Habakkuk 1–3

1This is the message Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk Complains

²Lord, how long must I ask for help

and you ignore me?

I cry out to you about violence,

but you do not save us!

³Why do you make me see wrong things

and make me look at trouble?

People are destroying things and hurting others in front of me;

they are arguing and fighting.

⁴So the teachings are weak,

and justice never comes.

Evil people gain while good people lose;

the judges no longer make fair decisions.

The Lord Answers

⁵“Look at the nations!

Watch them and be amazed and shocked.

I will do something in your lifetime

that you won’t believe even when you are told about it.

⁶I will use the Babylonians,

those cruel and wild people

who march across the earth

and take lands that don’t belong to them.

⁷They scare and frighten people.

They do what they want to do

and are good only to themselves.

⁸Their horses are faster than leopards

and quicker than wolves at sunset.

Their horse soldiers attack quickly;

they come from places far away.

They attack quickly, like an eagle swooping down for food.

⁹They all come to fight.

Nothing can stop them.

Their prisoners are as many as the grains of sand.

¹⁰They laugh at kings

and make fun of rulers.

They laugh at all the strong, walled cities

and build dirt piles to the top of the walls to capture them.

¹¹Then they leave like the wind and move on.

They are guilty of worshiping their own strength.”

Habakkuk Complains Again

¹²Lord, you live forever,

my God, my holy God.

We will not die.

Lord, you have chosen the Babylonians to punish people;

our Rock, you picked them to punish.

¹³Your eyes are too good to look at evil;

you cannot stand to see those who do wrong.

So how can you put up with those evil people?

How can you be quiet when the wicked swallow up people who are better than they are?

¹⁴You treat people like fish in the sea,

like sea animals without a leader.

¹⁵The enemy brings them in with hooks.

He catches them in his net

and drags them in his fishnet.

So he rejoices and sings for joy.

¹⁶The enemy offers sacrifices to his net

and burns incense to worship it,

because it lets him live like the rich

and enjoy the best food.

¹⁷Will he keep on taking riches with his net?

Will he go on destroying people without showing mercy?

2I will stand like a guard to watch

and place myself at the tower.

I will wait to see what he will say to me;

I will wait to learn how God will answer my complaint.

The Lord Answers

²The Lord answered me:

“Write down the vision;

write it clearly on clay tablets

so whoever reads it can run to tell others.

³It is not yet time for the message to come true,

but that time is coming soon;

the message will come true.

It may seem like a long time,

but be patient and wait for it,

because it will surely come;

it will not be delayed.

⁴The evil nation is very proud of itself;

it is not living as it should.

But those who are right with God will live by faith.

⁵“Just as wine can trick a person,

those who are too proud will not last,

because their desire is like a grave’s desire for death,

and like death they always want more.

They gather other nations for themselves

and collect for themselves all the countries.

⁶But all the nations the Babylonians have hurt will laugh at them.

They will make fun of the Babylonians

and say, ‘How terrible it will be for the one that steals many things.

How long will that nation get rich by forcing others to pay them?’

⁷“One day the people from whom you have taken money will turn against you.

They will realize what is happening and make you shake with fear.

Then they will take everything you have.

⁸Because you have stolen from many nations,

those who are left will take much from you.

This is because you have killed many people,

destroying countries and cities and everyone in them.

⁹“How terrible it will be for the nation that becomes rich by doing wrong,

thinking they will live in a safe place

and escape harm.

¹⁰Because you have made plans to destroy many people,

you have made your own houses ashamed of you.

Because of it, you will lose your lives.

¹¹The stones of the walls will cry out against you,

and the boards that support the roof will agree that you are wrong.

¹²“How terrible it will be for the nation that kills people to build a city,

that wrongs others to start a town.

¹³The Lord All-Powerful will send fire

to destroy what those people have built;

all the nations’ work will be for nothing.

¹⁴Then, just as water covers the sea,

people everywhere will know the Lord’s glory.

¹⁵“How terrible for the nation that makes its neighbors drink,

pouring from the jug of wine until they are drunk

so that it can look at their naked bodies.

¹⁶You Babylonians will be filled with disgrace, not respect.

It’s your turn to drink and fall to the ground like a drunk person.

The cup of anger from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you.

You will receive disgrace, not respect.

¹⁷You hurt many people in Lebanon,

but now you will be hurt.

You killed many animals there,

and now you must be afraid

because of what you did

to that land, those cities, and the people who lived in them.

The Message About Idols

¹⁸“An idol does no good, because a human made it;

it is only a statue that teaches lies.

The one who made it expects his own work to help him,

but he makes idols that can’t even speak!

¹⁹How terrible it will be for the one who says to a wooden statue, ‘Come to life!’

How terrible it will be for the one who says to a silent stone, ‘Get up!’

It cannot tell you what to do.

It is only a statue covered with gold and silver;

there is no life in it.

²⁰The Lord is in his Holy Temple;

all the earth should be silent in his presence.”

Habakkuk’s Prayer

3This is the prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on shigionoth.

²Lord, I have heard the news about you;

I am amazed at what you have done.

Lord, do great things once again in our time;

make those things happen again in our own days.

Even when you are angry,

remember to be kind.

³God is coming from Teman;

the Holy One comes from Mount Paran. ⁿ

Selah

His glory covers the skies,

and his praise fills the earth.

⁴He is like a bright light.

Rays of light shine from his hand,

and there he hides his power.

⁵Sickness goes before him,

and disease follows behind him.

⁶He stands and shakes the earth.

He looks, and the nations shake with fear.

The mountains, which stood for ages, break into pieces;

the old hills fall down.

God has always done this.

⁷I saw that the tents of Cushan were in trouble

and that the tents of Midian trembled.

⁸Lord, were you angry at the rivers,

or were you angry at the streams?

Were you angry with the sea

when you rode your horses and chariots of victory? ⁿ

⁹You uncovered your bow

and commanded many arrows to be brought to you.

Selah

You split the earth with rivers.

¹⁰The mountains saw you and shook with fear.

The rushing water flowed.

The sea made a loud noise,

and its waves rose high.

¹¹The sun and moon stood still in the sky;

they stopped when they saw the flash of your flying arrows

and the gleam of your shining spear.

¹²In anger you marched on the earth;

in anger you punished the nations.

¹³You came out to save your people,

to save your chosen one.

You crushed the leader of the wicked ones

and took everything he had, from head to toe.

Selah

¹⁴With the enemy’s own spear you stabbed the leader of his army.

His soldiers rushed out like a storm to scatter us.

They were happy

as they were robbing the poor people in secret.

¹⁵But you marched through the sea with your horses,

stirring the great waters.

¹⁶I hear these things, and my body trembles;

my lips tremble when I hear the sound.

My bones feel weak,

and my legs shake.

But I will wait patiently for the day of disaster

that will come to the people who attack us.

¹⁷Fig trees may not grow figs,

and there may be no grapes on the vines.

There may be no olives growing

and no food growing in the fields.

There may be no sheep in the pens

and no cattle in the barns.

¹⁸But I will still be glad in the Lord;

I will rejoice in God my Savior.

¹⁹The Lord God is my strength.

He makes me like a deer that does not stumble

so I can walk on the steep mountains.

For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.