Habakkuk 1:1-2:4
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a The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
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O Lord, b how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you c "Violence!"
and you will not save?
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d Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction c and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
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e So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
f For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
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g "Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
h For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
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For behold, i I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
j who march through the breadth of the earth,
k to seize dwellings not their own.
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They are dreaded and fearsome;
l their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
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m Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than n the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
o they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
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They all come p for violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives r like sand.
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At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
s They laugh at every fortress,
for t they pile up earth and take it.
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Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
u guilty men, v whose own might is their god!"
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Are you not w from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
x We shall not die.
O Lord, y you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O z Rock, have established them for reproof.
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You who are a of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
b why do you idly look at traitors
and c remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
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You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.
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d He brings all of them up e with a hook;
he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
so he rejoices and is glad.
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f Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,
and his food is rich.
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Is he then to keep on emptying his net
g and mercilessly killing nations forever?
Habakkuk 2
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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.
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And the Lord answered me:
k "Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
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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.
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"Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but o the righteous shall live by his faith.
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Cross References
Nahum 1:1
An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
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Cross References
Psalms 13:1
How long, O Lord ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
Psalms 89:46
How long, O Lord ? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?
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Cross References
Micah 6:12
Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 9:2 - 6
Oh that I had in the desert a travelers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men.
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Cross References
Habakkuk 1:2
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save?
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Cross References
Micah 7:3
Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.
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Cross References
Job 21:7
Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Jeremiah 12:1
Righteous are you, O Lord, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
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Cross References
Acts 13:41
"'Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.'"
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Cross References
Isaiah 28:21
For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim; as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused; to do his deed - strange is his deed! and to work his work - alien is his work!
Isaiah 29:14
Therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 5:15
Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the Lord. It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.
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Cross References
Habakkuk 2:5
"Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples."
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Cross References
Habakkuk 2:6
Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, "Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own - for how long? - and loads himself with pledges!
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Cross References
Habakkuk 1:10 - 11
At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 4:13
Behold, he comes up like clouds; his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles - woe to us, for we are ruined!
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Cross References
Jeremiah 5:6
Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.
Zephaniah 3:3
Her officials within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:49
The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand.
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Cross References
Habakkuk 2:17
The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.
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Cross References
Joshua 11:4
And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.
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Cross References
Nahum 3:12
All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs - if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 4:2
And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.
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Cross References
Hosea 13:16
Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
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Cross References
Habakkuk 1:7
They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 33:27
The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, Destroy.
Psalms 90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalms 93:2
Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.
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Cross References
Malachi 3:6
For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
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Cross References
Isaiah 10:5 - 7
Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 32:4
The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
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Cross References
Psalms 5:5
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 12:1
Righteous are you, O Lord, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
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Cross References
Psalms 35:22
You have seen, O Lord ; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!
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Cross References
Jeremiah 16:16
Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
Amos 4:2
The Lord God has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.
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Cross References
Isaiah 19:8
The fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast a hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets on the water.
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Cross References
Habakkuk 1:11
Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!
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Cross References
Habakkuk 2:10
You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life.
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Cross References
Isaiah 21:8
Then he who saw cried out: "Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 6:17
I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not pay attention.
Ezekiel 33:2
Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman.
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Cross References
Psalms 85:8
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.
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Cross References
Isaiah 8:1
Then the Lord said to me, "Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, 'Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
Isaiah 30:8
And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.
Revelation 1:19
Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
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Cross References
Daniel 10:14
And came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.
Ezekiel 7:5 - 7
Thus says the Lord God : Disaster after disaster! Behold, it comes.
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Cross References
Zephaniah 3:8
Therefore wait for me," declares the Lord, "for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.
Isaiah 8:17
I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
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Cross References
Hebrews 10:37
For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
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Cross References
Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith.
Galatians 3:11
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith.
Hebrews 10:38
But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.