Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is the entire book
of Habakkuk, chapters 1 to 3. Chapter 1 The burden
which the prophet Habakkuk saw. O Lord, how long
shall I cry, and you will not hear? Even cry
out to you violence, and you will not save. Why
do you show me iniquity, and cause me to see
trouble? For plundering and violence are before
me. there is strife and contention arises therefore
the law is powerless and justice never goes forth
for the wicked surround the righteous therefore
perverse judgment proceeds look among the nations
and watch be utterly astounded for i will work
a work in your days which you would not believe
though it were told you for indeed i am raising
up the chaldeans a bitter and hasty nation which
marches through the breadth of the earth to possess
dwelling places that are not theirs they are
terrible and dreadful their judgment and their
dignity proceed from themselves their horses
also are swifter than leopards and more fierce
than evening wolves their chargers charge ahead
their cavalry comes from afar they fly as the
eagle that hastens to eat they all come for violence
their faces are set like the east wind They gather
captives like sand, they scoff at kings, and
princes are scorned by them. They deride every
stronghold, for they heap up earthen mounds and
seize it. Then his mind changes, and he transgresses,
he commits offense, ascribing this power to his
God. Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my
God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you
have appointed them for judgment. O Rock, you
have marked them for correction. You are of purer
eyes than to behold evil. and cannot look on
wickedness why do you look on those who deal
treacherously and hold your tongue when the wicked
devours a person more righteous than he why do
you make men like fish of the sea like creeping
things that have no ruler over them they take
up all of them with a hook they catch them in
their net and gather them in their dragnet therefore
they rejoice and are glad Therefore they sacrifice
to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet,
because by them their share is sumptuous, and
their food is plentiful. Shall they therefore
empty their net, and continue to slay nations
without pity? Chapter 2 I will stand my watch,
and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see
what he will say to me, and what I will answer
when I am corrected. Then the Lord answered me
and said, Write the vision, and make it plain
on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For
the vision is yet for an appointed time, but
at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will
surely come, it will not tarry. Behold the proud,
his soul is not upright in him, but the just
shall live by his faith. Indeed, because he transgresses
by wine, he is a proud man, and he does not stay
at home. because he enlarges his desire as hell,
and he is like death and cannot be satisfied.
He gathers to himself all nations, and heaps
up for himself all peoples. Will not all these
take up a proverb against him, and a taunting
riddle against him, and say, Woe to him who increases
what is not his! How long! And to him who loathes
himself with many pledges, will not your creditors
rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress
you? And you will become their booty. Because
you have plundered many nations, all the remnant
of the people shall plunder you, because of men's
blood, and the violence of the land and the city,
and of all who dwell in it. Woe to him who covets
evil gain for his house, that he may set his
nest on high, that he may be delivered from the
power of disaster. You give shameful counsel
to your house, cutting off many peoples, and
sin against your soul. For the stone will cry
out from the wall, and the beam from the timbers
will answer it. Woe to him who builds a town
with bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity.
Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the
peoples labor to feed the fire, and nations worry
themselves in vain? For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea. Woe to him who gives
drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle,
even to make him drunk, that you may look on
his nakedness. You are filled with shame instead
of glory. You also drink and be exposed as uncircumcised.
The cup of the Lord's right hand will be turned
against you, and utter shame will be on your
glory. For the violence done to Lebanon will
cover you, and the plunder of beasts which made
them afraid because of men's blood, and the violence
of the land and the city, and of all who dwell
in it. What prophet is the image that its maker
should carve it, the molded image a teacher of
lies, that the maker of its mold should trust
in it to make mute idols? Woe to him who says
to wood, Awake! To silent stone, Arise! It shall
teach. Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
yet in it there is no breath at all. But the
Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth
keep silence before him. Chapter 3 A prayer of
Habakkuk the prophet on Shigernot. O Lord, I
have heard your speech and was afraid. O Lord,
revive your work in the midst of the years. In
the midst of the years make it known. In wrath
remember mercy. God came from Teman, the Holy
One from Mount Paran, Sila. His glory covered
the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise.
His brightness was like the light He had raised
flashing from His hand, and there His power was
hidden. Before him went pestilence, and fever
followed at his feet. He stood and measured the
earth. He looked and startled the nations, and
the everlasting mountains were scattered. The
perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting.
I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction. The
curtains of the land of Midian trembled. O Lord,
were you displeased with the rivers? Was your
anger against the rivers? Was your wrath against
the sea? That you rode on your horses, your chariots
of salvation? your bow was made quite ready oaths
were sworn over your arrows salah you divided
the earth with rivers the mountains saw you and
trembled the overflowing of the water passed
by the deep uttered its voice and lifted its
hands on high the sun and moon stood still in
their habitation at the light of your arrows
they went at the shining of your glittering spear
you marched through the land in indignation you
trampled the nations in anger You went forth
for the salvation of your people, for the salvation
of your anointed. You struck the head from the
house of the wicked by laying bare from foundation
to neck. Salah. You thrust through with his own
arrows the head of his villages. They came out
like a whirlwind to scatter me. Their rejoicing
was like feasting on the poor in secret. You
walked through the sea with your horses, through
the heap of great waters. When I heard, my body
trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness
entered my bones, and I trembled in myself, that
I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes
up to the people, he will invade them with his
troops. Though the fig tree may not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines, though the labor of
the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food,
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will
rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of
my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, He
will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will
make me walk on my high hills. I hope you enjoyed
today's reading as much as I did, and I look
forward to seeing you again tomorrow to continue
on our journey. God bless you and have a great
day.