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Habakkuk 1
Lexham English Bible
Habakkuk 1
Lexham English Bible
Habakkuk’s Complaint
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O Yahweh, how long shall I cry for help
and you will not listen?
How long will I cry out to you, “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you cause me to see evil
while you look at trouble?
Destruction and violence happen before me;
contention and strife arise.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice does not go forth perpetually.[a]
For the wicked surround the righteous;
therefore justice goes forth perverted.
God’s Answer to Habakkuk
5 “Look among the nations and see;
be astonished and astounded.
For a work is about to be done in your days
that you will not believe if it is told.
6 For look! I am raising up the Chaldeans,
the bitter and impetuous nation,
the one who walks through the spacious places of earth
to take possession of dwellings not belonging to it.[b]
7 They[c] are dreadful and awesome;
their[d] justice and their[e] dignity proceed from themselves.[f]
8 Their[g] horses are more swift than leopards;
they are more menacing than wolves at dusk.
Their[h] horsemen gallop; their[i] horsemen come from afar;
they fly like an eagle that is swift to devour.
9 All of them[j] come for violence,
their faces pressing forward.
They gather captives like the sand.
10 And they themselves scoff at kings
and rulers are a joke to them.
They laugh at every fortification,
and they heap up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep like the wind and pass on;
they become guilty, whose might is their[k] god!”
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12 Are you not from of old,
O Yahweh my God, my Holy One?
You[l] shall not die.
O Yahweh, you have marked them[m] for judgment;
O Rock, you have established them[n] for reproof.
13 Your eyes are too pure to see evil,
and you are not able to look at wrongdoing.[o]
Why do you look at the treacherous?
Why are you silent when the wicked swallows up
someone more righteous than him?
14 You make humankind like fish of the sea,
like crawling creatures that have no ruler among them.
15 He brings up all of them with a fishhook;
he drags them up with a fishnet;
he gathers them in his dragnet.
Therefore, he rejoices and exults.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his fishnet
and makes offerings to his dragnet,
for by them he makes a good living[p]
and his food is rich.
17 Will he therefore empty his fishnet
and continually kill nations without showing mercy?
Footnotes
- Habakkuk 1:4 Or “forever”
- Habakkuk 1:6 Or “him”
- Habakkuk 1:7 Hebrew “He”
- Habakkuk 1:7 Hebrew “his”
- Habakkuk 1:7 Hebrew “his”
- Habakkuk 1:7 Hebrew “him”
- Habakkuk 1:8 Hebrew “His”
- Habakkuk 1:8 Hebrew “His”
- Habakkuk 1:8 Hebrew “his”
- Habakkuk 1:9 Hebrew “him”
- Habakkuk 1:11 Hebrew “his”
- Habakkuk 1:12 Hebrew “we shall not die,” considered a deliberate scribal change of the text to avoid offensive language toward Yahweh
- Habakkuk 1:12 Hebrew “him”
- Habakkuk 1:12 Hebrew “him”
- Habakkuk 1:13 Or “trouble”
- Habakkuk 1:16 Literally “his portion is fat”
Habakkuk 1
New International Version
Habakkuk 1
New International Version
1 The prophecy(A) that Habakkuk the prophet received.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 How long,(B) Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?(C)
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?(D)
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate(E) wrongdoing?(F)
Destruction and violence(G) are before me;
there is strife,(H) and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law(I) is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice(J) is perverted.(K)
The Lord’s Answer
5 “Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.(L)
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.(M)
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,[a](N)
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth(O)
to seize dwellings not their own.(P)
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;(Q)
they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter(R) than leopards,
fiercer than wolves(S) at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
9 they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners(T) like sand.
10 They mock kings
and scoff at rulers.(U)
They laugh at all fortified cities;
by building earthen ramps(V) they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind(W) and go on—
guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”(X)
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?(Y)
My God, my Holy One,(Z) you[c] will never die.(AA)
You, Lord, have appointed(AB) them to execute judgment;
you, my Rock,(AC) have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure(AD) to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.(AE)
Why then do you tolerate(AF) the treacherous?(AG)
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?(AH)
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked(AI) foe pulls all of them up with hooks,(AJ)
he catches them in his net,(AK)
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense(AL) to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
destroying nations without mercy?(AM)
Footnotes
- Habakkuk 1:6 Or Chaldeans
- Habakkuk 1:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Habakkuk 1:12 An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition; Masoretic Text we
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