Habakkuk 2:1-20 I will stand at my guard post at the tower on the wall. I will watch and wait to see what he will say to me and what I will answer when I am reproved.

NSB⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ I will stand at my guard post at the tower on the wall. I will watch [and wait] to see what he will say to me and what I will answer when I am reproved. ² Jehovah answered me: »Write the vision. Record it on tablets that he who reads it may run. ³ »The vision is yet for the appointed time. It moves quickly to the end. It will not lie! If it delays, wait for it for it will surely come. It will not be late! ⁴ »Behold, he is proud. He is not righteous. The righteous will live by faith. ⁵ »Wine is treacherous and never allows an arrogant man to rest. He never stays home. He has a large appetite like the grave. Like death he is never satisfied. He gathers all nations and collects all the people. ⁶ »Will they all taunt him by directing clever sayings and riddles at him? They will say: How horrible it will be for the one who makes himself rich with what is not his own (by extortion) and makes himself wealthy on loans. How long will this go on? ⁷ »Will your creditors and collection agents suddenly arise and make you tremble? Then you will become their prize. ⁸ »The people who remain will plunder you because you have plundered many nations. It is because of the blood you shed and the violence you brought on the land, the city and all who dwell there. ⁹ »He who receives a dishonest profit for his house will have trouble. He may set his nest on high in order to be delivered from the hand of evil! ¹⁰ »You have purposed a shameful thing for your house. You have sinned against yourself by destroying many people. ¹¹ »The stones will cry out from the wall. The beams out of the woodwork will answer it. ¹² »Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed and establishes a city with iniquity! ¹³ »Is it for Jehovah of Hosts that the peoples labor for the fire? Do the nations weary themselves for vanity? ¹⁴ »The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. ¹⁵ »Woe to anyone who gives his neighbors drink and empties his bottle. He makes them drunk and then looks on their nakedness. ¹⁶ »You are filled with shame and not glory. You drink also as one who is uncircumcised. The cup of Jehovah's right (strong) hand will come around to you. Intense shame will tarnish your glory. ¹⁷ »The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you. The destruction of the animals and shedding of blood will frighten you. The violence done to the inhabitants of the land and the city will terrify you. ¹⁸ »What is an idol worth after the carver is done? It is merely a false god. Why trust a speechless image made by human hands from wood or metal? ¹⁹ »Woe to anyone who says to an idol of wood or stone get up! You can learn nothing from idols covered with silver or gold? They cannot breathe or talk. ²⁰ »Jehovah is in his Holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.«