Habakkuk 1:1–11

This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

²How long, O Lord, must I call for help?

But you do not listen!

“Violence is everywhere!” I cry,

but you do not come to save.

³Must I forever see these evil deeds?

Why must I watch all this misery?

Wherever I look,

I see destruction and violence.

I am surrounded by people

who love to argue and fight.

⁴The law has become paralyzed,

and there is no justice in the courts.

The wicked far outnumber the righteous,

so that justice has become perverted.

The Lord’s Reply

⁵The Lord replied,

“Look around at the nations;

look and be amazed!

For I am doing something in your own day,

something you wouldn’t believe

even if someone told you about it.

⁶I am raising up the Babylonians,

a cruel and violent people.

They will march across the world

and conquer other lands.

⁷They are notorious for their cruelty

and do whatever they like.

⁸Their horses are swifter than cheetahs

and fiercer than wolves at dusk.

Their charioteers charge from far away.

Like eagles, they swoop down to devour their prey.

⁹“On they come, all bent on violence.

Their hordes advance like a desert wind,

sweeping captives ahead of them like sand.

¹⁰They scoff at kings and princes

and scorn all their fortresses.

They simply pile ramps of earth

against their walls and capture them!

¹¹They sweep past like the wind

and are gone.

But they are deeply guilty,

for their own strength is their god.”