1 Habakkuk Calls for Help The 1:1 Or burden oracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld.
2 ¶How long, O 1:2 The personal covenant name of God, a form of I AM WHO I AM, cf. Ex 3:14-15 Yahweh, will I call for help,And You will not hear?I cry out to You, “Violence!”Yet You do not save.
3 Why do You make me see wickednessAnd causemeto look on trouble?Indeed, devastation and violence are before me;And there is strife, and contention is lifted up.
4 Therefore the law is 1:4 Or ineffective; lit numbed ignored,And justice never comes forth.For the wicked surround the righteous;Therefore justice comes forth perverted.Yahweh Raises the Dreaded Chaldeans
5 ¶“See among the nations! And look!Be also astonished! Be astounded!BecauseI amdoing something in your days—You would not believe if it was recountedto you.
6 “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,That bitter and hasty nationWho walks on the breadth of the landTo possess dwelling places which are not theirs.
7 “They are dreaded and feared;Their justice and exaltation come forth from themselves.
8 “Their horses are swifter than leopardsAnd 1:8 Or more eager to attack sharper than wolves in the evening.Their 1:8 Or steeds paw the ground horsemen come galloping;Their horsemen come from afar;They fly like an eagle swoopingdownto devour.
9 “All of them come for violence. 1:9 Or The eagerness of their faces Their horde of facesmovesforward.And they gather captives like sand.
10 “And they mock at kings,And rulers are a laughing matter to them.They laugh at every fortressAnd heap up dirt and capture it.
11 “Then they will sweep throughlikethe wind and pass on.But they will be held guilty,They whose power is their god.”Yahweh Has Placed Them to Judge
12 ¶Are You not from everlasting,O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One?We will not die.You, O Yahweh, have placed them to judge;And You, O Rock, have established them to reprove.
13 Youreyes are too pure to see evil,And You cannot look on trouble.Why do You lookOn those who deal treacherously?Whyare You silent when the wicked swallow upThose more righteous than they?
14 And You have made men like the fish of the sea,Like creeping things without a ruler over them.
15 The Chaldeansbring all of them up with a hook,Drag them away with their net,And gather them together in their fishing net.Therefore they are glad and rejoice.
16 Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their netAnd 1:16 Or sacrifice burn incense to their fishing netBecause through these things their portion is richAnd their food is fat.
17 Will they therefore empty their netAnd continually kill nations without sparing?