1 On my charge I stand, and I station myself on a bulwark, and I watch to see what He speaks against me, and what I reply to my reproof. 2 And YHWH answers me and says: “Write a vision, and explain on the tablets, || That he may run who is reading it. 3 For yet the vision [is] for a season, || And it breathes for the end, and does not lie, || If it lingers, wait for it, || For surely it comes, it is not late. 4 Behold, a presumptuous one! His soul is not upright within him, || And the righteous lives by his faith. 5 And also, because the wine [is] treacherous, || A man is haughty, and does not remain at home, || Who has enlarged his soul as Sheol, || And is as death that is not satisfied, || And gathers to itself all the nations, || And assembles to itself all the peoples, 6 Are these not—all of them—an allegory taken up against him, || And a moral of acute sayings for him, || And say, Woe [to] him who is multiplying [what is] not his? Until when also is he multiplying to himself heavy pledges? 7 Do your usurers not instantly rise up, || And those shaking you awake, || And you have been a spoil to them? 8 Because you have spoiled many nations, || All the remnant of the peoples spoil you, || Because of man’s blood, and of violence [to] the land, || [To] the city, and [to] all dwelling in it. 9 Woe [to] him who is gaining evil gain for his house, || To set his nest on high, || To be delivered from the hand of evil, 10 You have counseled a shameful thing to your house, || To cut off many peoples, and your soul [is] sinful. 11 For a stone cries out from the wall, || And a beam from the wood answers it. 12 Woe [to] him who is building a city by blood, || And establishing a city by iniquity. 13 Behold, is it not from YHWH of Hosts || And peoples are fatigued for fire, || And nations for vanity are weary? 14 For the earth is full of the knowledge of the glory of YHWH, || As the waters cover over a sea. 15 Woe [to] him who is giving drink to his neighbor, || Pouring out your bottle, and also making drunk, || In order to look on their nakedness. 16 You have been filled—shame without honor, || Drink also, and be uncircumcised, || Turn around to you does the cup of the right hand of YHWH, || And shameful spewing [is] on your glory. 17 For violence [done to] Lebanon covers you, || And spoil of beasts frightens them, || Because of man’s blood, and of violence [to] the land, || [To] the city, and [to] all dwelling in it. 18 What profit has a carved image given || That its former has hewn it? A molten image and teacher of falsehood, || That the former has trusted on his own formation—to make mute idols? 19 Woe [to] him who is saying to wood, Awake, || To a mute stone, Stir up, || It [is] a teacher! Behold, it is overlaid—gold and silver, || And there is no spirit in its midst. 20 And YHWH [is] in His holy temple, || Be silent before Him, all the earth!”
Habakkuk · Literal Standard Version
Habakkuk 2 Literal Standard Version
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)