< Habakkuk 1 >

1 This is the burden that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision:
The prophecy which Habakkuk the prophet foresaw.
2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save?
How long, O Lord, have I entreated [thee], and thou wouldst not hear? [how long] shall I cry out unto thee [because of] violence, and thou wilt not save?
3 Why do You make me see iniquity? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds.
Why wilt thou let me see wickedness, and wilt look on trouble, and the robbery and violence [that are] before me: while there is strife, and contention lifteth up [its head]?
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
Therefore is the law powerless, and justice cometh not forth victorious; for the wicked encompasseth about the righteous; therefore doth justice come forth perverted.
5 “Look at the nations and observe— be utterly astounded! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you.
Look ye about among the nations, and behold and be astonished and astounded; for [God] will fulfill a work in your days, ye would not believe it, if it were only told you.
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans — that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
For, lo, I will raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, that march to the wide spaces of the earth to conquer dwelling-places that are not theirs.
7 They are dreaded and feared; from themselves they derive justice and sovereignty.
Terrible and dreadful are they: from themselves go forth their judicial laws and their dignity.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.
And swifter than leopards are their horses, and fiercer than the evening wolves; and their horsemen spread themselves abroad: and their horsemen will come from afar; they will fly like the eagle hastening to eat.
9 All of them come bent on violence; their hordes advance like the east wind; they gather prisoners like sand.
They all will come for violence: the front of their faces is like the east wind, and they gather captives as the sand.
10 They scoff at kings and make rulers an object of scorn. They laugh at every fortress and build up siege ramps to seize it.
And they will make sport with kings, and princes will be a play unto them: at every strong-hold will they laugh, and they will cast up earth-mounds and capture it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and pass on through. They are guilty; their own strength is their god.”
Then doth their spirit become arrogant, and they are surpassingly proud, and offend, [imputing] this their power unto their god.
12 Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction.
Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O Protector, thou hast appointed them to correct [nations].
13 Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
Thou, who art too pure of eyes to behold evil, and canst not look on trouble, wherefore wilt thou look upon those that deal treacherously, be silent when the wicked swalloweth up him that is more righteous than he?
14 You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler.
And [why] makest thou men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15 The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly.
All of them he bringeth up with the angle, he draggeth them up in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet and burns incense to his fishing net, for by these things his portion is sumptuous and his food is rich.
Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because through them is his portion fat, and his food marrowy.
17 Will he, therefore, empty his net and continue to slay nations without mercy?
Shall he therefore [always] empty his net, and continually slay nations without sparing?

< Habakkuk 1 >