Habakkuk 1
1 The oracle of which Habakkuk the prophet, had vision:
The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 How long, O Yahweh, have I called out, and thou wouldst not hear me? Have I kept crying unto thee of violence, and thou wouldst not save?
O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! [even] cry out to thee [of] violence, and thou wilt not save!
3 Wherefore shouldst thou let me see iniquity, and, wrong, shouldst let me behold, and, force and violence, be straight before me, —and there should have ever been someone who, contention and strife, would uphold?
Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause [me] to behold grievance? for devastation and violence [are] before me: and there are [that] raise strife and contention.
4 For which cause, benumbed is the law, and there is never any going forth of justice, —for, the lawless, doth circumvent the righteous, for which cause, justice doth go forth perverted?
Therefore the law is slackened, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth encompass the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
5 Behold ye, among the nations, and look around, Yea stand stock still—stare, —for, a work, is being wrought in your days, ye will not believe, when it is recounted.
Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for [I] will work a work in your days, [which] ye will not believe though it be told [you].
6 For, behold me! raising up the Chaldeans, the bitter and headlong nation, —that marcheth to the breadths of the earth, to take possession of habitations, not his.
For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, [that] bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling-places [that are] not theirs.
7 Awful and fearful, is he, —from himself, his decision and his uprising, proceed.
They [are] terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed from themselves.
8 Then, swifter than leopards, are his horses, and, more sharply they attack, than evening wolves, and forward have leapt his chargers, —Yea, his chargers, from afar, will come in, they will fly as an eagle hath hastened to devour.
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle [that] hasteth to eat.
9 Solely for violence, will he come, the intent of their faces, is—To the east! And he hath gathered, as the sand, a captive host;
They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up [as] the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
10 And, he, over kings, will make merry, and, nobles, will be a scorn to him: he, at any fortress, will laugh, once he hath heaped up dust, he hath captured it!
And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn to them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.
11 Then, hath he become arrogant in spirit, and hath committed excess, and so is guilty, —this his violence, is due to his god.
Then shall [his] mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, [imputing] this his power to his god.
12 Art not, thou, from of old, O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One? Thou diest not! O Yahweh, to judgment, hast thou appointed him, and, O Rock, to correction, hast thou devoted him:
[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 mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
13 [Thou] whose eyes are too pure to look with approval on wrong, to respect oppression, canst not endure, —Wherefore, shouldst thou respect the treacherous? Be silent, when the lawless, swalloweth up, one more righteous than he?
[Thou art] of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: why lookest thou on them that deal treacherously, [and] keepest silence when the wicked devoureth [the man that is] more righteous than he?
14 So wouldst thou have made Men, like the fishes of the sea, —like the creeping thing that hath no ruler over it:
And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping animals [that have] no ruler over them?
15 All of which, with a hook, one bringeth up, raketh together with his drag, and hath gathered with his net, —
They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
16 On which account, he is glad and exulteth: on which account, he sacrificeth to his Net, and burneth incense to his Drag; because, thereby, rich, is his portion, and his food—fatness!
Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their drag; because by them their portion [is] fat, and their food plenteous.
17 Shall he, on this account, empty his net? And, the continual slaying of nations, deem to be no pity?
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
