Habakkuk 1
1 The prophecy which Habakkuk the prophet foresaw.
The burden which the prophet Ambacum saw.
2 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?
How long, O Lord, shall I cry out, and you will not listen? [how long] shall I cry out to you being injured, and you will not save?
3 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]?
Therefore have you shown me troubles and griefs to look upon, misery and ungodliness? judgement is before me, and the judge receives a reward.
4 Therefore is the law powerless, and justice cometh not forth victorious; for the wicked encompasseth about the righteous; therefore doth justice come forth perverted.
Therefore the law is frustrated, and judgement proceeds not effectually, for the ungodly [man] prevails over the just; therefore perverse judgement will proceed.
5 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.
Behold, you despisers, and look, and wonder marvellously, and vanish: for I work a work in your days, which you will in no wise believe, though a man declare [it to you].
6 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.
Therefore, behold, I stir up the Chaldeans, the bitter and hasty nation, that walks upon the breadth of the earth, to inherit tabernacles not his own.
7 Terrible and dreadful are they: from themselves go forth their judicial laws and their dignity.
He is terrible and famous; his judgement shall proceed of himself, and his dignity shall come out of himself.
8 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.
And his horses shall bound [more swiftly] than leopards, and [they are] fiercer than the wolves of Arabia: and his horsemen shall ride forth, and shall rush from far; and they shall fly as an eagle hasting to eat.
9 They all will come for violence: the front of their faces is like the east wind, and they gather captives as the sand.
Destruction shall come upon ungodly men, resisting with their adverse front, and he shall gather the captivity as the sand.
10 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.
And he shall be at his ease with kings, and princes are his toys, and he shall mock at every strong-hold, and shall cast a mound, and take possession of it.
11 Then doth their spirit become arrogant, and they are surpassingly proud, and offend, [imputing] this their power unto their god.
Then shall he change his spirit, and he shall pass through, and make an atonement, [saying], This strength [belongs] to my god.
12 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].
[Are] not you from the beginning, O Lord God, my Holy One? and surely we shall not die. O Lord, you have established it for judgement, and he has formed me to chasten [with] his correction.
13 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?
[His] eye is too pure to behold evil [doings], and to look upon grievous afflictions: therefore do you look upon despisers? will you be silent when the ungodly swallows up the just?
14 And [why] makest thou men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
And will you make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the reptiles which have no guide?
15 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.
He has brought up destruction with a hook, and drawn one with a casting net, and caught another in his drags: therefore shall his heart rejoice and be glad.
16 Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because through them is his portion fat, and his food marrowy.
Therefore will he sacrifice to his drag, and burn incense to his casting-net, because by them he has made his portion fat, and his meats choice.
17 Shall he therefore [always] empty his net, and continually slay nations without sparing?
Therefore will he cast his net, and will not spare to kill the nations continually.
