Habakkuk 1
1 [I am] Habakkuk, a prophet. This is the [message that Yahweh] gave to me in a vision.
The burden that Habakkuk the prophet has seen:
2 [I said, ] “Yahweh, how long must I continue to call [to you] for help before you respond? I cry out to you [for help], saying that [people are acting] violently [everywhere], but you do not rescue us!
Until when, O YHWH, have I cried, And You do not hear? I cry to You, “Violence!” And You do not save.
3 (Must I/I do not want to) continue seeing people doing what is unjust [RHQ]. Why do you not punish people who are doing what is wrong [RHQ]? I see people destroying things and [acting] violently. There is fighting and quarreling [everywhere].
Why do You show me iniquity, And cause [me] to behold perversity? And spoiling and violence [are] before me, And there is strife, and contention lifts [itself] up,
4 No one obeys laws [PRS], and judges [PRS] never do what is fair/just. Wicked people always defeat righteous people [in the courts], with the result that matters are never decided fairly/justly.”
Therefore law ceases, And judgment does not go forth forever, For the wicked is surrounding the righteous, Therefore wrong judgment goes forth.
5 [Yahweh replied to me, ] “[I know that what you say is true, but] look around at [what is happening in] the other nations; [if you look, ] you will be amazed, because I am doing something during this time that you would not believe [would happen], even if someone told you about it.
“Look on nations, and behold and marvel greatly. For a work He is working in your days, You do not believe though it is declared.
6 The soldiers of Babylonia are fierce/cruel and swift. And now I am causing them [to become very powerful]; they will march across the world and conquer [many] other countries.
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, The bitter and hasty nation, That is going to the broad places of earth, To occupy dwelling places not his own.
7 They are people whom [others] fear very much [DOU], and they do whatever they want to, paying no attention to the laws of other countries.
He [is] terrible and fearful, His judgment and his excellence go forth from him.
8 The horses [that pull their chariots] go faster than leopards, and they are fiercer than wolves are in the evening. The horses on which the soldiers ride gallop swiftly; the soldiers riding them come from distant places. They are like [SIM] eagles that swoop down to [snatch and] kill small animals.
His horses have been swifter than leopards, And sharper than evening wolves, And his horsemen have increased, Even his horsemen from afar come in, They fly as an eagle, hastening to consume.
9 As they ride along, [they are] determined to act violently. They advance like [SIM] a wind from the desert, gathering prisoners that are as [numerous as grains of] sand.
All for violence—he comes in, Their faces swallowing up the east wind, And he gathers a captivity as the sand.
10 They make fun of kings and princes [of other countries], and they ridicule all the cities that have high walls around them. They pile dirt [outside those walls] [in order to climb up] and capture those cities.
And he scoffs at kings, And princes [are] a laughter to him, He laughs at every fortification, And he heaps up dust, and captures it.
11 They rush past like the wind, and then they go [to attack other cities]. But they are very guilty, because [they think that] their own power is their god.”
Then the spirit has passed on, Indeed, he transgresses, And [ascribes] this—his power—to his god.”
12 [Then I said, ] “Yahweh, you have certainly [RHQ] always/forever been God. You are my Holy One; you will not die. So [why] have you appointed those men [from Babylonia] to judge and get rid of [us]? You are like [MET] a huge rock [under which we are protected/safe], so why have you sent them to punish us?
Are You not of old, O YHWH, my God, my Holy One? We do not die, O YHWH, You have appointed him for judgment, And, O Rock, You have founded him for reproof.
13 You [SYN] are pure, and you cannot endure looking at what is evil, [so why] are you ignoring men who are treacherous? Why do you do nothing [to punish] those wicked men [from Babylonia] who destroy people who are more righteous than they [are]?
Purer of eyes than to behold evil, You are not able to look on perverseness, Why do You behold the treacherous? You keep silent when the wicked Swallow the more righteous than he,
14 [Do you consider that] we are like fish in the sea, or like other creatures in the sea, that have no ruler?
And You make man as fishes of the sea, As a creeping thing [with] none ruling over him.
15 [The soldiers of Babylonia think that we are fish] [RHQ] for them to pull out of the sea with hooks or to catch in their nets, while they rejoice and celebrate.
He has brought up each of them with a hook, He catches it in his net, and gathers it in his dragnet, Therefore he delights and rejoices.
16 If they catch us, they will [worship] their weapons [MET] with which they captured us, and offer sacrifices to them and burn incense in front of them! [They will say] ‘Those weapons have enabled us to become rich and be able to eat expensive food.’
Therefore he sacrifices to his net, And makes incense to his dragnet, For by them [is] his portion fertile, and his food fat.
17 [Will you allow] them to continue [to conquer people] [MET] forever? [Will you allow] them to destroy people of other nations without their being merciful [to anyone]?”
Does he therefore empty his net, And continually not spare to slay nations?
