Chaldeans Used to Punish Judah

The pronouncement which Habakkuk the prophet saw:

How long, Lord, have I called for help, And You do not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save.

Why do You make me see disaster, And make me look at destitution? Yes, devastation and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises.

Therefore the Law is ignored, And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out confused.

“Look among the nations! Watch! Be horrified! Be frightened speechless! For I am accomplishing a work in your days— You would not believe it even if you were told!

Their horses are faster than leopards, And quicker than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen charge along, Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.

All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They gather captives like sand.

Then they fly along like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, They whose strength is their god.”

Your eyes are too pure to look at evil, And You cannot look at harm favorably. Why do You look favorably At those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?

Why have You made people like the fish of the sea, Like crawling things that have no ruler over them?

Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net And burn incense to their fishing net, Because through these things their catch is large, And their food is plentiful.

Will they therefore empty their net, And continually slay nations without sparing?

God Answers the Prophet

I will stand at my guard post And station myself on the watchtower; And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me, And how I may reply when I am reprimanded.

Then the Lord answered me and said, “Write down the vision And inscribe it clearly on tablets, So that one who reads it may run.

“Behold, as for the impudent one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous one will live by his faith.

Furthermore, wine betrays an arrogant man, So that he does not achieve his objective. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, And he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all the nations And collects to himself all the peoples.

“Will all of these not take up a song of ridicule against him, Even a saying and insinuations against him And say, ‘Woe to him who increases what is not his— For how long— And makes himself rich with debts!’

Will your creditors not rise up suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them.

Since you have looted many nations, All the rest of the peoples will loot you— Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants.

“Woe to him who makes evil profit for his household, To put his nest on high, To be saved from the hand of catastrophe!

You have planned a shameful thing for your house By bringing many peoples to an end; So you are sinning against yourself.

For the stone will cry out from the wall, And the rafter will answer it from the framework.

For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.

“Woe to him who makes his neighbor drink; To you who mix in your venom even to make your neighbors drunk, So as to look at their genitalia!

“What benefit is a carved image when its maker has carved it, Or a cast metal image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols.