Habakkuk 1

1 The word which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

The burden which the prophet Ambacum saw.

2 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.

How long, O Lord, shall I cry out, and thou wilt not hearken? [how long] shall I cry out to thee being injured, and thou wilt not save?

3 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.

Wherefore hast thou shown me troubles and griefs to look upon, misery and ungodliness? judgment is before me, and the judge receives a reward.

4 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.

Therefore the law is frustrated, and judgment proceeds not effectually, for the ungodly [man] prevails over the just; therefore perverse judgment will proceed.

5 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.

Behold, ye despisers, and look, and wonder marvelously, and vanish: for I work a work in your days, which ye will in no wise believe, though a man declare [it to you].

6 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.

Wherefore, behold, I stir up the Chaldeans, the bitter and hasty nation, that walks upon the breadth of the earth, to inherit tabernacles not his own.

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

He is terrible and famous; his judgment shall proceed of himself, and his dignity shall come out of himself.

8 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.

And his horses shall bound [more swiftly] than leopards, and [they are] fiercer than the wolves of Arabia: and his horsemen shall ride forth, and shall rush from far; and they shall fly as an eagle hasting to eat.

9 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.

Destruction shall come upon ungodly men, resisting with their adverse front, and he shall gather the captivity as the sand.

10 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.

And he shall be at his ease with kings, and princes are his toys, and he shall mock at every strong-hold, and shall cast a mound, and take possession of it.

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

Then shall he change his spirit, and he shall pass through, and make an atonement, [saying], This strength [belongs] to my god.

12 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.

[Art] not thou from the beginning, O Lord God, my Holy One? and surely we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast established it for judgment, and he has formed me to chasten [with] his correction.

13 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?

[His] eye is too pure to behold evil [doings], and to look upon grievous afflictions: wherefore dost thou look upon despisers? wilt thou be silent when the ungodly swallows up the just?

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

And wilt thou make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the reptiles which have no guide?

15 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.

He has brought up destruction with a hook, and drawn one with a casting net, and caught another in his drags: therefore shall his heart rejoice and be glad.

16 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.

Therefore will he sacrifice to his drag, and burn incense to his casting-net, because by them he has made his portion fat, and his meats choice.

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

Therefore will he cast his net, and will not spare to slay the nations continually.