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
Habakkuk’s Complaint
1The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2O Yahweh, how long shall I cry for help
and you will not listen?
How long will I cry out to you, “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3Why do you cause me to see evil
while you look at trouble?
Destruction and violence happen before me;
contention and strife arise.
4Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice does not go forth perpetually.#Or “forever”
For the wicked surround the righteous;
therefore justice goes forth perverted.
God’s Answer to Habakkuk
5“Look among the nations and see;
be astonished and astounded.
For a work is about to be done in your days
that you will not believe if it is told.
6For look! I am raising up the Chaldeans,
the bitter and impetuous nation,
the one who walks through the spacious places of earth
to take possession of dwellings not belonging to it.#Or “him”
7They#Hebrew “He” are dreadful and awesome;
their#Hebrew “his” justice and their#Hebrew “his” dignity proceed from themselves.#Hebrew “him”
8Their#Hebrew “His” horses are more swift than leopards;
they are more menacing than wolves at dusk.
Their#Hebrew “His” horsemen gallop; their#Hebrew “his” horsemen come from afar;
they fly like an eagle that is swift to devour.
9All of them#Hebrew “him” come for violence,
their faces pressing forward.
They gather captives like the sand.
10And they themselves scoff at kings
and rulers are a joke to them.
They laugh at every fortification,
and they heap up earth and take it.
11Then they sweep like the wind and pass on;
they become guilty, whose might is their#Hebrew “his” god!”
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12Are you not from of old,
O Yahweh my God, my Holy One?
You#Hebrew “we shall not die,” considered a deliberate scribal change of the text to avoid offensive language toward Yahweh shall not die.
O Yahweh, you have marked them#Hebrew “him” for judgment;
O Rock, you have established them#Hebrew “him” for reproof.
13Your eyes are too pure to see evil,
and you are not able to look at wrongdoing.#Or “trouble”
Why do you look at the treacherous?
Why are you silent when the wicked swallows up
someone more righteous than him?
14You make humankind like fish of the sea,
like crawling creatures that have no ruler among them.
15He brings up all of them with a fishhook;
he drags them up with a fishnet;
he gathers them in his dragnet.
Therefore, he rejoices and exults.
16Therefore he sacrifices to his fishnet
and makes offerings to his dragnet,
for by them he makes a good living#Literally “his portion is fat”
and his food is rich.
17Will he therefore empty his fishnet
and continually kill nations without showing mercy?
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