Habakkuk 1

1 This is the message that Habakkuk saw in vision.

The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2 Lord, how long do I have to cry out for help and you don't listen? I cry out, “Violence!” but you don't save us from it.

LORD, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you "Violence." and will you not save?

3 Why do you force me to see this wickedness and suffering? Why do you just observe such destruction and violence? Arguments and fighting happen right in front of me!

Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.

4 As a result the law is paralyzed, and justice never wins. The wicked crowd out those who do right so that the course of justice is perverted.

Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.

5 Look around at the nations, watch and be surprised and amazed. Something is going to happen in your time that you wouldn't believe even if you were told.

"Look, you scoffers, and watch, and be utterly amazed, and perish; for I am working a work in your days which you will not believe, though it is told you.

6 Watch! I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and brutal people who will march across the world to seize other lands.

For, look, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places not his own.

7 They are fearsome and terrifying, and so proud of themselves that they set their own rules.

He is feared and dreaded. His judgment will be from himself, and his authority will come from himself.

8 Their horses are faster than leopards and fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry charges, racing in from far away. Like eagles, they swoop down to eat their prey.

His horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen press proudly on, and, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.

9 Here they come, all intent on violence. Their armies advance in frontal assault as rapidly as the desert wind, capturing so many prisoners they are like sand.

All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand.

10 They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh in scorn at fortresses—they pile up earth ramps and capture them.

And he will scoff at kings and deride rulers. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.

11 Then they sweep on by like the wind and are gone. They are guilty because their own strength is their god.

Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god."

12 Haven't you existed from eternity past? You are Lord my God, my Holy One, you do not die. Lord, you appointed them to execute judgment; God our Rock, you sent them to punish us.

Aren't you from everlasting, LORD my God, my Holy One? We will not die. LORD, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.

13 Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil; you cannot stand the sight of wrong. So why do you put up with untrustworthy people? Why are you silent when the wicked destroy those who do less evil than they do?

You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,

14 You make people become like fish in the sea, or like crawling insects, that have no ruler.

and make men like the fish of the sea, like the crawling creatures, that have no ruler over them?

15 They drag everyone up with hooks, they pull them out with nets, catching them in dragnets. Then they happily celebrate.

He takes up all of them with the hook, and he catches them in his net and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.

16 They worship their nets as if they were gods, making sacrifices and burning incense to them, because by their nets they live in luxury, eating rich food.

Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.

17 Will they keep on unsheathing their swords forever, killing nations without mercy?

Will he therefore continually empty his net, killing the nations without mercy?