Habakkuk

¹ The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld.

² And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save.

³ And cause me to look on trouble? Indeed, devastation and violence are before me; And there is strife, and contention is lifted up.

⁴ And justice never comes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes forth perverted.

⁵ “See among the nations! And look! Be also astonished! Be astounded! Because I am doing something in your days— You would not believe if it was recounted to you.

⁶ That bitter and hasty nation Who walks on the breadth of the land To possess dwelling places which are not theirs.

⁷ Their justice and exaltation come forth from themselves.

⁸ And sharper than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping; Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.

⁹ Their horde of faces moves forward. And they gather captives like sand.

¹⁰ And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress And heap up dirt and capture it.

¹¹ But they will be held guilty, They whose power is their god.”

¹² Are You not from everlasting, O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Yahweh, have placed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to reprove.

¹³ And You cannot look on trouble. Why do You look On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?

¹⁴ Like creeping things without a ruler over them.

¹⁵ Drag them away with their net, And gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore they are glad and rejoice.

¹⁶ And burn incense to their fishing net Because through these things their portion is rich And their food is fat.

¹⁷ And continually kill nations without sparing?