1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw:
2 O Jehovah, until when shall I cry out, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, Violence! But You do not save.
3 Why do You make me see iniquity, and You look upon trouble? For violence and injustice are before me; and there is strife and contention rising up.
4 On account of this the law has become benumbed, and judgment does not go forth with continuity. For the wicked one surrounds the righteous one; on account of this judgment goes forth, being perverted.
5 Look upon these nations and see, and be amazed. Be amazed! For a work is working in your days which you will not believe, though it be told to you.
6 For, behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, the bitter and impetuous nation that is going into the broad spaces of the land, to possess dwellings not belonging to him.
7 He is terrible and fearful; his judgment and his exaltation goes forth from himself.
8 And his horses are swifter than leopards and are fiercer than the evening wolves. And their horsemen spread themselves; yea, their horsemen come from afar; they shall fly as the eagle hurrying to eat.
9 All of him shall come for violence; the eagerness of their faces is as the east wind; and they gather captives like the sand.
10 And he shall scoff against the kings, and officials shall be a scorn to him. He shall scorn every fortress, and he shall heap up dust and capture it.
11 Then he sweeps on like a wind; and he passes on and is guilty, crediting this power of his to his god.
12 Are You not from aforetime, Jehovah our God, my Holy One? We shall not die, Jehovah, for You have appointed him for judgment. And, my Rock, You have established him to correct.
13 You are of purer eyes than to look upon evil, and You are not able to look upon mischief. Why do you regard those acting deceitfully? Will You be silent when the wicked one swallows the more righteous one than he?
14 For You make man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things with no ruler over him.
15 He takes up all of them with the hook; he drags him with his net and gathers him with his fishing net. On account of this he rejoices and exults.
16 On account of this he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his fishnet; because by them his portion grows fat, and his food rich.
17 Shall he therefore empty his net, and shall he not spare to continually slay nations?
1 I will stand on my guard and set myself on the siege-works, and watch to see what He will say against me, and what I shall return on my rebuke.
2 And Jehovah answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it on the tablets, that he who reads it may run.
3 For the vision is still for the appointed time, but it breathes to the end, and it does not lie. Though it delays, wait for it, because coming it will come; it will not tarry.
4 Behold, the soul in him is puffed up and is not upright; but the just shall live by his faith.
5 And also, wine indeed betrays a proud man, and he dwells not at home; who wid ens his soul like Sheol; and he is like death, and is not satisfied, but gathers all the nations to himself, and collects all the peoples to himself.
6 Shall not all of these lift up a parable against him, and a mocking riddle to him, and say, Woe to him who increases what is not his! Until when is he loading the pledges on himself?
7 Shall not those who bite you rise up suddenly, and those who shake you be aroused, and you become a prize to him?
8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the rest of the people shall plunder you, because of the blood of men and the violence of the land, and the city, and all those dwelling in it.
9 Woe to him gaining evil gain for his house, to set his nest in the height, to be snatched from the palm of evil!
10 You have counseled shame for your house, to make an end of many peoples, and are sinning in your soul.
11 For the stone shall cry out from the wall, and the beam shall answer it from the wood.
12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood and establishes a city by iniquity!
13 Behold, is it not for Jehovah of Hosts that the people labor only for fire, and nations grow weary for emptiness?
14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover over the sea.
15 Woe to him who causes his friend to drink, joining with your bottle, and also making him drunk, so as to look upon their nakedness!
16 You are sated with shame without honor; you drink also, and will be seen as uncircumcised. The cup of the right hand of Jehovah shall turn on you, and disgrace shall be your honor.
17 For the violence of Lebanon shall cover you, and the ruin of beasts terrify them because of the blood of men and the violence of the land, the city, and all those dwelling in it.
18 What does an image profit, for its former has carved it; a molten image, and a teacher of falsehood? For does the former trust in his work on it, to make mute idols?
19 Woe to the one who says to the wood, Awake! To a stone in silence, Rise up, it shall teach! Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, but no breath is in its midst.
20 But Jehovah is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.
1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet concerning erring ones:
2 Jehovah, I have heard Your report; I am afraid, Jehovah. As to Your work, give it life; in the midst of years, in the midst of years make known; in anger remember compassion.
3 God comes from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His majesty covers the heavens, and His praise fills the earth.
4 And His brightness is as the light; rays from His hand are His, and there was a covering of His strength.
5 A plague goes before Him, and lightning went forth at His feet.
6 He stood and measured the earth; He looked and nations trembled; and the ancient mountains were shattered; the hills of old; the goings of antiquity bowed down to Him.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan under iniquity; the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
8 Did Jehovah burn against rivers? Or was Your anger against the rivers? Or Your fury against the sea? For You ride on horses; Your chariots of salvation.
9 You bare Your bow, naked are the oaths of the tribes to Your Word. Selah. You have cut through the earth with rivers.
10 Did You see, the mountains whirled; the storm of waters passed over; the deep gave its voice; it lifted up its hands on high.
11 The sun and the moon stood still in their lofty abode. At the light of Your arrows they go, at the brightness of lightning of Your spear.
12 You march into the land in indignation. You thresh nations in anger.
13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for the salvation of Your anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked one to bare the foundation to the neck. Selah.
14 You pierced the head of his warriors with his shafts. They rush to scatter me; their exultation is to devour the afflicted one in a secret place.
15 You trod in the sea with Your horses, the surging of many waters.
16 I heard, and my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the sound. Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled within myself that I might rest for the day of distress; to come up against the peoples, he cuts him off.
17 Though the fig tree shall not blossom, and fruit is not on the vines; the product of the olive fails, and the fields make no food; the flock is cut off from the fold, and no herd is in the stalls,
18 yet I will exult in Jehovah; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
19 Jehovah the Lord is my might, and He sets my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk on my high places. To the chief singer, on my stringed instruments.