Habakkuk 1

1 THE BURDEN which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

The message seen by the prophet Habakkuk.

2 How long, O LORD, shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save.

How long, Lord, have I cried out and without you hearing me! I cry to you, “Violence!” but you do not help.

3 Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and beholdest mischief? And why are spoiling and violence before me? so that there is strife, and contention ariseth.

Why do you make me look upon wickedness and behold trouble? Destruction and violence are before my eyes, and fighting and quarrelling.

4 Therefore the law is slacked, and right doth never go forth; for the wicked doth beset the righteous; therefore right goeth forth perverted.

Therefore the law is weak, and justice is never rendered; for the wicked surround the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

5 Look ye among the nations, and behold, and wonder marvellously; for, behold, a work shall be wrought in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.

Look at the nations, look well, be shocked and amazed. For I am about to do a work in your days; you will not believe it when it is told.

6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.

For I am about to raise up the Chaldeans, a nation grim and quick of action who sweep over the whole breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.

7 They are terrible and dreadful; their law and their majesty proceed from themselves.

They bring fear and terror. They write their own rules.

8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the wolves of the desert; and their horsemen spread themselves; yea, their horsemen come from far, they fly as a vulture that hasteth to devour.

Their horses are swifter than leopards, quicker than wolves hunting at dusk. From afar they come swooping down, like an eagle attacking its prey.

9 They come all of them for violence; their faces are set eagerly as the east wind; and they gather captives as the sand.

They all come to do violence, a horde like a desert wind, they gather up captives like sand.

10 And they scoff at kings, and princes are a derision unto them; they deride every stronghold, for they heap up earth, and take it.

At kings they scoff, and princes are sport to them. They laugh at every fortress, and heap up earth to take it.

11 Then their spirit doth pass over and transgress, and they become guilty: even they who impute their might unto their god.

Then they sweep on like the wind, Their strength is their god.

12 Art not Thou from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, Thou hast ordained them for judgment, and Thou, O Rock, hast established them for correction.

Are you not eternal, Lord, my holy one, who does not die? Lord you have appointed them to execute judgment, my rock, you have established them to punish.

13 Thou that art of eyes too pure to behold evil, and that canst not look on mischief, wherefore lookest Thou, when they deal treacherously, and holdest Thy peace, when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he;

Your eyes are too pure to look at evil, you cannot condone iniquity. So why do you regard the treacherous in silence, while the wicked swallows the upright?

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

You have made people like the fish of the sea, like reptiles that have no ruler.

15 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 exult.

The wicked sweep them all into their nets, and gather them into their drag-nets, and rejoice and celebrate.

16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and offer unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their food plenteous.

Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn offerings to their drag-net; for by their nets are their portions generous, and their food is rich.

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

Will they empty their nets continually, slaughter nations unpityingly?