Habakkuk 1

International Standard Version

² “How long, Lord, must I cry out for help,
but you won’t listen?
I’m crying out to you, ‘Violence!’
    but you aren’t providing deliverance.
³ Why are you forcing me to look at iniquity
    and to stare at wickedness?
Social havoc and oppression are all around me;
    there are legal conflicts, and disputes abound.
⁴ Therefore, the Law has become paralyzed,
    and justice never comes about.
Because criminals outnumber^[c] the righteous,
    whenever judgments are issued, they come out crooked.”

⁵ “Look out at the nations and pay attention!
    Be astounded! Be really astounded!
Because something is happening in your lifetime
    that you won’t believe, even if it were described down to the smallest detail.^[d]
6 Watch out! For I am bringing in the Chaldeans,^[e]
    that cruel and impetuous^[f] people,
who sweep across the earth
    dispossessing people^[g] from homes not their own.
⁷ They are terrible and fearsome;
    their brand of justice and sense of honor derive only from themselves!
⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    and more cunning than wolves that attack at night.
Their horsemen are galloping
    as they approach from far away.
They swoop in like ravenous vultures.^[h]

¹² “Haven’t you existed forever,
    Lord my God, my Holy One?
        We won’t die!
Lord, you’ve prepared them^[l] for judgment;
    Rock, you’ve sentenced them^[m] to correction.
¹³ Your eyes are too pure to gaze upon evil;
    and you cannot tolerate wickedness.
So why do you tolerate the treacherous?
    And why do you stay silent
        while the wicked devour those who are more righteous than they are?