CHAPTER 1
1The portent that Habakkuk the prophet saw in a vision.
2How long, O LORD, shall I cry out,
yet You do not listen?
I scream “outrage” to You,
and You do not rescue!
3Why do You show me mischief,
and You look upon wretchedness?
Plunder and outrage are before me,
quarrel and contention I bear.
4Therefore teaching fails,
and justice never comes forth.
For the wicked surrounds the righteous.
Therefore perverted justice comes forth.
5See among the nations and look,
and be altogether astonished.
For a deed is being done in your time,
you would not believe it were it told.
6For I am about to raise up the Chaldeans,
that goes to the wide reaches of the earth
to take hold of dwellings not theirs.
7Fearsome he is and frightful,
from him his rule and his majesty come forth.
8And his horses are swifter than leopards
and quicker than the wolves of the steppes.
And his horsemen spread out,
his horsemen come, they fly from afar,
like a vulture pouncing on prey.
9All of them come for outrage,
and they gather captives like the sand.
10And he is scornful of kings,
and rulers are a mockery for him.
He mocks every fortress,
piles up earth and captures it,
11then passes on like the wind
and attributes his might to his god.
12Are you not of old, O LORD,
my holy God? You shall not die!
LORD, You have arraigned him for justice
and Rock, You set him aside for censure.
13Too pure of eyes to see evil,
and You cannot look on wretchedness,
Why do You look upon traitors and stay silent,
when the wicked destroys one more righteous than he?
14And You make humankind like the fish of the sea,
like creeping things that have no ruler.
15They are all brought up with a line,
swept up in a net,
and he gathers them in his trawl,
therefore he rejoices and exalts.
16Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense to his trawl,
for through them his share is rich,
and his food is fat.
17Thus does he ever unsheathe his sword
to slay nations with no pity.