1 T he burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

This is the special word which Habakkuk the man of God saw.

2 O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

O Lord, how long must I call for help before You will hear? I cry out to You, “We are being hurt!” But You do not save us.

3 W hy dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

Why do you make me see sins and wrong-doing? People are being destroyed in anger in front of me. There is arguing and fighting.

4 T herefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

The Law is not followed. What is right is never done. For the sinful are all around those who are right and good, so what is right looks like sin. The Lord’s Answer

5 B ehold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

“Look among the nations, and see! Be surprised and full of wonder! For I am doing something in your days that you would not believe if you were told.

6 F or, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not their's.

I am bringing the Babylonians to power. They are people filled with anger who go across the whole earth to take homes that are not theirs.

7 T hey are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

They fill others with fear. They make their own law about what is fair and honored.

8 T heir horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

Their horses are faster than leopards, and show less pity than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come on running horses from far away. They fly like an eagle coming down to get food.

9 T hey shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

They all come in anger. Their armies move like the desert wind. They gather prisoners like sand.

10 A nd they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

They make fun of kings and laugh at rulers. They laugh at every strong city and build a battle-wall to take it.

11 T hen shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

Then they move through like the wind and keep going. They are guilty men, whose strength is their god.” Habakkuk’s Second Question

12 A rt thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

Have You not lived forever, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O Lord, You have chosen them to judge. You, O Rock, have chosen them to punish us.

13 T hou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

Your eyes are too pure to look at sin. You cannot look on wrong. Why then do You look with favor on those who do wrong? Why are You quiet when the sinful destroy those who are more right and good than they?

14 A nd makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

Why have You made men like the fish of the sea, like things which move along the ground that have no ruler?

15 T hey take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.

The Babylonians bring all of them up with a hook, and pull them away with their net. They gather them together in their fishing net, and so they have joy and are glad.

16 T herefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.

So they give gifts in worship to their net. They burn special perfume to their fishing net, because their net catches all the good things and good food they need.

17 S hall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

Will they empty their net forever and keep on destroying nations without pity?