Shared Word Translation
Habakkuk 1
The Oracle Habakkuk Saw
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
How Long Shall I Cry for Help?
How long, O LORD,
shall I cry for help,
and you do not hear?
I cry to you, “Violence!”
and you do not save.
Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you look upon trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife arises,
and contention lifts itself up.
Therefore instruction grows numb,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surrounds the righteous;
therefore justice goes forth twisted.
I Am Raising Up the Chaldeans
Look among the nations and see;
be astonished—be amazed.
For I am working a work in your days
that you would not trust
if it were told.
For look, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth
to possess dwelling places
that are not theirs.
They are terrifying and fearsome;
their judgment and their dignity
come from themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves of evening.
Their horsemen spring forward;
their horsemen come from far away.
They fly like an eagle
hastening to devour.
All of them come for violence;
the direction of their faces is forward.
They gather captives
like sand.
They mock kings,
and rulers are a joke to them.
They laugh at every fortress;
they heap up earth
and capture it.
Then they sweep by like wind
and pass on.
They become guilty—
this strength of theirs
is their god.
Are You Not from Everlasting?
Are you not from everlasting,
O LORD my God,
my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O LORD, you appointed them for judgment;
O Rock, you established them
for correction.
Your eyes are too pure
to look upon evil,
and you cannot gaze upon trouble.
Why do you gaze upon those who act treacherously?
Why are you silent
when the wicked swallows
one more righteous than himself?
You make humanity
like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things
that have no ruler.
He brings all of them up with a hook;
he drags them away with his net
and gathers them in his dragnet.
Therefore he rejoices
and is glad.
Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by them his portion is rich
and his food is abundant.
Will he therefore keep emptying his net
and continually killing nations
without compassion?