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GOD’S WORD Translation
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HABAKKUK

1ST CHAPTER

Habakkuk’s Vision

The divine revelation that the prophet Habakkuk saw. 

Habakkuk’s Question

How long, O Lord, am I to cry for help, 

but you will not listen? 

I cry out to you, “There’s violence!” 

yet you will not come to the rescue. 

Why do you make me see wrongdoing? 

And why do you watch wickedness? 

Destruction and violence are in front of me. 

Quarrels and disputes arise. 

That is why your teaching is numbed, 

and justice is never carried out. 

Wicked people surround righteous people 

so that when justice is carried out, it’s perverted. 

The Lord’s Answer

Look among the nations and watch. 

Be amazed and astonished. 

I am going to do something in your days 

that you would not believe even if it were reported to you. 

I am going to send the Babylonians, 

that fierce and reckless nation. 

They will march throughout the earth 

to take possession of lands that don’t belong to them. 

They will be terrifying and fearsome. 

They will carry out their own kind of justice and honor. 

Their horses will be faster than leopards 

and quicker than wolves in the evening. 

Their riders will gallop along proudly. 

Their riders will come from far away

They will fly like an eagle that swoops down for its prey. 

They will all come for violence. 

Every face will be directed forward. 

They will gather prisoners like sand. 

10  They will make fun of kings and treat rulers as a joke. 

They will laugh at every fortified city 

and build a dirt ramp to capture it. 

11  They will move quickly and pass through like the wind. 

So they will be guilty, 

because their own strength is their god. 

Habakkuk’s Question

12  Didn’t you exist before time began, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? 

We will not die! 

O Lord, you have appointed the Babylonians to bring judgment. 

O Rock, you have destined them to correct us. 

13  Your eyes are too pure to look at evil. 

You can’t watch wickedness. 

Why do you keep watching treacherous people? 

Why are you silent when wicked people swallow those 

who are more righteous than they are? 

14  You make all people like the fish in the sea, 

like schools of sea life that have no ruler. 

15  The Babylonians pull them all up with fishhooks, 

drag them away in nets, 

and gather them in dragnets. 

So they rejoice and are happy. 

16  That is why they sacrifice to their nets and burn incense to their dragnets. 

They are rich and well fed because of them. 

17  Will they keep on emptying their nets 

and always kill nations without mercy? 

GW

About GOD’S WORD Translation

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) communicates the saving, life-changing Good News about Jesus in clear, natural English. Translated directly from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek by a committee of scholars, GOD’S WORD is an exceptional Bible that consciously combines scholarly fidelity with natural English.

By implementing the translation principles of Closest Natural Equivalence, the translation committee seeks to translate the best available texts into English with the closest possible accuracy. This commitment to accurately translating the Bible includes expressing the meaning naturally and in a style that preserves the characteristics of the source text.

The combination of accuracy and readability makes GOD’S WORD ideally suited for the following:

Devotional reading and in-depth study

Preaching, teaching, and worship

Memorization

Discipleship

Copyright

Scripture references from GOD’S WORD are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Up to 500 verses from GOD’S WORD may be quoted in any form (printed, written, visual, electronic, or audio) without written permission, provided that no more than half of any one book is quoted, and the verses quoted do not amount to more than 25% of the text of the work in which they are quoted.

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GOD’S WORD is a copyrighted work of God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society. Quotations are used by permission.

If used in a work that is for sale, the following copyright notice must be used:

GOD’S WORD is a copyrighted work of God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society. All rights reserved.

For quotation of over 500 verses and/or questions about these policies, contact God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society, P.O. Box 26343, Cleveland, Ohio 44126-0343, U.S.A.

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