Habakkuk 1
1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
This is the message that Habakkuk saw in vision.
2 O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou will not hear? I cry out to thee of violence, and thou will not save.
Lord, how long do I have to cry out for help and you don't listen? I cry out, “Violence!” but you don't save us from it.
3 Why do thou show me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? For destruction and violence are before me, and there is strife, and contention rises up.
Why do you force me to see this wickedness and suffering? Why do you just observe such destruction and violence? Arguments and fighting happen right in front of me!
4 Therefore the law is slacked, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked man surrounds the righteous man, therefore justice goes forth perverted.
As a result the law is paralyzed, and justice never wins. The wicked crowd out those who do right so that the course of justice is perverted.
5 Behold ye scoffers, and look, and wonder marvelously. For I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.
Look around at the nations, watch and be surprised and amazed. Something is going to happen in your time that you wouldn't believe even if you were told.
6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.
Watch! I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and brutal people who will march across the world to seize other lands.
7 They are fearful and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
They are fearsome and terrifying, and so proud of themselves that they set their own rules.
8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen press proudly on. Yea, their horsemen come from far. They fly as an eagle that hastens to devour.
Their horses are faster than leopards and fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry charges, racing in from far away. Like eagles, they swoop down to eat their prey.
9 They come all of them for violence. The set of their faces is forwards, and they gather captives as the sand.
Here they come, all intent on violence. Their armies advance in frontal assault as rapidly as the desert wind, capturing so many prisoners they are like sand.
10 Yea, he scoffs at kings, and rulers are a derision to him. He derides every stronghold, for he heaps up dust, and takes it.
They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh in scorn at fortresses—they pile up earth ramps and capture them.
11 Then he shall sweep by as a wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty; he whose might is his god.
Then they sweep on by like the wind and are gone. They are guilty because their own strength is their god.
12 Are not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Jehovah, thou have ordained him for judgment, and thou, O Rock, have established him for correction.
Haven't you existed from eternity past? You are Lord my God, my Holy One, you do not die. Lord, you appointed them to execute judgment; God our Rock, you sent them to punish us.
13 Thou who are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and who cannot look on perverseness, why do thou look upon those who deal treacherously, and hold thy peace when the wicked man swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,
Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil; you cannot stand the sight of wrong. So why do you put up with untrustworthy people? Why are you silent when the wicked destroy those who do less evil than they do?
14 and makes men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
You make people become like fish in the sea, or like crawling insects, that have no ruler.
15 He takes all of them up with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his drag. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.
They drag everyone up with hooks, they pull them out with nets, catching them in dragnets. Then they happily celebrate.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his drag, because by them his portion is fat, and his food plentiful.
They worship their nets as if they were gods, making sacrifices and burning incense to them, because by their nets they live in luxury, eating rich food.
17 Shall he therefore empty his net, and not spare to kill the nations continually?
Will they keep on unsheathing their swords forever, killing nations without mercy?
