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.
Habacuc (Habakkuk) 1
1
1The burden that Habacuc the prophet saw.
2How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save?
3Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful.
4Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore wrong judgment goeth forth.
5Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished: for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told.
6For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not their own.
7They are dreadful, and terrible: from themselves shall their judgment, and their burden proceed.
8Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat.
9They shall all come to the prey, their face is like a burning wind: and they shall gather together captives as the sand.
10And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it.
11Then shall his spirit be changed, and he shall pass, and fall: this is his strength of his god.
12Wast thou not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one, and we shall not die? Lord, thou hast appointed him for judgment: and made him strong for correction.
13Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself?
14And thou wilt make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping things that have no ruler.
15He lifted up all them with his hook, he drew them in his drag, and gathered them into his net: for this he will be glad and rejoice.
16Therefore will he offer victims to his drag, and he will sacrifice to his net: because through them his portion is made fat, and his meat dainty.
17For this cause therefore he spreadeth his net, and will not spare continually to slay the nations.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.