HabakkukChapter 1

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¹This is the heavy message that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision.a ²LORD, how long must I call for help?
You do not listen.
How long must I cry out to you, "Violence!"?
You do not save. ³Why do you make me look at sin?
Why do you put up with wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are all around me.
Fighting goes on and on, and arguments are everywhere. ⁴So the law has no power.
Justice never wins.
For the wicked surround the people who do right.
So justice gets twisted. ⁵"Look at the nations and watch.
Be totally amazed!
For I am doing something in your lifetime that you would not believe.
You would not believe it even if someone told you. ⁶Look, I am raising up the Chaldeans.
They are a cruel nation that acts fast and without thinking.
They march across the whole wide earth.
They take over homes that are not theirs. ⁷People are terrified of them.
They make up their own rules of justice.
They answer to no one but themselves. ⁸Their horses are faster than leopards.
They are fiercer than wolves at night.
Their horsemen charge ahead.
Their riders come from far away.
They fly like a vulture diving down to eat. ⁹All of them come ready for violence.
Their crowds move forward like the east wind.
They gather prisoners like sand. ¹⁰They make fun of kings.
They laugh at rulers.
They laugh at every fortress.
They pile up dirt ramps to attack it and take it. ¹¹Then they sweep past like the wind and go on.
They are guilty people.
Their own strength is their god." ¹²LORD, haven't you lived forever?
You are my God, my Holy One.
We will not die.
LORD, you have chosen them to bring judgment.
You are our Rock.
You have set them in place to correct us. ¹³Your eyes are too pure to look at evil.
You cannot put up with wrongdoing.
So why do you put up with people who betray?
Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up people who are more righteous than they are? ¹⁴You have made people like fish in the sea.
They are like crawling creatures that have no ruler. ¹⁵The enemy pulls all of them up with a hook.
He catches them in his big net.
He gathers them in his fishing net.
So he is very happy and glad. ¹⁶So he offers sacrifices to his big net.
He burns incense to his fishing net.
For these things give him a rich life and fine food. ¹⁷So will he keep emptying his net?
Will he keep killing nations without mercy?