6 "I am raising up the Chaldeans, a fierce and impetuous people. They are marching throughout the earth seizing what does not belong to them." 7 "The fear of them brings dread, for their idea of justice originates with themselves." 8 "Their horses are swifter than leopards and fiercer than wolves. Their horsemen gallop from far away. They seem to fly like eagles." 9 "They come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind gathering prisoners like sand." 10 "They mock kings and laugh at rulers and their fortresses which they turn into heaps of rubble." 11 "Though they sweep through like the wind, they will be held accountable. They believe their strength comes from their god."

Habakkuk's Second Question
12 "Are you not from everlasting, O LORD God, my Holy One? We will not die, O LORD our Rock. You have appointed them to correct us." 13 "You do not approve of evil or look with favor on wickedness. Why do You not stop those who are more wicked from swallowing up those that are more righteous?" 14 "Why have you made men like fish, or some creeping thing, not having a ruler over them?" 15 "The Chaldeans catch them with a hook, or in their net, happy with their great catch." 16 "Then they offer a sacrifice to their net and burn incense to it. They see it as the source of their large catch and plentiful food." 17 "Will they keep emptying their net in order to cast again and slay more nations without sparing?"

Habakkuk 2 - RWB Paraphrase (20 V)
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The Lord's Answer
1 I will stand my watch to see what He will say to me, and consider how I shall reply when I am reproved.

2 Then the LORD spoke to me saying, "Record the vision on tablets so that those who read it may know what to expected." 3 "The vision is for a time yet to come, but not far off. And it will surely come to pass." 4 "Behold, he whose soul is not upright shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith." 5 "Furthermore, wine betrays the arrogant so that he does not stay at home. His appetite is never satisfied, no matter how many nations he takes captive." 6 "Will not all these take up a taunting riddle against him, saying, 'Woe to him who increases what is not his. How long can he continue to make himself rich taking pledges?" 7 "Will not your creditors suddenly decide to collect what you owe? Then you will become their plunder."

8 "Because you have looted many nations, those who remain will loot you. Your bloodshed and violence will come back on you."

9 "Woe to the one who gets evil gain for his house, setting his nest high up, intending to be out of reach from all harm!" 10 "You have sinned against your own self by cutting off many peoples using your shameful means."

11 "The stones in the wall will cry out, and the beams of the framework will echo it." 12 "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and violence!"

13 "Has not the LORD of hosts determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, and that the nations exhaust themselves to gain nothing?" 14 "For the earth will be overwhelmed with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, the same way water covers the sea."

15 "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, making them drunk in order to bring them to shame." 16 "You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. You will drink and expose your own vulnerability. The cup in the LORD's right hand will come around to you and you will be utterly disgraced." 17 "You will be overwhelmed with the violence you committed against Lebanon with human bloodshed and devastation of its beasts." 18 "Of what profit is the idol or carved image that has been made by a man. It cannot speak?" 19 "Woe to the one who speaks to a piece of wood. Though it be overlaid with gold and silver, it has no breath."

20 "But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent before Him."

Habakkuk 3 - RWB Paraphrase (19 V)
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Habakkuk's Prayer
1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. 2 "Lord, I have heard the report about You and I stand in awe of your deeds. O LORD, make Your power known in our day and in Your wrath remember to be merciful."

3 God, the holy One, comes from Teman, from mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens and the earth is full of His praise. 4 His radiance is like sunlight with rays flashing from His hand revealing just some of His power. 5 Pestilence goes before Him and plague comes after. 6 He stood surveying the earth. His look startled the nations. He made the ancient mountains crumble and the hills of old collapse. His ways are eternal. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan under distress, and the dwellings of Midian in anguish as their tent curtains trembled. 8 Was the LORD's rage against the rivers or the sea when He rode with His horses and victorious chariots? 9 He brought out His bow and the rods of His chastisement. He split the earth with rivers. 10 The mountains saw Him and quaked. Seeing Him the mountains writhed with torrents of water sweeping past. The deep roared and lifted its waves on high. 11 The sun and moon, standing in place, went away at the light of His arrows and the radiance of His spear. 12 In indignation He marched through the earth trampling the nations. 13 He went forth for the salvation of His people, His anointed. He struck the head of house of evil, laying him open from thigh to neck.

14 Using his own spear You pierced his head as his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating at the thought of devouring the oppressed who were hiding. 15 You trampled on the sea with Your horses, over the surge of many waters. 16 I listened and my lips trembled. I felt queasy and too weak to stand. I must wait quietly for the coming invasion. 17 Even though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive yield fails and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off and there are no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will exult in the LORD and rejoice in the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD GOD is my strength, and has made my feet like that of the deer.

For the choir director with stringed instruments.

Chapters: 1 2 3