Habakkuk, 1

¹ A pronouncement that Ha·bakʹkuk^*1 the prophet received in a vision:

² How long, O Jehovah, must I cry for help, but you do not hear? How long must I ask for help from violence, but you do not intervene?^*1

³ Why do you make me witness wrongdoing? And why do you tolerate oppression? Why are destruction and violence before me? And why do quarreling and conflict abound?

⁴ So law is paralyzed, And justice is never carried out. For the wicked surround the righteous; That is why justice is perverted.

⁵ “Look among the nations and pay attention! Stare in amazement and be astounded; For something will happen in your days That you will not believe even if it is told to you.

⁶ For here I am raising up the Chal·deʹans, The ruthless and impetuous nation. They sweep through vast stretches of the earth To seize homes not theirs.

⁷ They are frightening and fearsome. They establish their own justice and authority.^*1

⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards, And they are fiercer than wolves in the night. Their warhorses gallop forward; Their horses come from far away. They swoop down like the eagle rushing to feed.

⁹ All of them come bent on violence. The assembling of their faces is like the east wind, And they scoop up captives like sand.

¹⁰ They scoff at kings And laugh at high officials. They laugh at every fortified place; They pile up a dirt ramp and capture it.

¹¹ Then they move forward like the wind and pass through, But they will become guilty, Because they credit their power to their god.”^*1

¹² Are you not from everlasting, O Jehovah? O my God, my Holy One, you do not die.^*1 O Jehovah, you appointed them to execute judgment; My Rock, you established them for punishment.^*2

¹³ Your eyes are too pure to look on what is evil, And you cannot tolerate wickedness. Why, then, do you tolerate the treacherous And keep silent when a wicked man swallows up someone more righteous than he is?

¹⁴ Why do you make man like the fish of the sea, Like creeping things that have no ruler?

¹⁵ All of these he^*1 hauls up with a fishhook. He catches them in his dragnet, And he gathers them in his fishing net. That is why he rejoices greatly.

¹⁶ That is why he offers sacrifices to his dragnet And makes sacrifices^*1 to his fishing net; For by them his portion is rich,^*2 And his food is choice.

¹⁷ Will he then keep emptying out his dragnet?^*1 Will he go on slaughtering nations without compassion?