Habakkuk 1

Revised Geneva Translation

1 The burden which Habakkuk the Prophet saw:

² O LORD, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear, cry out to You for violence, and You will not help?

³ Why do You show me iniquity and cause me to behold sorrow? For plundering and violence are before me. And there are those who raise strife and contention.

⁴ Therefore, the Law is dissolved, and judgment never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore, wrong judgment proceeds.

⁵ “Behold among the heathen, and watch, and wonder, and marvel. For I will work a work in your days. You will not believe it, though it is told to you.

⁶ “For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and furious nation, who shall go upon the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.

⁷ “They are terrible and fearful. Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed themselves.

⁸ “Also, their horses are swifter than leopards, and fiercer than wolves in the evening. And their horsemen are numerous. And their horsemen shall come from afar. They shall fly as the eagle diving toward prey.

⁹ “They all come to plunder. For their faces shall be an East wind. And they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

¹⁰ “And they shall mock the kings. And the princes shall be a scorn to them. They shall deride every stronghold. For they shall gather dust and take it.

¹¹ “Then they shall take courage and transgress and do wickedly, imputing their power to their god.”

¹² Are not You of old, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have ordained them for judgment! And, O God, You have established them for correction.

¹³ You are of pure Eyes and cannot consider evil. You cannot regard wickedness. Why do You look upon the transgressors and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours the man who is more righteous than he?

¹⁴ And men who have no ruler over them You make as the fish of the sea and as the creeping things.

¹⁵ They take up all with the hook. They catch it in their net and gather it in their fishing net, over which they rejoice and are glad.

¹⁶ Therefore, they sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their fishing net, because by them their portion is fat and their food plentiful.

¹⁷ Shall they, therefore, stretch out their net while continuing to slay the nations without pity?