Habakkuk 1
1
1The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
The prophet complains
2 LORD, how long will I call for help and you not listen?
I cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you don’t deliver us.
3Why do you show me injustice and look at anguish
so that devastation and violence are before me?
There is strife, and conflict abounds.
4The Instruction is ineffective.
Justice does not endure
because the wicked surround the righteous.
Justice becomes warped.
The LORD responds
5Look among the nations and watch!
Be astonished and stare
because something is happening in your days
that you wouldn’t believe even if told.
6I am about to rouse the Chaldeans,
that bitter and impetuous nation,
which travels throughout the earth to possess dwelling places it does not own.
7The Chaldean is dreadful and fearful.
He makes his own justice and dignity.#1.7 Or his justice and dignity come from him
8His horses are faster than leopards;
they are quicker than wolves of the evening.
His horsemen charge forward;
his horsemen come from far away.
They fly in to devour, swiftly, like an eagle.#1.8 Or vulture
9They come for violence,
the horde with all their faces set toward the desert.#1.9 Heb uncertain
He takes captives like sand.
10He makes fun of kings;
rulers are ridiculous to him.
He laughs at every fortress,
then he piles up dirt and takes it.
11He passes through like the wind and invades;
but he will be held guilty,
the one whose strength is his god.
The prophet questions the LORD
12 LORD, aren’t you ancient, my God, my holy one?
Don’t let us die.#1.12 Heb uncertain
LORD, you put the Chaldean here for judgment.
Rock, you established him as a rebuke.
13Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you are unable to look at disaster.
Why would you look at the treacherous
or keep silent when the wicked swallows one who is more righteous?
14You made humans like the fish of the sea,
like creeping things with no one to rule over them.
15The Chaldean brings all of them up with a fishhook.
He drags them away with a net;
he collects them in his fishing net,
then he rejoices and celebrates.
16Therefore, he sacrifices to his net;
he burns incense to his fishing nets,
because due to them his portion grows fat
and his food becomes luxurious.
17Should he continue to empty his net
and continue to slay nations without sparing them?
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Ḥaḇaqquq (Habakkuk) 1
1
1The message which the prophet Ḥaḇaqquq saw.
2O יהוה, till when shall I cry, and You not hear? I cry to You, “Violence!” and You do not save.
3Why do You show me wickedness, and cause me to see perversity? For ruin and violence are before me. And there is strife, and contention arises.
4Therefore the Torah ceases, and right-ruling never goes forth. For the wrong hem in the righteous, so that right-ruling comes out twisted.
5“Look among the nations and see, and be amazed, be amazed! For a work is being wrought in your days which you would not believe if it were told.
6“See, I am raising up the Kasdim, a bitter and hasty nation, who is going through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
7“They are frightening and fearsome, their right-ruling and their exaltation proceed from themselves.
8“Their horses shall be swifter than leopards, and more fierce than evening wolves. And their horsemen shall charge ahead, and their horsemen come from afar. They fly as the eagle, rushing to eat.
9“All of them come for violence, the direction of their faces is like the east wind, and they gather captives like sand.
10“And they scoff at sovereigns, and princes are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every stronghold, for they pile up earth and seize it.
11“Then shall he pass on as a wind, and transgress and be guilty, and ascribe this power to his mighty one.”
12Are You not from everlasting, O יהוה my Elohim, my Set-apart One? You do not die! O יהוה, You have appointed them for right-ruling, O Rock, You have established them for reproof.
13You, whose eyes are too clean to see evil, You are not able to look on wrong. Why do You look on those who act treacherously – keep silent when the wrong devours one more righteous than he?
14And would You make men like fish of the sea, like creeping creatures that have no ruler over them?
15The wicked foe has pulled all of them up with a hook, caught them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and exults.
16Therefore he slaughters to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, for by them is his portion fat and his food is rich.
17Is he therefore to keep on emptying his net, and killing nations without sparing?
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