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Habakkuk 1:12-2:8
The Message
Habakkuk 1:12-2:8
The Message
Why Is God Silent Now?
12-13 God, you’re from eternity, aren’t you?
Holy God, we aren’t going to die, are we?
God, you chose Babylonians for your judgment work?
Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline?
But you can’t be serious!
You can’t condone evil!
So why don’t you do something about this?
Why are you silent now?
This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous
and you stand around and watch!
* * *
14-16 You’re treating men and women
as so many fish in the ocean,
Swimming without direction,
swimming but not getting anywhere.
Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing.
He pulls in a good catch.
He catches his limit and fills his bucket—
a good day of fishing! He’s happy!
He praises his rod and reel,
piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it!
It’s made his day,
and he’s going to eat well tonight!
* * *
17 Are you going to let this go on and on?
Will you let this Babylonian fisherman
Fish like a weekend angler,
killing people as if they’re nothing but fish?
* * *
2 What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst.
I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon.
I’ll wait to see what God says,
how he’ll answer my complaint.
Full of Self, but Soul-Empty
2-3 And then God answered: “Write this.
Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters
so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness
pointing to what’s coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!
And it doesn’t lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait.
It’s on its way. It will come right on time.
* * *
4 “Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—
full of himself but soul-empty.
But the person in right standing before God
through loyal and steady believing
is fully alive, really alive.
5-6 “Note well: Money deceives.
The arrogant rich don’t last.
They are more hungry for wealth
than the grave is for cadavers.
Like death, they always want more,
but the ‘more’ they get is dead bodies.
They are cemeteries filled with dead nations,
graveyards filled with corpses.
Don’t give people like this a second thought.
Soon the whole world will be taunting them:
6-8 “‘Who do you think you are—
getting rich by stealing and extortion?
How long do you think
you can get away with this?’
Indeed, how long before your victims wake up,
stand up and make you the victim?
You’ve plundered nation after nation.
Now you’ll get a taste of your own medicine.
All the survivors are out to plunder you,
a payback for all your murders and massacres.
Habakkuk 1:12-2:5
New International Version
Habakkuk 1:12-2:5
New International Version
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?(A)
My God, my Holy One,(B) you[a] will never die.(C)
You, Lord, have appointed(D) them to execute judgment;
you, my Rock,(E) have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure(F) to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.(G)
Why then do you tolerate(H) the treacherous?(I)
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?(J)
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked(K) foe pulls all of them up with hooks,(L)
he catches them in his net,(M)
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense(N) to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
destroying nations without mercy?(O)
2 I will stand at my watch(P)
and station myself on the ramparts;(Q)
I will look to see what he will say(R) to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint.[b](S)
The Lord’s Answer
2 Then the Lord replied:
“Write(T) down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald[c] may run with it.
3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;(U)
it speaks of the end(V)
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait(W) for it;
it[d] will certainly come
and will not delay.(X)
4 “See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous person(Y) will live by his faithfulness[e](Z)—
5 indeed, wine(AA) betrays him;
he is arrogant(AB) and never at rest.
Because he is as greedy as the grave
and like death is never satisfied,(AC)
he gathers to himself all the nations
and takes captive(AD) all the peoples.
Footnotes
- Habakkuk 1:12 An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition; Masoretic Text we
- Habakkuk 2:1 Or and what to answer when I am rebuked
- Habakkuk 2:2 Or so that whoever reads it
- Habakkuk 2:3 Or Though he linger, wait for him; / he
- Habakkuk 2:4 Or faith
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.