to him that gathereth together an evil covetousness to his house, that his nest may be on high, and thinketh he may be delivered out of the hand of evil. 10 Thou hast devised confusion to thy house, thou hast cut off many people, and thy soul hath sinned. 11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall: and the timber that is between the joints of the building, shall answer. 12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and prepareth a city by iniquity. 13 Are not these things from the Lord of hosts? for the people shall labour in a great fire: and the nations in vain, and they shall faint. 14 For the earth shall be filled, that men may know the glory of the Lord, as waters covering the sea. 15 Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend, and presenteth his gall, and maketh him drunk, that he may behold his nakedness. 16 Thou art filled with shame instead of glory: drink thou also, and fall fast asleep: the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall compass thee, and shameful vomiting shall be on thy glory. 17 For the iniquity of Libanus shall cover thee, and the ravaging of beasts shall terrify them because of the blood of men, and the iniquity of the land, and of the city, and of all that dwell therein. 18 What doth the graven thing avail, because the maker thereof hath graven it, a molten, and a false image? because the forger thereof hath trusted in a thing of his own forging, to make dumb idols. 19 Woe to him that saith to wood: Awake: to the dumb stone: Arise: can it teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold, and silver, and there is no spirit in the bowels thereof. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
Habakkuk · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Habakkuk 2 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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)