Habakkuk 1

1 The message that Habakkuk the prophet received,

THE BURDEN which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2 “Yahweh, how long will I cry for help, and you will not hear? I cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you will not save.

How long, O LORD, shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save.

3 Why do you make me see iniquity and look upon wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention rises up.

Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and beholdest mischief? And why are spoiling and violence before me? so that there is strife, and contention ariseth.

4 Therefore the law is weakened, and justice does not last for any time. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore false justice goes out.”

Therefore the law is slacked, and right doth never go forth; for the wicked doth beset the righteous; therefore right goeth forth perverted.

5 “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.

Look ye among the nations, and behold, and wonder marvellously; for, behold, a work shall be wrought in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.

6 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.

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.

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

They are terrible and dreadful; their law and their majesty proceed from themselves.

8 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.

Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the wolves of the desert; and their horsemen spread themselves; yea, their horsemen come from far, they fly as a vulture that hasteth to devour.

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

They come all of them for violence; their faces are set eagerly as the east wind; and they gather captives as the sand.

10 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.

And they scoff at kings, and princes are a derision unto them; they deride every stronghold, for they heap up earth, and take it.

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

Then their spirit doth pass over and transgress, and they become guilty: even they who impute their might unto their god.

12 “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.

Art not Thou from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, Thou hast ordained them for judgment, and Thou, O Rock, hast established them for correction.

13 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?

Thou that art of eyes too pure to behold evil, and that canst not look on mischief, wherefore lookest Thou, when they deal treacherously, and holdest Thy peace, when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he;

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

And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15 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.

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 exult.

16 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.

Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and offer unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their food plenteous.

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

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