Habakkuk 1

1 The prophecy which Habakkuk the prophet foresaw.

The message that Habakkuk the prophet received,

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?

“Yahweh, how long will I cry for help, and you will not hear? I cry out to you, 'Violence!' but 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]?

Why do you make me see iniquity and look upon wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention rises up.

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 weakened, and justice does not last for any time. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore false justice goes out.”

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.

“Look at the nations and examine them; be amazed and astonished! For I am surely about to do something in your days that you will not believe when it is reported 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.

For look! I am about to raise up the Chaldeans—that fierce and impetuous nation— they are marching throughout the breadth of the land to seize homes that were not their own.

7 Terrible and dreadful are they: from themselves go forth their judicial laws and their dignity.

They are terrifying and fearsome; their judgment and splendor proceed from themselves.

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.

Their horses also are swifter than leopards, quicker than the evening wolves. So their horses stamp, and their horsemen come from a great distance—they fly like an eagle hurrying 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.

They all come for violence; their multitudes go like the desert wind, and they gather captives like 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.

So they mock kings, and rulers are only a mockery for them. They laugh at every stronghold, for they heap up earth and take them.

11 Then doth their spirit become arrogant, and they are surpassingly proud, and offend, [imputing] this their power unto their god.

Then the wind will rush on; it will move past—guilty men, those whose might is their 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 you not from ancient times, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh has ordained them for judgment, and you, Rock, have established them for 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?

Your eyes are too pure to gaze upon evil, and you are not able to look on wrongdoing with favor; why then have you looked favorably on those who betray? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they are?

14 And [why] makest thou men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

You make men like fish in the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them.

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 brings all of them up with a fishhook; he drags men away in his fishnet; he gathers them together in his dragnet; so he rejoices and he is 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 he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury, and his food is the richest kind.

17 Shall he therefore [always] empty his net, and continually slay nations without sparing?

Will he therefore keep emptying his net, and will he continually slaughter the nations without mercy?”