| English Standard Version | International Standard Version |
| 1The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. | 1The pronouncement that the prophet Habakkuk perceived. |
| 2O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? | 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. |
| 3Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. | 3Why 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. |
| 4So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. | 4Therefore, the Law has become paralyzed, and justice never comes about. Because criminals outnumber the righteous, whenever judgments are issued, they come out crooked." |
| 5“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. | 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. |
| 6For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. | 6Watch out! For I am bringing in the Chaldeans, that cruel and impetuous people, who sweep across the earth dispossessing people from homes not their own. |
| 7They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. | 7They are terrible and fearsome; their brand of justice and sense of honor derive only from themselves! |
| 8Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. | 8Their 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. |
| 9They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. | 9"They all come to oppress— hordes of them, their faces pressing onward— they take prisoners as numerous as the desert sand! |
| 10At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. | 10They make fun of kings, deriding those who rule. They laugh at all of the fortified places, constructing ramps to seize them. |
| 11Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!” | 11Then like the wind sweeping by they will pass through— they're guilty because they say their power is their god." |
| 12Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. | 12"Haven't you existed forever, LORD my God, my Holy One? We won't die! LORD, you've prepared them for judgment; Rock, you've sentenced them to correction. |
| 13You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? | 13Your 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? |
| 14You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. | 14"You have fashioned mankind like fish in the ocean, like creeping things that have no ruler. |
| 15He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad. | 15The adversary captures them with a hook, gathering them up in a fishing net. He collects them with a dragnet, rejoicing and gloating over his catch. |
| 16Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. | 16Therefore he sacrifices to his fishing net, and burns incense in the presence of his dragnet, because by them his assets increase and he gets plenty of food. |
| 17Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? | 17Is he to continue to empty his fishing net? Will he ever stop killing entire nations without mercy?" |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
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