Habakkuk 1

The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. 2 “Until when, God, will I cry aloud, but you will not listen? I cry out to you ‘Violence!’ but you do not save. 3 Why do you make me see iniquity, and {why} do you behold trouble? And destruction and violence {are} to the front of me, and {there} is strife, and contention arises. 4 Therefore the law weakens, and justice does not go forth to perpetuity. For the wicked surrounds the righteous, therefore justice goes forth perverted.” \* 5 “See among the nations and consider, and be amazed, be amazed! For I am working a work in your days {that} you will not believe when it is recounted. 6 For behold me, raising up the Chaldeans, the bitter and hastening nation, the one going through the breadths of the earth to seize dwellings not to him. 7 He {is} dreadful and terrifying; from him goes forth his justice and his dignity. \* 8 And his horses are swifter than leopards, and they are fiercer than wolves of the evening. And his horsemen spread out, and his horsemen come from a distance, they fly like an eagle rushing to devour. 9 All of them will come for violence. The direction of their faces {is} eastward, and he gathers captives like the sand. \* 10 And he, he mocks at kings, and rulers {are} laughter to him. He, he laughs at every fortress, for he piles up dirt and captures it. 11 Then he sweeps by {like} the wind and goes on. But he will become guilty, this {one} whose might {is} his god.” \* 12 “{Are} you not from ancient times, God my God, my Holy One? We will not die. God, you have appointed him for judgment, and Rock, you have established him for correcting. \* 13 Your eyes are pure from seeing evil, and you are not able to look at trouble. Why do you look at treacherous ones, keep silent when the wicked devours {one} more righteous than him? 14 And you make man like the fish of the sea, like a creeping thing {with} no ruler over it. \* 15 All of them, he brings up with a hook. He drags him with his net, and he gathers him with his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and exults. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by them his portion {is} fat and his food is rich. 17 Therefore will he empty his net, and will he not spare to slay the nations continually?” \*