Add parallel Print Page Options

“Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you. For, behold,[a] I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour. All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand. 10 Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it. 11 Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1:6 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.

God’s Response: The Coming Chaldean Invasion

“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.[a]
Watch out! For I am bringing in the Chaldeans,[b]
    that cruel and impetuous[c] people,
who sweep across the earth
    dispossessing people[d] from homes not their own.
They are terrible and fearsome;
    their brand of justice and sense of honor derive only from themselves!
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.[e]

“They all come to oppress—
    hordes of them, their faces pressing onward—
they take prisoners as numerous as[f] the desert sand!
10 They make fun of kings,
    deriding those who rule.
They laugh at all of the fortified places,
    constructing ramps to seize them.
11 Then like[g] the wind sweeping by
    they will pass through—
they’re guilty because they say[h] their power is their god.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Habakkuk 1:5 The Heb. lacks down to the smallest detail
  2. Habakkuk 1:6 I.e. Babylonian invaders
  3. Habakkuk 1:6 Or rash
  4. Habakkuk 1:6 The Heb. lacks people
  5. Habakkuk 1:8 Or eagles
  6. Habakkuk 1:9 The Heb. lacks as numerous as
  7. Habakkuk 1:11 The Heb. lacks like
  8. Habakkuk 1:11 The Heb. lacks they say