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The law has no power to make things right.
    There is no justice in the courts.
Instead, wicked people win against good people.
    The judges decide that bad people are good.

The Lord speaks

‘All of you, look carefully at the other nations.
    You will be very surprised at what is happening.
While you are still alive, I will do a very surprising thing.
    You would not believe it even if someone told you.
I will give more power to the Babylonians.
    They are a cruel nation with brave soldiers.
They march across the whole earth.
    They take cities that do not belong to them.

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Therefore the law(A) is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice(B) is perverted.(C)

The Lord’s Answer

“Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.(D)
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.(E)
I am raising up the Babylonians,[a](F)
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth(G)
    to seize dwellings not their own.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Habakkuk 1:6 Or Chaldeans