HABAKKUK 2 [†] I will  h take my stand at my watchpost

and station myself on the tower,

and  i look out to see  j what he will say to me,

and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

2[†]And the LORD answered me:

 k “Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

3[†] For still  l the vision awaits its appointed time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seems slow,  m wait for it;

 n it will surely come; it will not delay.

4[^][†] “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,

but  o the righteous shall live by his faith. [1]

5[†] “Moreover, wine [2] is  p a traitor,

an arrogant man who is never at rest. [3]

His greed is as wide as Sheol;

like death  q he has never enough.

 r He gathers for himself all nations

and collects as his own all peoples.”

6[†]Shall not all these  s take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

 t “Woe to him  u who heaps up what is not his own—

for  v how long?—

and  w loads himself with pledges!”

7[†]  x Will not your debtors suddenly arise,

and those awake who will make you tremble?

Then you will be spoil for them.

8[^][†]  y Because you have plundered many nations,

all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,

 z for the blood of man and  y violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

9[†]  t “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,

 a to  b set his nest on high,

to be safe from the reach of harm!

10[†] You have devised shame for your house

 c by cutting off many peoples;

you have forfeited your life.

11[†] For  d the stone will cry out from the wall,

and the beam from the woodwork respond.

12[†]  t “Woe to him  e who builds a town with blood

and founds a city on iniquity!

13[†] Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts

that  f peoples labor merely for fire,

and nations weary themselves for nothing?

14[†]  g For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of  h the glory of the LORD

as the waters cover the sea.

15[†]  t “Woe to him  i who makes his neighbors drink—

you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,

in order to gaze  j at their nakedness!

16[^][†] You will have your fill  k of shame instead of glory.

 l Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!

 l The cup in the LORD’s right hand

will come around to you,

and  m utter shame will come upon your glory!

17[†]  n The violence  o done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,

as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,

 n for the blood of man and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

18[†]  p “What profit is an idol

when its maker has shaped it,

a metal image,  q a teacher of lies?

For its maker trusts in his own creation

when he makes  r speechless idols!

19[†]  s Woe to him  t who says to a wooden thing, Awake;

to a silent stone, Arise!

Can this teach?

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

and  u there is no breath at all in it.

20[†] But  v the LORD is in his holy temple;

 w let all the earth keep silence before him.”