Habakkuk, 1

1. The charge that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision.

1. The oracle of God which Habak'kuk the prophet saw.

2. How long, Yahweh, am I to cry for help while you will not listen; to cry, 'Violence!' in your ear while you will not save?

2. O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and thou wilt not hear? Or cry to thee "Violence!" and thou wilt not save?

3. Why do you make me see wrong-doing, why do you countenance oppression? Plundering and violence confront me, contention and discord flourish.

3. Why dost thou make me see wrongs and look upon trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.

4. And so the law loses its grip and justice never emerges, since the wicked outwits the upright and so justice comes out perverted.

4. So the law is slacked and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted.

5. Cast your eyes over the nations, look, and be amazed, astounded. For I am doing something in your own days which you will not believe if you are told of it.

5. Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.

6. For look, I am stirring up the Chaldaeans, that fierce and fiery nation who march miles across country to seize the homes of others.

6. For lo, I am rousing the Chalde'ans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize habitations not their own.

7. They are dreadful and awesome, a law and authority to themselves.

7. Dread and terrible are they; their justice and dignity proceed from themselves.

8. Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at night; their horsemen gallop on, their horsemen advance from afar, swooping like an eagle anxious to feed.

8. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Yea, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.

9. They are all bent on violence, their faces scorching like an east wind; they scoop up prisoners like sand.

9. They all come for violence; terror of them goes before them. They gather captives like sand.

10. They scoff at kings, they despise princes. They make light of all fortresses: they heap up earth and take them.

10. At kings they scoff, and of rulers they make sport. They laugh at every fortress, for they heap up earth and take it.

11. Then the wind changes and is gone . . . Guilty is he who makes his strength his god.

11. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!

12. Surely you, Yahweh, are from ancient times, my holy God, who never dies! Yahweh, you have appointed him to execute judgement; O Rock, you have set him firm to punish.

12. Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them as a judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast established them for chastisement.

13. Your eyes are too pure to rest on evil, you cannot look on at oppression. Why do you look on at those who play the traitor, why say nothing while the wicked swallows someone more upright than himself?

13. Thou who art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on wrong, why dost thou look on faithless men, and art silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

14. Why treat people like fish of the sea, like gliding creatures who have no leader?

14. For thou makest men like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.

15. They haul them all up on their hook, they catch them in their net, they sweep them up in their dragnet and then make merry and rejoice.

15. He brings all of them up with a hook, he drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his seine; so he rejoices and exults.

16. And so they offer a sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet, for by these they get a rich living and live off the fat of the land.

16. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his seine; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.

17. Are they to go on emptying their net unceasingly, slaughtering the nations without pity?

17. Is he then to keep on emptying his net, and mercilessly slaying nations for ever?