Habakkuk 1:1–11

The pronouncement^a that the prophet Habakkuk saw.^b

HABAKKUK’S FIRST PRAYER

²How long,^c Lord, must I call for help^d

and you do not listen

or cry out to you about violence^e

and you do not save?

³Why do you force me to look at injustice?^f

Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Oppression and violence are right in front of me.

Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.

⁴This is why the law is ineffective

and justice never emerges.

For the wicked restrict^g the righteous;

therefore, justice^h comes out perverted.

GOD’S FIRST ANSWER

⁵Look at the nations^Bi and observe^j—

be utterly astounded!^k

For I am doing something in your days

that you will not believe^l

when you hear about it.^m

⁶Look! I am raising upⁿ the Chaldeans,^C

that bitter,^o impetuous nation

that marches across the earth’s open spaces

to seize territories not its own.

⁷They are fierce^p and terrifying;

their views of justice and sovereignty

stem from themselves.

⁸Their horses are swifter^q than leopards^r

and more fierce^D than wolves of the night.

Their horsemen charge ahead;

their horsemen come from distant lands.

They fly like eagles, swooping to devour.^s

⁹All of them come to do violence;

their faces^t are set in determination.^E

They gather^u prisoners like sand.^v

¹⁰They mock^w kings,

and rulers are a joke to them.

They laugh^x at every fortress

and build siege ramps to capture^y it.

¹¹Then they sweep^z by like the wind

and pass through.

They are guilty;^F their strength is their god.