To The Word – Day 125

₁This is the message that the LORD revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.

₂O LORD, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence? ₃Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you endure to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all round me, and there is fighting and quarrelling everywhere. ₄The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.

₅Then the LORD said to his people, “Keep watching the nations round you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it. ₆I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands. ₇They spread fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves.

₈“Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their horsemen come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.

₉“Their armies advance in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach. Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand. ₁₀They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them — they pile up earth against it and capture it. ₁₁Then they sweep on like the wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god.”

₁₂LORD, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. LORD, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us. ₁₃But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?

₁₄How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them? ₁₅The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch! ₁₆They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything.

₁₇Are they going to use their swords for ever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?

₁I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the LORD will tell me to say and what answer he will give to my complaint.

₂The LORD gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on clay tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance. ₃Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed. ₄And this is the message: ‘Those who are evil will not survive, but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.’ ”

₅Wealth is deceitful. Greedy people are proud and restless — like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves. ₆The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, “You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?”

₇But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you! ₈You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

₉You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by violence, and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger! ₁₀But your schemes have brought shame on your family; by destroying many nations you have only brought ruin on yourself. ₁₁Even the stones of the walls cry out against you, and the rafters echo the cry.

₁₂You are doomed! You founded a city on crime and built it up by murder. ₁₃The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labour, and all they have built goes up in flames. The LORD Almighty has done this. ₁₄But the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD's glory as the seas are full of water.

₁₅You are doomed! In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your neighbours; you made them stagger as though they were drunk. ₁₆You in turn will be covered with shame instead of honour. You yourself will drink and stagger. The LORD will make you drink your own cup of punishment, and your honour will be turned to disgrace. ₁₇You have cut down the forests of Lebanon; now you will be cut down. You killed its animals; now animals will terrify you. This will happen because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

₁₈What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it — a god that can't even talk! ₁₉You are doomed! You say to a piece of wood, “Wake up!” or to a block of stone, “Get up!” Can an idol reveal anything to you? It may be covered with silver and gold, but there is no life in it.

₂₀The LORD is in his holy Temple; let everyone on earth be silent in his presence.

₁This is a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk:

₁This is a message about Nineveh, the account of a vision seen by Nahum, who was from Elkosh.

₁₁From you, Nineveh, there came someone full of wicked schemes, who plotted against the LORD. ₁₂This is what the LORD says to his people Israel: “Even though the Assyrians are strong and numerous, they will be destroyed and disappear. My people, I made you suffer, but I will not do it again. ₁₃I will now end Assyria's power over you and break the chains that bind you.”

₁₄This is what the LORD has decreed about the Assyrians: “They will have no descendants to carry on their name. I will destroy the idols that are in the temples of their gods. I am preparing a grave for the Assyrians — they don't deserve to live!”

₁₅Look, a messenger is coming over the mountains with good news! He is on his way to announce the victory! People of Judah, celebrate your festivals and give God what you solemnly promised him. The wicked will never invade your land again. They have been totally destroyed!

₁₃“I am your enemy!” says the LORD Almighty. “I will burn up your chariots. Your soldiers will be killed in war, and I will take away everything that you took from others. The demands of your envoys will no longer be heard.”

₅The LORD Almighty says,

₈Nineveh, are you any better than Thebes, the capital of Egypt? She too had a river to protect her like a wall — the Nile was her defence. ₉She ruled Ethiopia and Egypt, there was no limit to her power; Libya was her ally. ₁₀Yet the people of Thebes were carried off into exile. At every street corner their children were beaten to death. Their leading men were carried off in chains and divided among their captors.

₁₁Nineveh, you too will fall into a drunken stupor! You too will try to escape from your enemies. ₁₂All your fortresses will be like fig trees with ripe figs: shake the trees, and the fruit falls right into your mouth! ₁₃Your soldiers are like women, and your country stands defenceless before your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars across your gates. ₁₄Draw water to prepare for a siege, and strengthen your fortresses! Trample the clay to make bricks, and get the brick moulds ready! ₁₅No matter what you do, you will still be burnt to death or killed in battle. You will be wiped out like crops eaten up by locusts.

You multiplied like locusts! ₁₆You produced more merchants than there are stars in the sky! But now they are gone, like locusts that spread their wings and fly away. ₁₇Your officials are like a swarm of locusts that stay in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone!

₁₈Emperor of Assyria, your governors are dead, and your noblemen are asleep for ever! Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them home again. ₁₉There is no remedy for your injuries, and your wounds cannot be healed. All those who hear the news of your destruction clap their hands for joy. Did anyone escape your endless cruelty?