1 I am Habakkuk the prophet. And this is the message that the Lord gave me.
Habakkuk Complains to the Lord
2 Our Lord, how long must I beg
for your help
before you listen?
How long before you save us
from all this violence?
3 Why do you make me watch
such terrible injustice?
Why do you allow violence,
lawlessness, crime, and cruelty
to spread everywhere?
4 Laws cannot be enforced;
justice is always the loser;
criminals crowd out honest people
and twist the laws around.
The Lord Answers Habakkuk
5 Look and be amazed
at what's happening
among the nations!
Even if you were told,
you would never believe
what's taking place now.
6 I am sending the Babylonians.
They are fierce and cruel—
marching across the land,
conquering cities and towns.
7 How fearsome and frightening.
Their only laws and rules
are the ones they make up.
8 Their cavalry troops are faster
than leopards,
more ferocious than wolves
hunting at sunset,
and swifter than hungry eagles
suddenly swooping down.
9 They are eager to destroy,
and they gather captives
like handfuls of sand.
10 They make fun of rulers
and laugh at fortresses,
while building dirt mounds
so they can capture cities.
11 Then suddenly they disappear
like a gust of wind—
those sinful people who worship
their own strength.
Habakkuk Complains Again
12 Holy Lord God, mighty rock,
you are eternal,
and we are safe from death.
You are using those Babylonians
to judge and punish others.
13 But you can't stand sin or wrong.
So don't sit by in silence
while they gobble up people
who are better than they are.
14 The people you put on this earth
are like fish or reptiles
without a leader.
15 Then an enemy comes along
and takes them captive
with hooks and nets.
It makes him so happy
16 that he offers sacrifices
to his fishing nets,
because they make him rich
and provide choice foods.
17 Will he keep hauling in his nets
and destroying nations
without showing mercy?
1 The burden, which Habakkuk the Prophet did see. 2 O Lord, howe long shall I crye, and thou wilt not heare! euen crye out vnto thee for violence, and thou wilt not helpe! 3 Why doest thou shewe mee iniquitie, and cause me to beholde sorowe? for spoyling, and violence are before me: and there are that rayse vp strife and contention. 4 Therefore the Lawe is dissolued, and iudgement doeth neuer go forth: for the wicked doeth compasse about the righteous: therefore wrong iudgement proceedeth. 5 Beholde among the heathen, and regarde, and wonder, and maruaile: for I will worke a worke in your dayes: yee will not beleeue it, though it be tolde you. 6 For lo, I raise vp the Caldeans, that bitter and furious nation, which shall goe vpon the breadth of the lande to possesse the dwelling places, that are not theirs. 7 They are terrible and fearefull: their iudgement and their dignitie shall proceede of theselues. 8 Their horses also are swifter then the leopards, and are more fierce then the wolues in the euening: and their horsemen are many: and their horsemen shall come from farre: they shall flie as the eagle hasting to meate. 9 They come all to spoyle: before their faces shalbe an Eastwinde, and they shall gather the captiuitie, as the sand. 10 And they shall mocke the Kings, and the princes shalbe a skorne vnto them: they shall deride euery strong holde: for they shall gather dust, and take it. 11 Then shall they take a courage, and transgresse and doe wickedly, imputing this their power vnto their god. 12 Art thou not of olde, O Lord my God, mine holy one? we shall not die: O Lord, thou hast ordeined them for iudgement, and O God, thou hast established them for correction. 13 Thou art of pure eyes, and canst not see euill: thou canst not behold wickednesse: wherefore doest thou looke vpon the transgressors, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked deuoureth the man, that is more righteous then he? 14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping things, that haue no ruler ouer them. 15 They take vp all with the angle: they catch it in their net, and gather it in their yarne, whereof they reioyce and are glad. 16 Therefore they sacrifice vnto their net, and burne incense vnto their yarne, because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous. 17 Shall they therefore stretch out their net and not spare continually to slay the nations?