Habakkuk 2:4-8
The Message
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 2:4-6
New International Version
4 “See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous person(A) will live by his faithfulness[a](B)—
5 indeed, wine(C) betrays him;
he is arrogant(D) and never at rest.
Because he is as greedy as the grave
and like death is never satisfied,(E)
he gathers to himself all the nations
and takes captive(F) all the peoples.
6 “Will not all of them taunt(G) him with ridicule and scorn, saying,
“‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods
and makes himself wealthy by extortion!(H)
How long must this go on?’
Footnotes
- Habakkuk 2:4 Or faith
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.