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
1 # See Nah. 1:1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2O Lord, #Ps. 13:1; 89:46 how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you #Mic. 6:12“Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 # See Jer. 9:2-6 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction #[See ver. 2 above]and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 # [Mic. 7:3] So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
# [Job 21:7; Jer. 12:1] For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
The Lord’s Answer
5 # Cited Acts 13:41 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
# [Isa. 28:21; 29:14] For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6For behold, #See Jer. 5:15 I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
# [ch. 2:5] who march through the breadth of the earth,
# [ch. 2:6] to seize dwellings not their own.
7They are dreaded and fearsome;
# [ver. 10, 11] their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 #
Jer. 4:13 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than #Jer. 5:6; Zeph. 3:3 the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
# See Deut. 28:49 they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9They all come #[ch. 2:17] for violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives #See Josh. 11:4like sand.
10At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
# [Nah. 3:12] They laugh at every fortress,
for #[Ezek. 4:2]they pile up earth and take it.
11Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
# [Hos. 13:16] guilty men, #[ver. 7]whose own might is their god!”
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12Are you not #Deut. 33:27; Ps. 90:2; 93:2 from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
# [Mal. 3:6] We shall not die.
O Lord, #See Isa. 10:5-7 you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O #See Deut. 32:4Rock, have established them for reproof.
13You who are #[Ps. 5:5] of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
#
Jer. 12:1 why do you idly look at traitors
and #Ps. 35:22remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
14You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.
15 #
Jer. 16:16; Amos 4:2 He#1:15 That is, the wicked foe brings all of them up #[Isa. 19:8]with a hook;
he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
so he rejoices and is glad.
16 # [ver. 11] Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,#1:16 Hebrew his portion is fat
and his food is rich.
17Is he then to keep on emptying his net
# [ch. 2:10] and mercilessly killing nations forever?
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