< Habakkuk 2 >
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, (Sheol )
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!”
