1:1 | The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. |
1:2 | O LORD, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear? Even cry out to You, "Violence!" And You will not save. |
1:3 | Why do You show me iniquity, And cause [me] to see trouble? For plundering and violence [are] before me; There is strife, and contention arises. |
1:4 | Therefore the law is powerless, And justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore perverse judgment proceeds. |
1:5 | "Look among the nations and watchBe utterly astounded! For [I will] work a work in your days [Which] you would not believe, though it were told [you]. |
1:6 | For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, A bitter and hasty nation Which marches through the breadth of the earth, To possess dwelling places [that are] not theirs. |
1:7 | They are terrible and dreadful; Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. |
1:8 | Their horses also are swifter than leopards, And more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead; Their cavalry comes from afar; They fly as the eagle [that] hastens to eat. |
1:9 | "They all come for violence; Their faces are set [like] the east wind. They gather captives like sand. |
1:10 | They scoff at kings, And princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, For they heap up earthen [mounds] and seize it. |
1:11 | Then [his] mind changes, and he transgresses; He commits offense, [Ascribing] this power to his god." |
1:12 | Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction. |
1:13 | [You are] of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, [And] hold Your tongue when the wicked devours A [person] more righteous than he? |
1:14 | [Why] do You make men like fish of the sea, Like creeping things [that have] no ruler over them? |
1:15 | They take up all of them with a hook, They catch them in their net, And gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. |
1:16 | Therefore they sacrifice to their net, And burn incense to their dragnet; Because by them their share [is] sumptuous And their food plentiful. |
1:17 | Shall they therefore empty their net, And continue to slay nations without pity? |