Habakkuk 1:5-11
New Living Translation
The Lord’s Reply
5 The Lord replied,
“Look around at the nations;
look and be amazed![a]
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,[b]
a cruel and violent people.
They will march across the world
and conquer other lands.
7 They are notorious for their cruelty
and do whatever they like.
8 Their horses are swifter than cheetahs[c]
and fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their charioteers charge from far away.
Like eagles, they swoop down to devour their prey.
9 “On they come, all bent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind,
sweeping captives ahead of them like sand.
10 They scoff at kings and princes
and scorn all their fortresses.
They simply pile ramps of earth
against their walls and capture them!
11 They sweep past like the wind
and are gone.
But they are deeply guilty,
for their own strength is their god.”
Footnotes
- 1:5 Greek version reads Look, you mockers; / look and be amazed and die. Compare Acts 13:41.
- 1:6 Or Chaldeans.
- 1:8 Or leopards.
Habakkuk 1:5-11
English Standard Version
The Lord's Answer
5 (A)“Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
(B)For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, (C)I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
(D)who march through the breadth of the earth,
(E)to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome;
(F)their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 (G)Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than (H)the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
(I)they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9 They all come (J)for violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives (K)like sand.
10 At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
(L)They laugh at every fortress,
for (M)they pile up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
(N)guilty men, (O)whose own might is their god!”
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.