1This is a prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received from the LORD. Here is what Habakkuk said.
Habakkuk complains to the Lord
2LORD, how long do I have to call out for help? Why don’t you listen to me? How long must I keep telling you that things are terrible? Why don’t you save us?3Why do you make me watch while people treat others so unfairly? Why do you put up with the wrong things they are doing? I have to look at death. People are harming others. They are arguing and fighting all the time.4The law can’t do what it’s supposed to do. Fairness never comes out on top. Sinful people surround those who do what is right. So people are never treated fairly.
The Lord replies to Habakkuk
5The LORD replies, ‘Look at the nations. Watch them. Be totally amazed at what you see. I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe. You would not believe it even if someone told you about it.6I am going to send the armies of Babylon to attack you. They are very mean. They move quickly. They sweep across the whole earth. They take over homes that do not belong to them.7They terrify others. They do not recognise any laws but their own. That is how proud they are.8Their horses are faster than leopards. They are meaner than wolves at sunset. Their horsemen charge straight into battle. They ride in from far away. They come down like an eagle diving for its food.9All of them are ready and willing to destroy others. Their huge armies advance like a wind out of the desert. They gather prisoners like sand.10They mock kings and make fun of rulers. They laugh at all the cities that have high walls around them. They build earthen ramps against the walls and capture the cities.11They sweep past like the wind. Then they go on their way. They are guilty. They worship their own strength.’
Habakkuk complains to the Lord again
12LORD, haven’t you existed for ever? You are my holy God. You will never die. LORD, you have appointed the Babylonians to punish your people. My Rock, you have chosen them to judge us.13Your eyes are too pure to look at what is evil. You can’t put up with the wrong things people do. So why do you put up with those who can’t be trusted? The evil Babylonians swallow up those who are more godly than themselves. So why are you silent?14You have made people to be like the fish in the sea. They are like the sea creatures that don’t have a ruler.15The evil Babylonians pull all of them up with hooks. They catch them in their nets. They gather them up. So they celebrate. They are glad.16They offer sacrifices to their nets. They burn incense to them. Their nets allow them to live in great comfort. They enjoy the finest food.17Are you going to let them keep on emptying their nets? Will they go on destroying nations without showing them any mercy?
Habbakuk 1
English Standard Version
1The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. (Na 1:1)
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? (Ps 13:1; Ps 89:46; Mic 6:12)3Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. (Jer 9:2; Hab 1:2)4So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. (Job 21:7; Jer 12:1; Mic 7:3)
The Lord’s Answer
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. (Isa 28:21; Isa 29:14; Ac 13:41)6For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. (Jer 5:15; Hab 2:5; Hab 2:6)7They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. (Hab 1:10)8Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. (De 28:49; Jer 4:13; Jer 5:6; Zep 3:3)9They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. (Jos 11:4; Hab 2:17)10At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. (Eze 4:2; Na 3:12)11Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!” (Ho 13:16; Hab 1:7)
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. (De 32:4; De 33:27; Ps 90:2; Ps 93:2; Isa 10:5; Mal 3:6)13You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? (Ps 5:5; Ps 35:22; Jer 12:1)14You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.15He[1] brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad. (Isa 19:8; Jer 16:16; Am 4:2)16Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury,[2] and his food is rich. (Hab 1:11)17Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? (Hab 2:10)