Habakkuk · Young's Literal Translation
Habakkuk 2 Young's Literal Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 On my charge I stand, and I station myself on a bulwark, and I watch to see what He doth speak against me, and what I do reply to my reproof.
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 Jehovah answereth me and saith: 'Write a vision, and explain on the tables, That he may run who is reading it.
2 Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
3 For yet the vision [is] for a season, And it breatheth for the end, and doth not lie, If it tarry, wait for it, For surely it cometh, it is not late.
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 Lo, a presumptuous one! Not upright is his soul within him, And the righteous by his stedfastness liveth.
4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.
5 And also, because the wine [is] treacherous, A man is haughty, and remaineth not at home, Who hath enlarged as sheol his soul, And is as death that is not satisfied, And doth gather unto itself all the nations, And doth assemble unto itself all the 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 Do not these — all of them — against him a simile taken up, And a moral of acute sayings for him, And say, Woe [to] him who is multiplying [what is] not his? Till when also is he multiplying to himself heavy pledges?
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 Do not thy usurers instantly rise up, And those shaking thee awake up, And thou hast been for a spoil to 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 thou hast spoiled many nations, Spoil thee do all the remnant of the peoples, Because of man's blood, and of violence [to] the land, [To] the city, and [to] all dwelling in it.
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 is gaining evil gain for his house, To set on high his nest, To be delivered 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 Thou hast counselled a shameful thing to thy house, To cut off many peoples, and sinful [is] thy soul.
10 You have devised shame to your house by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.
11 For a stone from the wall doth cry out, And a holdfast from the wood answereth it.
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 is building a city by blood, And establishing a city by iniquity.
12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
13 Lo, is it not from Jehovah of Hosts And peoples are fatigued for fire, And nations for vanity are weary?
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 full is the earth of the knowledge of the honour of Jehovah, As waters cover [the bottom of] a 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 is giving drink to his neighbour, Pouring out thy bottle, and also making drunk, In order to look on 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 Thou hast been filled — shame without honour, Drink thou also, and be uncircumcised, Turn round unto thee doth the cup of the right hand of Jehovah, And shameful spewing [is] on thine honour.
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 violence [to] Lebanon doth cover thee, And spoil of beasts doth affright them, Because of man's blood, and of violence [to] the land, [To] the city, and [to] all dwelling in it.
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 profit hath a graven image given That its former hath graven it? A molten image and teacher of falsehood, That trusted hath the former on his own formation — to make dumb idols?
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 is saying to wood, 'Awake,' 'Stir up,' to a dumb stone, It a teacher! lo, it is overlaid — gold and silver, And there is no spirit in its midst.
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 And Jehovah [is] in His holy temple, Be silent before Him, all the earth!
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)