Habakkuk 1

1 The message seen by the prophet Habakkuk.

The burden that Habakkuk the prophet hath seen:

2 How long, Lord, have I cried out and without you hearing me! I cry to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not help.

Till when, O Jehovah, have I cried, And Thou dost not hear? I cry unto Thee — 'Violence,' and Thou dost not save.

3 Why do you make me look upon wickedness and behold trouble? Destruction and violence are before my eyes, and fighting and quarrelling.

Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, And perversity dost cause to behold? And spoiling and violence [are] before me, And there is strife, and contention doth lift [itself] up,

4 Therefore the law is weak, and justice is never rendered; for the wicked surround the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

Therefore doth law cease, And judgment doth not go forth for ever, For the wicked is compassing the righteous, Therefore wrong judgment goeth forth.

5 Look at the nations, look well, be shocked and amazed. For I am about to do a work in your days; you will not believe it when it is told.

Look ye on nations, and behold and marvel greatly. For a work He is working in your days, Ye do not believe though it is declared.

6 For I am about to raise up the Chaldeans, a nation grim and quick of action who sweep over the whole breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.

For, lo, I am raising up the Chaldeans, The bitter and hasty nation, That is going to the broad places of earth, To occupy tabernacles not its own.

7 They bring fear and terror. They write their own rules.

Terrible and fearful it [is], From itself its judgment and its excellency go forth.

8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, quicker than wolves hunting at dusk. From afar they come swooping down, like an eagle attacking its prey.

Swifter than leopards have been its horses, And sharper than evening wolves, And increased have its horsemen, Even its horsemen from afar come in, They fly as an eagle, hasting to consume.

9 They all come to do violence, a horde like a desert wind, they gather up captives like sand.

Wholly for violence it doth come in, Their faces swallowing up the east wind, And it doth gather as the sand a captivity.

10 At kings they scoff, and princes are sport to them. They laugh at every fortress, and heap up earth to take it.

And at kings it doth scoff, And princes [are] a laughter to it, At every fenced place it doth laugh, And it heapeth up dust, and captureth it.

11 Then they sweep on like the wind, Their strength is their god.

Then passed on hath the spirit, Yea, he doth transgress, And doth ascribe this his power to his god.

12 Are you not eternal, Lord, my holy one, who does not die? Lord you have appointed them to execute judgment, my rock, you have established them to punish.

Art not Thou of old, O Jehovah, my God, my Holy One? We do not die, O Jehovah, For judgment Thou hast appointed it, And, O Rock, for reproof Thou hast founded it.

13 Your eyes are too pure to look at evil, you cannot condone iniquity. So why do you regard the treacherous in silence, while the wicked swallows the upright?

Purer of eyes than to behold evil, To look on perverseness Thou art not able, Why dost Thou behold the treacherous? Thou keepest silent when the wicked Doth swallow the more righteous than he,

14 You have made people like the fish of the sea, like reptiles that have no ruler.

And Thou makest man as fishes of the sea, As a creeping thing — none ruling over him.

15 The wicked sweep them all into their nets, and gather them into their drag-nets, and rejoice and celebrate.

Each of them with a hook he hath brought up, He doth catch it in his net, and gathereth it in his drag, Therefore he doth joy and rejoice.

16 Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn offerings to their drag-net; for by their nets are their portions generous, and their food is rich.

Therefore he doth sacrifice to his net, And doth make perfume to his drag, For by them [is] his portion fertile, and his food fat.

17 Will they empty their nets continually, slaughter nations unpityingly?

Doth he therefore empty his net, And continually to slay nations spare not?