1 T his is the special word which Habakkuk the man of God saw.

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2 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.

O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save.

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

Why dost thou show me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? for destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up.

4 T he 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

Therefore the law is slacked, and justice doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore justice goeth forth perverted.

5 “ 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.

Behold ye among the nations, and look, and wonder marvellously; for I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.

6 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.

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.

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

They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.

8 T heir 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.

Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen press proudly on: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour.

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

They come all of them for violence; the set of their faces is forwards; and they gather captives as the sand.

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

Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him; he derideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it.

11 T hen they move through like the wind and keep going. They are guilty men, whose strength is their god.” Habakkuk’s Second Question

Then shall he sweep by as a wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty, even he whose might is his god.

12 H ave 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.

Art not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? we shall not die. O Jehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast established him for correction.

13 Y our 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?

Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he;

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

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

15 T he 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.

He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad.

16 S o 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.

Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food plenteous.

17 W ill they empty their net forever and keep on destroying nations without pity?

Shall he therefore empty his net, and spare not to slay the nations continually?