Habakkuk 1

CHAPTER 1

Habakkuk Calls For Help

¹The ^1aoracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld.

^2aHow long, O ¹Yahweh, will I call for help,

And You will not hear?

I cry out to You, “Violence!”

Yet You do ^bnot save.

³Why do You make me ^asee wickedness

And cause me to look on trouble?

Indeed, ^bdevastation and violence are before me;

^cAnd there is strife, and contention is lifted up.

⁴Therefore the ^alaw is ¹ignored,

And justice never comes forth.

For the wicked ^bsurround the righteous;

Therefore justice comes forth ^cperverted.

Yahweh Raises the Dreaded Chaldeans

⁵“^aSee among the nations! And look!

Be also astonished! ^bBe astounded!

Because I am doing ^csomething in your days—

You would not believe if it was recounted to you.

⁶“For behold, I am ^araising up the Chaldeans,

That bitter and hasty nation

Who walks on the breadth of the land

To ^bpossess dwelling places which are not theirs.

⁷“They are dreaded and ^afeared;

Their ^bjustice and exaltation come forth from themselves.

⁸“Their ^ahorses are swifter than leopards

And ¹sharper than ^bwolves in the evening.

Their ²horsemen come galloping;

Their horsemen come from afar;

They fly like an ^ceagle swooping down to devour.

⁹“All of them come for violence.

¹Their horde of ^afaces moves forward.

And they gather captives like sand.

¹⁰“And they ^amock at kings,

And rulers are a laughing matter to them.

They ^blaugh at every fortress

And ^cheap up dirt and capture it.

¹¹“Then they will sweep through like the ^awind and pass on.

But they will be held ^bguilty,

They whose ^cpower is their god.”

Yahweh Has Placed Them to Judge

¹²Are You not from ^aeverlasting,

O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One?

We will not die.

You, O Yahweh, have ^bplaced them to judge;

And You, O ^cRock, have established them to reprove.

¹³Your eyes are too ^apure to see evil,

And You cannot look on trouble.

Why do You ^blook

On those who deal ^ctreacherously?

Why are You ^dsilent when the wicked ^eswallow up

Those more righteous than they?

¹⁴And You have made men like the fish of the sea,

Like creeping things without a ruler over them.

¹⁵The Chaldeans ^abring all of them up with a hook,

^bDrag them away with their net,

And gather them together in their fishing net.

Therefore they are glad and rejoice.

¹⁶Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net

And ¹burn incense to their fishing net

Because through ^athese things their portion is rich

And their food is fat.

¹⁷Will they therefore empty their ^anet

And continually ^bkill nations without sparing?