Habakkuk 1

1 The burden that Habakkuk the prophet hath seen:

The word which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2 Till when, O Jehovah, have I cried, And Thou dost not hear? I cry unto Thee — 'Violence,' and Thou dost not save.

How long, O Lord, will your ears be shut to my voice? I make an outcry to you about violent behaviour, but you do not send salvation.

3 Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, And perversity dost cause to behold? And spoiling and violence [are] before me, And there is strife, and contention doth lift [itself] up,

Why do you make me see evil-doing, and why are my eyes fixed on wrong? for wasting and violent acts are before me: and there is fighting and bitter argument.

4 Therefore doth law cease, And judgment doth not go forth for ever, For the wicked is compassing the righteous, Therefore wrong judgment goeth forth.

For this reason the law is feeble and decisions are not effected: for the upright man is circled round by evil-doers; because of which right is twisted.

5 Look ye on nations, and behold and marvel greatly. For a work He is working in your days, Ye do not believe though it is declared.

See among the nations, and take note, and be full of wonder: for in your days I am doing a work in which you will have no belief, even if news of it is given to you.

6 For, lo, I am raising up the Chaldeans, The bitter and hasty nation, That is going to the broad places of earth, To occupy tabernacles not its own.

For see, I am sending the Chaldaeans, that bitter and quick-moving nation; who go through the wide spaces of the earth to get for themselves living-places which are not theirs.

7 Terrible and fearful it [is], From itself its judgment and its excellency go forth.

They are greatly to be feared: their right comes from themselves.

8 Swifter than leopards have been its horses, And sharper than evening wolves, And increased have its horsemen, Even its horsemen from afar come in, They fly as an eagle, hasting to consume.

And their horses are quicker than leopards and their horsemen more cruel than evening wolves; they come from far away, like an eagle in flight rushing on its food.

9 Wholly for violence it doth come in, Their faces swallowing up the east wind, And it doth gather as the sand a captivity.

They are coming all of them with force; the direction of their faces is forward, the number of their prisoners is like the sands of the sea.

10 And at kings it doth scoff, And princes [are] a laughter to it, At every fenced place it doth laugh, And it heapeth up dust, and captureth it.

He makes little of kings, rulers are a sport to him; all the strong places are to be laughed at; for he makes earthworks and takes them.

11 Then passed on hath the spirit, Yea, he doth transgress, And doth ascribe this his power to his god.

Then his purpose will be changed, over-stepping the limit; he will make his strength his god.

12 Art not Thou of old, O Jehovah, my God, my Holy One? We do not die, O Jehovah, For judgment Thou hast appointed it, And, O Rock, for reproof Thou hast founded it.

Are you not eternal, O Lord my God, my Holy One? for you there is no death. O Lord, he has been ordered by you for our punishment; and by you, O Rock, he has been marked out to put us right.

13 Purer of eyes than to behold evil, To look on perverseness Thou art not able, Why dost Thou behold the treacherous? Thou keepest silent when the wicked Doth swallow the more righteous than he,

Before your holy eyes sin may not be seen, and you are unable to put up with wrong; why, then, are your eyes on the false? why do you say nothing when the evil-doer puts an end to one who is more upright than himself?

14 And Thou makest man as fishes of the sea, As a creeping thing — none ruling over him.

He has made men like the fishes of the sea, like the worms which have no ruler over them.

15 Each of them with a hook he hath brought up, He doth catch it in his net, and gathereth it in his drag, Therefore he doth joy and rejoice.

He takes them all up with his hook, he takes them in his net, getting them together in his fishing-net: for which cause he is glad and full of joy.

16 Therefore he doth sacrifice to his net, And doth make perfume to his drag, For by them [is] his portion fertile, and his food fat.

For this reason he makes an offering to his net, burning perfume to his fishing-net; because by them he gets much food and his meat is fat.

17 Doth he therefore empty his net, And continually to slay nations spare not?

For this cause his net is ever open, and there is no end to his destruction of the nations.