Habakkuk 1
1
1This is the message that the LORD revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.
Habakkuk Complains of Injustice
2O LORD, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence? 3Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you endure to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all round me, and there is fighting and quarrelling everywhere. 4The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.
The LORD's Reply
5 #
Acts 13.41
Then the LORD said to his people, “Keep watching the nations round you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it. 6#2 Kgs 24.2I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands. 7They spread fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves.
8“Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their horsemen come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.
9“Their armies advance in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach.#1.9 Probable text and everyone… approach; Hebrew unclear. Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand. 10They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them — they pile up earth against it and capture it. 11Then they sweep on like the wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god.”
Habakkuk Complains to the LORD Again
12 LORD, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. LORD, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us. 13But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?
14How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them? 15The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch! 16They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything.
17Are they going to use their swords for ever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?
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Habakkuk 1: GNBDK
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Habakkuk 1
1
Habakkuk complains, and the Lord answers
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
5Look and be amazed#Ac 13.41.
at what's happening
among the nations!
Even if you were told,
you would never believe
what's taking place now.
6I am sending the Babylonians.#2 K 24.2.
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 earth mounds
so they can capture cities.#1.10 earth mounds…cities: Attacking armies often build earth 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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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012