Habakkuk, 2

1. I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

1. I will stand in my watchtower and take up position on my battlements; I will see what he replies, if there is an answer to my question.

2. And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make [it] plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

2. Then Yahweh answered me and said, "Write down the vision, inscribe it on tables so it can be easily read,

3. For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

3. since this is a vision for an appointed time; it will not fail but will be fulfilled in due time. If it delays, wait for it, for it will come and will not be deferred. Look:

4. Behold, his soul [which] is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

4. I don't look with favor on the one who gives way; the upright, on the other hand, will live by his faithfulness."

5. Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, [he is] a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and [is] as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:

5. The grasping conqueror is always ready to devour, he enlarges his mouth like the netherworld; he is as insatiable as death, he seizes on all the nations and monopolizes all the peoples for himself.

6. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth [that which is] not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!

6. But will not all the people mock him, as with one voice? Will they not write fierce satires to show him up? They will say, Woe to him who amasses what is not his and fills himself with extorted pledges.

7. Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

7. Your creditors will come suddenly, your money collectors will waken and take away all your goods.

8. Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and [for] the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

8. Since you have plundered so many nations, shedding blood, stripping the land, their cities and homes, all the remaining nations will turn on you.

9. Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!

9. Woe to him who raises his house on unjust profits and fixes his nest so high that he thinks he can thereby escape misfortune!

10. Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned [against] thy soul.

10. You have willed the disgrace of your house; you draw evil on your own head.

11. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

11. The very stones of your walls cry out against you and the rafters reply from the roof.

12. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!

12. Woe to the one who builds a city on bloody foundations and sets up a town by means of evil.

13. Behold, [is it] not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?

13. Has Yahweh of hosts not willed that the work of the nations go to the fire and the peoples toil for nothing?

14. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

14.

15. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to [him], and makest [him] drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

15. Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors and drugs them to make them drunk so that everyone looks at their nakedness.

16. Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing [shall be] on thy glory.

16. This will bring you more shame than glory. You will also drink and uncover your foreskin. The cup turns over in Yahweh's hand and pours out onto you: disgrace will swallow your glory.

17. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, [which] made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

17. The violence you did in Lebanon will befall you and the animals will devour you, since you slaughtered human beings, destroyed the country with its cities and put an end to all who lived there.

18. What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

18. What use is a statue? Why do the sculptors make them? Why these images and deceiving answers? Why do their makers trust them and produce mute idols?

19. Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it [is] laid over with gold and silver, and [there is] no breath at all in the midst of it.

19. Woe to the one who says to a piece of wood, "Wake up," and to a dumb stone, "Get up." Can it give any answer? For, even though it is plated with gold and silver, there is not a single breath of life in it.

20. But the LORD [is] in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

20. But Yahweh lives in his holy Temple: let the whole earth be silent before him!