Habakkuk 1
1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
This is the message that Habakkuk saw in vision.
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save.
Lord, how long do I have to cry out for help and you don't listen? I cry out, “Violence!” but you don't save us from it.
3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there is strife, and contention riseth up.
Why do you force me to see this wickedness and suffering? Why do you just observe such destruction and violence? Arguments and fighting happen right in front of me!
4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore judgment goeth forth perverted.
As a result the law is paralyzed, and justice never wins. The wicked crowd out those who do right so that the course of justice is perverted.
5 Behold ye among the nations, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I work a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.
Look around at the nations, watch and be surprised and amazed. Something is going to happen in your time that you wouldn't believe even if you were told.
6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation; which march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
Watch! I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and brutal people who will march across the world to seize other lands.
7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
They are fearsome and terrifying, and so proud of themselves that they set their own rules.
8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen spread themselves: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour.
Their horses are faster than leopards and fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry charges, racing in from far away. Like eagles, they swoop down to eat their prey.
9 They come all of them for violence; their faces are set eagerly as the east wind; and they gather captives as the sand.
Here they come, all intent on violence. Their armies advance in frontal assault as rapidly as the desert wind, capturing so many prisoners they are like sand.
10 Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him: he derideth every strong hold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it.
They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh in scorn at fortresses—they pile up earth ramps and capture them.
11 Then shall he sweep by [as] a wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty: [even] he whose might is his god.
Then they sweep on by like the wind and are gone. They are guilty because their own strength is their god.
12 Art not thou from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast established him for correction.
Haven't you existed from eternity past? You are Lord my God, my Holy One, you do not die. Lord, you appointed them to execute judgment; God our Rock, you sent them to punish us.
13 Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he;
Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil; you cannot stand the sight of wrong. So why do you put up with untrustworthy people? Why are you silent when the wicked destroy those who do less evil than they do?
14 and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
You make people become like fish in the sea, or like crawling insects, that have no ruler.
15 He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad.
They drag everyone up with hooks, they pull them out with nets, catching them in dragnets. Then they happily celebrate.
16 Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his meat plenteous.
They worship their nets as if they were gods, making sacrifices and burning incense to them, because by their nets they live in luxury, eating rich food.
17 Shall he therefore empty his net, and not spare to slay the nations continually?
Will they keep on unsheathing their swords forever, killing nations without mercy?
