1:1 The pronouncement which Habakkuk the prophet saw:
1:2 How long, LORD, have I called for help,
And You do not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
1:3 Why do You make me see disaster,
And make me look at destitution?
Yes, devastation and violence are before me;
Strife exists and contention arises.
1:4 Therefore the Law ①is ignored,
And justice ②is never upheld.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes out confused.
▷ ①Or is ineffective; lit turns cold ②Lit never goes forth
1:5 “Look among the nations! Watch!
Be horrified! Be frightened speechless!
For I am accomplishing a work in your days—
You would not believe it even if ①you were told!
▷ ①Lit it
1:6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
That ①grim and impetuous people
Who march ②throughout the earth,
To take possession of dwelling places that are not theirs.
▷ ①Lit bitter ②Lit the breadth of
1:7 They are terrifying and feared;
Their justice and ①authority ②originate with themselves.
▷ ①Lit sovereignty ②Lit proceed from
1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards,
And quicker than wolves in the evening.
Their ①horsemen charge along,
Their ②horsemen come from afar;
They fly like an eagle ③swooping down to devour.
▷ ①Lit hurrying to ②Or horses ③Or horses
1:9 All of them come for violence.
①Their horde of faces moves forward.
They gather captives like sand.
▷ ①Lit The totality of
1:10 They make fun of kings,
And dignitaries are an object of laughter to them.
They laugh at every fortress,
Then heap up dirt and ①capture it.
▷ ①Or overthrow
1:11 Then they fly along like the wind and pass on.
But they will be held guilty,
They whose strength is their god.”
1:12 Are You not from time everlasting,
LORD, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
You, LORD, have appointed them to deliver judgment;
And You, O Rock, have destined them to punish.
1:13 Your eyes are too pure to look at evil,
And You cannot look at harm favorably.
Why do You look favorably
At those who deal treacherously?
Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up
Those more righteous than they?
1:14 Why have You made people like the fish of the sea,
Like crawling things that have no ruler over them?
1:15 The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook,
Drag them away with their net,
And gather them together in their fishing net.
Therefore they rejoice and are joyful.
1:16 Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net
And ①burn incense to their fishing net,
Because through these things their ②catch is ③large,
And their food is ④plentiful.
▷ ①Or sacrifice ②Lit portion ③Lit fat; or plentiful ④Lit fat
1:17 Will they therefore empty their net,
And continually slay nations without sparing?