Habakkuk

Wait and Oracle

I will stand in my watchtower 

and take my position 

on my battlements; 

I will see what he replies 

if there is an answer to my question.

Then the Lord answered me and said: 

“Write down the vision, 

inscribe it on tablets s

o it can be easily read, 

since this vision is for a future time; 

it will not fail but will be fulfilled 

at the appointed time. 

If it delays, wait for it, 

because it will come a

nd will not be late. Look:

I don’t look favorably 

on the one who gives way; 

the upright, however, 

will live by his faithfulness.”

The grasping conqueror

is always ready to devour; 

he opens his mouth wide 

like the underworld; 

he is as insatiable as death. 

He seizes all the nations 

and monopolizes 

all the people for himself.

But won’t all the people 

mock him with one voice? 

Won’t they write fierce satires 

to expose him? 

They will say: 

‘Woe to him who amasses 

what isn’t his and fills himself 

with extorted pledges. 

Your creditors 

will come unexpectedly; 

your money collectors will wake up 

and take all your goods.

Since you have plundered 

many nations, shedding blood 

and stripping the land, 

their cities and homes, 

all the remaining nations 

will turn against you.

Woe to those who build their homes 

on unjust profits 

and place their nests so high 

that they believe 

they can escape misfortune.

You have brought shame 

upon your household; 

you invite misfortune upon yourself. 

The very stones of your walls 

cry out against you, 

and the rafters 

respond from the roof.

Woe to the one who builds a city 

on bloodshed and establishes 

a town through evil! 

Has the Lord of hosts 

not ordained 

that the work of the nations 

be consumed by fire 

and that the people 

labor for nothing?

For as waters fill the sea, 

the earth will be filled 

with the knowledge of the Lord. 

Woe to him who gives drink 

to his neighbors and gets them drunk, 

so that everyone 

sees their nakedness! 

This will bring you 

more shame than glory. 

You will also drink 

and uncover your own shame. 

The cup turns over in the Lord’s hand 

and pours out on you: 

disgrace will swallow your glory.

The violence you caused in Lebanon 

will come back to you, 

and the animals will devour you, 

since you slaughtered human beings, 

destroyed the country and its cities, 

and wiped out everyone 

who lived there.

What use is a statue? 

Why do sculptors create them? 

Why these images 

and deceptive answers?

Why do their makers trust in them 

and produce silent idols? 

Woe to anyone who says 

to a piece of wood: “Wake up,” 

and to a dumb stone, “Get up.” 

Can it give any answer? 

For, even though it is plated 

with gold and silver, 

there is not a single breath of life in it. 

But the Lord lives 

in his holy temple: 

let the whole earth 

be silent before him!