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

¶ The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

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 LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear; and raise my voice unto thee because of the 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 cause me to see iniquity and cause me to behold grievance and destruction and violence before me, in addition to those that raise up strife and contention?

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 weakened, and the judgment does not go forth true: for the wicked compasses about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceeds.

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 among the Gentiles and regard and wonder marvelously, for a work shall be done 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, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which march through the breadth of the earth to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

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

She is terrible and dreadful: from her herself shall go forth their rights and their grandeur.

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 shall be swifter than tigers and are sharper than the evening wolves, and their horsemen shall multiply themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as eagles that hasten to eat.

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

All of her shall come for the prey, before their faces an east wind, and they shall gather the 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.

And he shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto him, he shall deride every fortress and shall heap dust and take 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 he shall become arrogant against God, and he shall pass ahead and shall be found guilty, imputing this his power unto 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 thou not from the beginning, O LORD my God, my Holy One? we shall not die, O LORD, thou hast ordained him for judgment, and thou hast established him strong for chastisement.

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 art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity: why dost thou look upon those that deal treacherously and hold thy tongue when the wicked devour 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 dost make men as the fishes of the sea, as reptiles that have no lord?

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 shall take up all of them with his hook; he shall catch them in his net and gather them in his drag: therefore, he shall rejoice and be 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 shall sacrifice unto his net and burn 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, or have pity to stop slaying Gentiles continually?