Habakkuk 1
1
1I am Habakkuk the prophet. And this is the message#1.1 message: Or “vision.” that the Lord gave me.
Habakkuk Complains to the Lord
2Our Lord, how long must I beg
for your help
before you listen?
How long before you save us
from all this violence?
3Why do you make me watch
such terrible injustice?
Why do you allow violence,
lawlessness, crime, and cruelty
to spread everywhere?
4Laws cannot be enforced;
justice is always the loser;
criminals crowd out honest people
and twist the laws around.
The Lord Answers Habakkuk
5 #
Ac 13.41. Look and be amazed
at what's happening
among the nations!
Even if you were told,
you would never believe
what's taking place now.
6 #
2 K 24.2. I am sending the Babylonians.
They are fierce and cruel—
marching across the land,
conquering cities and towns.
7How fearsome and frightening.
Their only laws and rules
are the ones they make up.
8Their cavalry troops are faster
than leopards,
more ferocious than wolves
hunting at sunset,
and swifter than hungry eagles
suddenly swooping down.
9They are eager to destroy,#1.9 eager to destroy: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
and they gather captives
like handfuls of sand.
10They make fun of rulers
and laugh at fortresses,
while building dirt mounds
so they can capture cities.#1.10 dirt mounds … cities: Attacking armies often build dirt mounds against city walls to make it easier for them to climb the wall and capture the city.
11Then suddenly they disappear
like a gust of wind—
those sinful people who worship
their own strength.
Habakkuk Complains Again
12Holy Lord God, mighty rock,#1.12 mighty rock: The Hebrew text has “rock,” which is sometimes used in poetry to compare the Lord to a mountain where his people can run for protection from their enemies.
you are eternal,
and we#1.12 we: Hebrew; one ancient Jewish tradition “you.” are safe from death.
You are using those Babylonians
to judge and punish others.#1.12 You … others: Or “You will judge and punish those Babylonians.”
13But you can't stand sin or wrong.
So don't sit by in silence
while they gobble up people
who are better than they are.
14The people you put on this earth
are like fish or reptiles
without a leader.
15Then an enemy comes along
and takes them captive
with hooks and nets.
It makes him so happy
16that he offers sacrifices
to his fishing nets,
because they make him rich
and provide choice foods.
17Will he keep hauling in his nets
and destroying nations
without showing mercy?
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Habakkuk 1: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Habakkuk 1
1
1The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
2O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. 3Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there is strife, and contention riseth up. 4Therefore the law is slacked, and judgement doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore judgement goeth forth perverted.
5Behold ye among the nations, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I work a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you. 6For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation; which march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. 7They are terrible and dreadful: their judgement and their dignity proceed from themselves. 8Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen spread themselves: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour. 9They come all of them for violence; their faces are set eagerly as the east wind; and they gather captives as the sand. 10Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him: he derideth every strong hold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it. 11Then shall he sweep by as a wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty: even he whose might is his god.
12Art not thou from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained him for judgement; and thou, O Rock, hast established him for correction. 13Thou 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; 14and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 15He 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. 16Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his meat plenteous. 17Shall he therefore empty his net, and not spare to slay the nations continually?
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historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society