< Habakkuk 1 >
1 The message that Habakkuk the prophet received,
The prophecy which was revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.
2 “Yahweh, how long will I cry for help, and you will not hear? I cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you will not save.
How long, O Jehovah, do I cry, and thou dost not hear! How long do I complain to thee of violence, and thou dost not save!
3 Why do you make me see iniquity and look upon wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention rises up.
Why dost thou suffer me to see iniquity, And why dost thou look upon wickedness? For spoiling and violence are before me; There is contention, and strife exalteth itself.
4 Therefore the law is weakened, and justice does not last for any time. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore false justice goes out.”
Therefore the law faileth, And judgment is not pronounced according to truth; For the wicked encompasseth the righteous, Therefore wrong judgment is pronounced.
5 “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.
Behold ye among the nations, and look! Yea, wonder, and be astonished! For I do a work in your days Which ye will not believe though it be told you.
6 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.
For behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, A fierce and swift people, Which go over the breadth of the earth, To take possession of dwelling-places that are not their own.
7 They are terrifying and fearsome; their judgment and splendor proceed from themselves.
They are terrible and dreadful; From themselves go forth their law and their dignity.
8 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.
Their horses are swifter than leopards, And fiercer than evening wolves. Their horsemen leap proudly; Their horsemen come from far; They fly like an eagle, hastening to devour.
9 They all come for violence; their multitudes go like the desert wind, and they gather captives like sand.
All of them come for violence; The multitude of their faces is directed forwards, And they gather captives as sand.
10 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.
They also scoff at kings, And princes are to them a laughing-stock; They deride every stronghold, For they heap up earth and take it.
11 Then the wind will rush on; it will move past—guilty men, those whose might is their god.”
Then their spirit is uplifted, and they transgress, and become guilty; This their strength is made their god.
12 “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.
Art thou not from everlasting, O Jehovah, my God, my Holy One? We shall not die! Thou, O Jehovah, hast appointed them for judgment; Thou, O Rock, hast ordained them for chastisement.
13 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?
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, And canst not look on wickedness; Why then dost thou look on transgressors, And art silent, when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he?
14 You make men like fish in the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them.
And why makest thou men as the fishes of the sea, As the reptiles that have no ruler?
15 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.
They take up all of them with the hook, They catch them in their net, And gather them in their drag; Therefore they rejoice and exult.
16 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.
Therefore they sacrifice to their net, And burn incense to their drag; Because by them their portion is fat, And their food plenteous.
17 Will he therefore keep emptying his net, and will he continually slaughter the nations without mercy?”
Shall they therefore empty the net, And slay the nations continually without mercy?