Habakkuk 1

1 This is the message that Habakkuk saw in vision.

The burden that 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.

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?

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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?

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?

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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