1 This is the message Jehovah revealed to Habakkuk the prophet:
2 How long, O Jehovah, will I call for help and you do not hear? I cry out to you, save me from violence! And yet you do not save.
3 Why do you make me see wickedness and immorality? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife exists and contention arises.
4 The law is paralyzed and justice is never delivered. The wicked surround the righteous and deliver perverted justice.
5 »Look among the nations, watch, and be amazed. Though you are told you will not believe the work I do today.
6 »Behold, I bring the Chaldeans to power, that bitter and impetuous nation. They march through the expanse of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
7 »They are feared and dreaded. Their justice and dignity are of their own being.
8 »Their horses are swifter than leopards. They are fiercer than the evening wolves. Their horsemen proudly press on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle in a hurry to eat.
9 »They all come for violence. Their crowds look straight ahead and gather prisoners like the sand.
10 »They scoff at kings, and princes are derision to them. They laugh at every stronghold, for they build earthen ramps and capture them.
11 »They will sweep by like a wind and continue on. They will be held guilty for might is their god.«
12 You are from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One, You are eternal. O Jehovah, you have appointed them the Chaldean to execute judgment. You, O Rock, have established them for correction.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look at evil. You cannot look at perversity. Why do you look at treacherous persons and not act? Why do you keep quiet when the wicked destroy the man who is more righteous?
14 Why do you make men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them?
15 He brings them all up with the hook. He gathers them away in his net. He gladly gathers them and rejoices.
16 He offers sacrifices and burns incense to his fishing net. For it is through this their catch is great and the food is plentiful.
17 Will they keep on emptying their nets and keep on destroying nations without mercy?
1 I will stand at my guard post at the tower on the wall. I will watch and wait to see what he will say to me and what I will answer when I am reproved.
2 Jehovah answered me: »Write the vision. Record it on tablets that he who reads it may run.
3 »The vision is yet for the appointed time. It moves quickly to the end. It will not lie! If it delays, wait for it for it will surely come. It will not be late!
4 »Behold, he is proud. He is not righteous. The righteous will live by faith.
5 »Wine is treacherous and never allows an arrogant man to rest. He never stays home. He has a large appetite like the grave. Like death he is never satisfied. He gathers all nations and collects all the people.
6 »Will they all taunt him by directing clever sayings and riddles at him? They will say: How horrible it will be for the one who makes himself rich with what is not his own by extortion and makes himself wealthy on loans. How long will this go on?
7 »Will your creditors and collection agents suddenly arise and make you tremble? Then you will become their prize.
8 »The people who remain will plunder you because you have plundered many nations. It is because of the blood you shed and the violence you brought on the land, the city and all who dwell there.
9 »He who receives a dishonest profit for his house will have trouble. He may set his nest on high in order to be delivered from the hand of evil!
10 »You have purposed a shameful thing for your house. You have sinned against yourself by destroying many people.
11 »The stones will cry out from the wall. The beams out of the woodwork will answer it.
12 »Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed and establishes a city with iniquity!
13 »Is it for Jehovah of Hosts that the peoples labor for the fire? Do the nations weary themselves for vanity?
14 »The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.
15 »Woe to anyone who gives his neighbors drink and empties his bottle. He makes them drunk and then looks on their nakedness.
16 »You are filled with shame and not glory. You drink also as one who is uncircumcised. The cup of Jehovah's right strong hand will come around to you. Intense shame will tarnish your glory.
17 »The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you. The destruction of the animals and shedding of blood will frighten you. The violence done to the inhabitants of the land and the city will terrify you.
18 »What is an idol worth after the carver is done? It is merely a false god. Why trust a speechless image made by human hands from wood or metal?
19 »Woe to anyone who says to an idol of wood or stone get up! You can learn nothing from idols covered with silver or gold? They cannot breathe or talk.
20 »Jehovah is in his Holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.«
1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to a rambling poem:
2 O Jehovah, I heard the report about you and I am afraid of your actions. O Jehovah, make it live in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known! When you are angry remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman. He is the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens! The earth is full of his praise.
4 His brightness is like the sun. He has rays of power coming from his hand! There was protection in his power.
5 Before him go the pestilence, and fiery bolts go forth at his feet.
6 He stood and measured the earth. He looked and agitated the nations. The everlasting mountains were shattered! The ancient hills collapsed. His ways are eternal!
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The tent cloths of the land of Midian trembled.
8 Was Jehovah displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers? Or is your fury against the sea? You rode upon the horses and your chariots are salvation.
9 Your bow was made quite bare. The oaths to the tribes were a sure word. You split the earth with your rivers.
10 The mountains saw you and were afraid. The tempest of waters passed by. The deep water uttered its voice, and lifted up its hands power on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation. They went away at the light of your arrows and the shining of your glittering spear.
12 You marched through the land in indignation. You trampled the nations in anger.
13 You went forth for the salvation of your people even for the salvation of your anointed. You wounded the head of the wicked man in the house of the evil. You laid bare the foundation even to the neck.
14 You pierced the head of his warriors. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me. They secretly devour the oppressed.
15 You tread the sea with your horses, the serge of mighty waters.
16 I heard and my body trembled! My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones and I tremble. I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the people who invade us.
17 The fig tree will not flourish. There will be no fruit on the vines. The labor of the olive will fail and the fields will yield no food! The flock will be cut off from the fold and there will be no herd in the stalls.
18 Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah! I will find joy in the God of my salvation.
19 Jehovah, the Sovereign Lord, is my strength! He makes my feet like a deers feet. He will make me walk upon high places.