Hab 1 | LSB | STEP | The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld.

Habakkuk 1

Habakkuk Calls for Help

1 The ^{▼▼Or burden}oracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld.

2 How long, O ^{▼▼The personal covenant name of God, a form of I AM WHO I AM, cf. Ex 3:14-15}Yahweh, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
3 Why do You make me see wickedness
And cause me to look on trouble?
Indeed, devastation and violence are before me;
And there is strife, and contention is lifted up.
4 Therefore the law is ^{▼▼Or ineffective; lit numbed}ignored,
And justice never comes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes forth perverted.

Yahweh Raises the Dreaded Chaldeans

5 “See among the nations! And look!
Be also astonished! Be astounded!
Because I am doing something in your days—
You would not believe if it was recounted to you.
6 “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
That bitter and hasty nation
Who walks on the breadth of the land
To possess dwelling places which are not theirs.
7 “They are dreaded and feared;
Their justice and exaltation come forth from themselves.
8 “Their horses are swifter than leopards
And ^{▼▼Or more eager to attack}sharper than wolves in the evening.
Their ^{▼▼Or steeds paw the ground}horsemen come galloping;
Their horsemen come from afar;
They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.
9 “All of them come for violence.
^{▼▼ Or The eagerness of their faces}Their horde of faces moves forward.
And they gather captives like sand.
10 “And they mock at kings,
And rulers are a laughing matter to them.
They laugh at every fortress
And heap up dirt and capture it.
11 “Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on.
But they will be held guilty,
They whose power is their god.”

Yahweh Has Placed Them to Judge

12 Are You not from everlasting,
O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
You, O Yahweh, have placed them to judge;
And You, O Rock, have established them to reprove.
13 Your eyes are too pure to see evil,
And You cannot look on trouble.
Why do You look
On those who deal treacherously?
Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up
Those more righteous than they?
14 And You have made men like the fish of the sea,
Like creeping things without a ruler over them.
15 The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook,
Drag them away with their net,
And gather them together in their fishing net.
Therefore they are glad and rejoice.
16 Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net
And ^{▼▼Or sacrifice}burn incense to their fishing net
Because through these things their portion is rich
And their food is fat.
17 Will they therefore empty their net
And continually kill nations without sparing?