Habakkuk 1
1 The word which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
The prophecy which was revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.
2 How long, O Lord, will your ears be shut to my voice? I make an outcry to you about violent behaviour, but you do not send salvation.
How long, O Jehovah, do I cry, and thou dost not hear! How long do I complain to thee of violence, and thou dost not save!
3 Why do you make me see evil-doing, and why are my eyes fixed on wrong? for wasting and violent acts are before me: and there is fighting and bitter argument.
Why dost thou suffer me to see iniquity, And why dost thou look upon wickedness? For spoiling and violence are before me; There is contention, and strife exalteth itself.
4 For this reason the law is feeble and decisions are not effected: for the upright man is circled round by evil-doers; because of which right is twisted.
Therefore the law faileth, And judgment is not pronounced according to truth; For the wicked encompasseth the righteous, Therefore wrong judgment is pronounced.
5 See among the nations, and take note, and be full of wonder: for in your days I am doing a work in which you will have no belief, even if news of it is given to you.
Behold ye among the nations, and look! Yea, wonder, and be astonished! For I do a work in your days Which ye will not believe though it be told you.
6 For see, I am sending the Chaldaeans, that bitter and quick-moving nation; who go through the wide spaces of the earth to get for themselves living-places which are not theirs.
For behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, A fierce and swift people, Which go over the breadth of the earth, To take possession of dwelling-places that are not their own.
7 They are greatly to be feared: their right comes from themselves.
They are terrible and dreadful; From themselves go forth their law and their dignity.
8 And their horses are quicker than leopards and their horsemen more cruel than evening wolves; they come from far away, like an eagle in flight rushing on its food.
Their horses are swifter than leopards, And fiercer than evening wolves. Their horsemen leap proudly; Their horsemen come from far; They fly like an eagle, hastening to devour.
9 They are coming all of them with force; the direction of their faces is forward, the number of their prisoners is like the sands of the sea.
All of them come for violence; The multitude of their faces is directed forwards, And they gather captives as sand.
10 He makes little of kings, rulers are a sport to him; all the strong places are to be laughed at; for he makes earthworks and takes them.
They also scoff at kings, And princes are to them a laughing-stock; They deride every stronghold, For they heap up earth and take it.
11 Then his purpose will be changed, over-stepping the limit; he will make his strength his god.
Then their spirit is uplifted, and they transgress, and become guilty; This their strength is made their god.
12 Are you not eternal, O Lord my God, my Holy One? for you there is no death. O Lord, he has been ordered by you for our punishment; and by you, O Rock, he has been marked out to put us right.
Art thou not from everlasting, O Jehovah, my God, my Holy One? We shall not die! Thou, O Jehovah, hast appointed them for judgment; Thou, O Rock, hast ordained them for chastisement.
13 Before your holy eyes sin may not be seen, and you are unable to put up with wrong; why, then, are your eyes on the false? why do you say nothing when the evil-doer puts an end to one who is more upright than himself?
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, And canst not look on wickedness; Why then dost thou look on transgressors, And art silent, when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he?
14 He has made men like the fishes of the sea, like the worms which have no ruler over them.
And why makest thou men as the fishes of the sea, As the reptiles that have no ruler?
15 He takes them all up with his hook, he takes them in his net, getting them together in his fishing-net: for which cause he is glad and full of joy.
They take up all of them with the hook, They catch them in their net, And gather them in their drag; Therefore they rejoice and exult.
16 For this reason he makes an offering to his net, burning perfume to his fishing-net; because by them he gets much food and his meat is fat.
Therefore they sacrifice to their net, And burn incense to their drag; Because by them their portion is fat, And their food plenteous.
17 For this cause his net is ever open, and there is no end to his destruction of the nations.
Shall they therefore empty the net, And slay the nations continually without mercy?
