Habakkuk 1

1 The burden that Habacuc the prophet saw.

The revelation which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2 How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save?

LORD, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save?

3 Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful.

Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.

4 Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore wrong judgment goeth forth.

Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.

5 Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished: for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told.

“Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days which you will not believe though it is told you.

6 For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not their own.

For, behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation who march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.

7 They are dreadful, and terrible: from themselves shall their judgment, and their burden proceed.

They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.

8 Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat.

Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.

9 They shall all come to the prey, their face is like a burning wind: and they shall gather together captives as the sand.

All of them come for violence. Their hordes face forward. They gather prisoners like sand.

10 And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it.

Yes, they scoff at kings, and princes are a derision to them. They laugh at every stronghold, for they build up an earthen ramp and take it.

11 Then shall his spirit be changed, and he shall pass, and fall: this is his strength of his god.

Then they sweep by like the wind and go on. They are indeed guilty, whose strength is their god.”

12 Wast thou not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one, and we shall not die? Lord, thou hast appointed him for judgment: and made him strong for correction.

Aren’t you from everlasting, LORD my God, my Holy One? We will not die. LORD, you have appointed them for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.

13 Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself?

You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,

14 And thou wilt make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping things that have no ruler.

and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things that have no ruler over them?

15 He lifted up all them with his hook, he drew them in his drag, and gathered them into his net: for this he will be glad and rejoice.

He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.

16 Therefore will he offer victims to his drag, and he will sacrifice to his net: because through them his portion is made fat, and his meat dainty.

Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious and his food is good.

17 For this cause therefore he spreadeth his net, and will not spare continually to slay the nations.

Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?