been helping Habakkuk. On the contrary, the prophet now wants to know how much longer he must cry for help in order to stop the Lord from ignoring him. Therefore for many translators the use of the word “before” (TEV) instead of and will be helpful. Or cry to thee “Violence!” and thou wilt not save? In the second sentence the word cry translates a different Hebrew verb from that used in the first sentence, and has a slight difference in emphasis. The previous verb means “to cry for help,” whereas