The Book of
Habakkuk
1
1 The revelation which
Habakkuk the
prophet saw.
2 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 show
me iniquity, and
look at perversity?
For destruction
and violence are
before me. There
is strife, and
contention rises up.
4 Therefore
the law
is paralyzed, and
justice never prevails;
for the wicked
surround the
righteous; therefore
justice comes out
perverted.
5 “Look
among the nations,
watch, and
wonder marvelously; for
I am working a
work in your
days which you
will not believe
though it is
told you.
6 For,
behold,
I am raising
up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and
hasty nation who
march through
the width of
the earth, to
possess dwelling
places that are
not theirs.
7 They
are feared
and dreaded. Their
judgment and their
dignity proceed
from themselves.
8 Their
horses also are
swifter than
leopards, and
are more fierce
than the evening
wolves. Their
horsemen press proudly on. Yes,
their horsemen
come from afar.
They fly as an
eagle that hurries
to devour.
9 All
of them come for
violence. Their hordes
face forward.
They gather prisoners
like sand.
10 Yes, they
scoff at kings,
and princes are
a derision to
them. They laugh
at every stronghold,
for they build up
an earthen ramp and
take it.
11 Then
they sweep by
like the wind
and go on.
They are indeed guilty, whose
strength is their god.”
12 Aren’t you
from everlasting,
LORD my God,
my Holy One?
We will not
die. LORD, you
have appointed
them for judgment.
You, Rock, have
established him to
punish.
13 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 and
make men like
the fish of
the sea, like
the creeping
things that have
no ruler over
them?
15 He takes
up all of
them with the
hook. He catches
them in his
net and gathers
them in
his dragnet. Therefore
he rejoices and
is glad.
16 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
he therefore
continually empty
his net, and
kill the nations
without mercy?