Habakkuk 1

1 The burden that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

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?

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! [even] cry out to thee [of] violence, and thou wilt 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 dost thou show me iniquity, and cause [me] to behold grievance? for devastation and violence [are] before me: and there are [that] raise strife and contention.

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 slackened, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth encompass the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

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.

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for [I] will work a work in your days, [which] ye will not believe though it be told [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 lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, [that] bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling-places [that are] not theirs.

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

They [are] terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall 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 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.

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

They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up [as] the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the 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.

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

11 Then his spirit will be altered, and he will cross over and fall. Such is his strength from his god.

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

[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.

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?

[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?

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

And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping animals [that have] no 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.

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

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

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