Habakkuk 1

1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

The message that Habakkuk the prophet received,

2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out to thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

“Yahweh, how long will I cry for help, and you will not hear? I cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you will not save.

3 Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for plundering and violence are before me: and there are that raise strife and contention.

Why do you make me see iniquity and look upon wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention rises up.

4 Therefore the law is feeble, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth surround the righteous; therefore judgment goeth forth perverted

Therefore the law is weakened, and justice does not last for any time. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore false justice goes out.”

5 Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

“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.

6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

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.

7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed from themselves.

They are terrifying and fearsome; their judgment and splendor proceed from themselves.

8 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.

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.

9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captives as the sand.

They all come for violence; their multitudes go like the desert wind, and they gather captives like sand.

10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn to them: they shall laugh at every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

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.

11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power to his god.

Then the wind will rush on; it will move past—guilty men, those whose might is their god.”

12 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.

“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.

13 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?

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?

14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

You make men like fish in the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them.

15 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 are glad.

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.

16 Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their food plenteous.

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.

17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

Will he therefore keep emptying his net, and will he continually slaughter the nations without mercy?”