Habakkuk 1; Habakkuk 2; Habakkuk 3; Revelation 15

Habakkuk 1

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2 LORD, how long will I call for help and you not listen? I cry out to you, "Violence!" but you don't deliver us.

3 Why do you show me injustice and look at anguish so that devastation and violence are before me? There is strife, and conflict abounds.

4 The Instruction is ineffective. Justice does not endure because the wicked surround the righteous. Justice becomes warped.

5 Look among the nations and watch! Be astonished and stare because something is happening in your days that you wouldn't believe even if told.

6 I am about to rouse the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, which travels throughout the earth to possess dwelling places it does not own.

7 The Chaldean is dreadful and fearful. He makes his own justice and dignity.

8 His horses are faster than leopards; they are quicker than wolves of the evening. His horsemen charge forward; his horsemen come from far away. They fly in to devour, swiftly, like an eagle.

9 They come for violence, the horde with all their faces set toward the desert. He takes captives like sand.

10 He makes fun of kings; rulers are ridiculous to him. He laughs at every fortress, then he piles up dirt and takes it.

11 He passes through like the wind and invades; but he will be held guilty, the one whose strength is his god.

12 LORD, aren't you ancient, my God, my holy one? Don't let us die. LORD, you put the Chaldean here for judgment. Rock, you established him as a rebuke.

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you are unable to look at disaster. Why would you look at the treacherous or keep silent when the wicked swallows one who is more righteous?

14 You made humans like the fish of the sea, like creeping things with no one to rule over them.

15 The Chaldean brings all of them up with a fishhook. He drags them away with a net; he collects them in his fishing net, then he rejoices and celebrates.

16 Therefore, he sacrifices to his net; he burns incense to his fishing nets, because due to them his portion grows fat and his food becomes luxurious.

17 Should he continue to empty his net and continue to slay nations without sparing them?

Habakkuk 2

1 I will take my post; I will position myself on the fortress. I will keep watch to see what the Lord says to me and how he will respond to my complaint.

2 Then the LORD answered me and said, Write a vision, and make it plain upon a tablet so that a runner can read it.

3 There is still a vision for the appointed time; it testifies to the end; it does not deceive. If it delays, wait for it; for it is surely coming; it will not be late.

4 Some people's desires are truly audacious; they don't do the right thing. But the righteous person will live honestly.

5 Moreover, wine betrays an arrogant man. He doesn't rest. He opens his jaws like the grave; like death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all nations to himself and collects all peoples for himself.

6 Won't everyone tell parables about him or mocking poems concerning him? They will say: Doom to the one who multiplies what doesn't belong to him and who increases his own burden. How long?

7 Won't they suddenly rise up to bite you? Those who frighten you will awaken; you will become plunder for them.

8 Since you yourself have plundered many nations, all the rest of the peoples will plunder you because of the human bloodshed and the violence done to the earth, to every village, and to all its inhabitants.

9 Doom to the one making evil gain for his own house, for putting his own nest up high, for delivering himself from the grasp of calamity.

10 You plan shame for your own house, cutting off many peoples and sinning against your own life.

11 A stone will cry out from a village wall, and a tree branch will respond.

12 Pity the one building a city with bloodshed and founding a village with injustice.

13 Look, isn't this from the LORD of heavenly forces? Peoples grow weary from making just enough fire; nations become tired for nothing.

14 But the land will be full of the knowledge of the LORD's glory, just as water covers the sea.

15 Doom to the one who makes his companions drunk, pouring out your wrath in order to see them naked.

16 You have drunk your fill of dishonor rather than glory. So drink and stagger. The cup of the LORD's strong hand will come around to you; disgrace will engulf you.

17 Because of the violence done to Lebanon, he will overwhelm you; the destruction of animals will terrify you, as will human bloodshed and violence throughout the land, the villages, and all their inhabitants.

18 Of what value is an idol, when its potter carves it, or a cast image that has been shaped? It is a teacher of lies, for the potter trusts the pottery, though it is incapable of speaking.

19 Doom to the one saying to the tree, "Wake up!" or "Get up" to the silent stone. Does it teach? Look, it is overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no breath within it.

20 But the LORD is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.

Habakkuk 3

1 The prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth:

2 LORD, I have heard your reputation. I have seen your work. Over time, revive it. Over time, make it known. Though angry, remember compassion.

3 God comes from Teman and the holy one from the mountain of Paran. Selah His majesty covers the heavens and his praise fills the earth.

4 His radiance is like the sunlight, with rays flashing from his hand. That is the hiding place of his power.

5 Pestilence walks in front of him. Plague marches at his feet.

6 He stops and measures the earth. He looks and sets out against the nations. The everlasting mountains collapse; the eternal hills bow down; the eternal paths belong to him.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan under duress. The curtains of the land of Midian were quaking.

8 Was the LORD raging against the rivers? Or was your anger directed against the rivers? Or was your fury directed against the sea when you rode on your horses or rode your chariots to victory?

9 You raise up your empty bow, uttering curses for the arrows.Selah With rivers you split open the earth.

10 The mountains see you and writhe. A flood of water rushes through. The deep utters its voice; it raises its hands aloft.

11 Sun and moon stand still high above. With the light, your arrows shoot, your spear at the flash of lightning.

12 In fury, you stride the earth; in anger you tread the nations.

13 You go out to save your people. For the salvation of your anointed you smashed the head of the house of wickedness, laying bare the foundation up to the neck. Selah

14 You pierce the head of his warrior with his own spear. His warriors are driven off, those who take delight in oppressing us, those who take pleasure in secretly devouring the poor.

15 You make your horses tread on the sea; turbulent waters foam.

16 I hear and my insides tremble. My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters my bones. I tremble while I stand, while I wait for the day of distress to come against the people who attack us.

17 Though the fig tree doesn't bloom, and there's no produce on the vine; though the olive crop withers, and the fields don't provide food; though the sheep is cut off from the pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls;

18 I will rejoice in the LORD. I will rejoice in the God of my deliverance.

19 The LORD God is my strength. He will set my feet like the deer. He will let me walk upon the heights.

Revelation 15

1 Then I saw another great and awe-inspiring sign in heaven. There were seven angels with seven plagues—and these are the last, for with them God's anger is brought to an end.

2 Then I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire. Those who gained victory over the beast, its image, and the number of its name were standing by the glass sea, holding harps from God.

3 They sing the song of Moses, God's servant, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and awe-inspiring are your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, king of the nations.

4 Who won't fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? You alone are holy. All nations will come and fall down in worship before you, for your acts of justice have been revealed."

5 After this I looked, and the temple in heaven—that is, the tent of witness—was opened.

6 The seven angels, who have the seven plagues, came out of the temple. They were clothed in pure bright linen and had gold sashes around their waists.

7 Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven gold bowls full of the anger of the God who lives forever and always.

8 The temple was filled with smoke from God's glory and power, and no one could go into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven last angels were brought to an end.