Habakkuk 1
1 This is the burden that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision:
The oracle of which Habakkuk the prophet, had vision:
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 Yahweh, have I called out, and thou wouldst not hear me? Have I kept crying unto thee of violence, and thou wouldst 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.
Wherefore shouldst thou let me see iniquity, and, wrong, shouldst let me behold, and, force and violence, be straight before me, —and there should have ever been someone who, contention and strife, would uphold?
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
For which cause, benumbed is the law, and there is never any going forth of justice, —for, the lawless, doth circumvent the righteous, for which cause, justice doth go 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.
Behold ye, among the nations, and look around, Yea stand stock still—stare, —for, a work, is being wrought in your days, ye will not believe, when it is recounted.
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, behold me! raising up the Chaldeans, the bitter and headlong nation, —that marcheth to the breadths of the earth, to take possession of habitations, not his.
7 They are dreaded and feared; from themselves they derive justice and sovereignty.
Awful and fearful, is he, —from himself, his decision and his uprising, proceed.
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.
Then, swifter than leopards, are his horses, and, more sharply they attack, than evening wolves, and forward have leapt his chargers, —Yea, his chargers, from afar, will come in, they will fly as an eagle hath hastened to devour.
9 All of them come bent on violence; their hordes advance like the east wind; they gather prisoners like sand.
Solely for violence, will he come, the intent of their faces, is—To the east! And he hath gathered, as the sand, a captive host;
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, he, over kings, will make merry, and, nobles, will be a scorn to him: he, at any fortress, will laugh, once he hath heaped up dust, he hath captured it!
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and pass on through. They are guilty; their own strength is their god.”
Then, hath he become arrogant in spirit, and hath committed excess, and so is guilty, —this his violence, is due to his 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 not, thou, from of old, O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One? Thou diest not! O Yahweh, to judgment, hast thou appointed him, and, O Rock, to correction, hast thou devoted him:
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] whose eyes are too pure to look with approval on wrong, to respect oppression, canst not endure, —Wherefore, shouldst thou respect the treacherous? Be silent, when the lawless, swalloweth up, one more righteous than he?
14 You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler.
So wouldst thou have made Men, like the fishes of the sea, —like the creeping thing that hath no ruler over it:
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 which, with a hook, one bringeth up, raketh together with his drag, and hath gathered with his net, —
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.
On which account, he is glad and exulteth: on which account, he sacrificeth to his Net, and burneth incense to his Drag; because, thereby, rich, is his portion, and his food—fatness!
17 Will he, therefore, empty his net and continue to slay nations without mercy?
Shall he, on this account, empty his net? And, the continual slaying of nations, deem to be no pity?
