Habakkuk 1

1 The burden that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

The message that Habakkuk the prophet received,

2 How long, O Lord, shall I cry out, and you will not heed? Shall I shout to you while suffering violence, and you will 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 have you revealed to me iniquity and hardship, to see plunder and injustice opposite me? And there has been judgment, but the opposition is more powerful.

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 Because of this, the law has been torn apart, and judgment does not persevere to its conclusion. For the impious prevail against the just. Because of this, a perverse judgment is issued.

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 Gaze among the nations, and see. Admire, and be astounded. For a work has been done in your days, which no one will believe when it is told.

“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 behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift people, marching across the width of the earth, to possess tabernacles not their own.

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 It is dreadful and terrible. From themselves, judgment and their burden will issue.

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

8 Their horses are more nimble than leopards and swifter than wolves in the evening; their horsemen will spread out. And then their horsemen will approach from far away; they will fly like the eagle, hurrying to devour.

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 will all approach towards the prey; their face is like a burning wind. And they will gather captives together like sand.

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

10 And concerning kings, he will triumph, and sovereign rulers will be his laughingstock, and he will laugh over every fortress, and he will transport a rampart and seize 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 his spirit will be altered, and he will cross over and fall. Such is his strength from his god.

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

12 Have you not existed from the beginning, Lord my God, my holy one, and so we shall not die? Lord, you have stationed him for judgment, and you have established that his strength will be swept away.

“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 Your eyes are pure, you do not behold evil, and you cannot look towards iniquity. Why do you look upon the agents of iniquity, and remain silent, while the impious is devouring one who is more just than himself?

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 you will make men like the fish of the sea and like the creeping things that have no ruler.

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

15 He lifted up everything with his hook. He drew them in with his dragnet, and gathered them into his netting. Over this, he will rejoice and exult.

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 For this reason, he will offer victims to his dragnet, and he will sacrifice to his netting. For through them, his portion has been made fat, and his meals elite.

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 Because of this, therefore, he expands his dragnet and will not be lenient in continually putting to death the peoples.

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