| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1The pronouncement that the prophet Habakkuk perceived. | 1The following is the message which God revealed to Habakkuk the prophet: |
| 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. | 2How long, LORD, must I cry for help? But you do not listen! I call out to you, "Violence!" But you do not intervene! |
| 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. | 3Why do you force me to witness injustice? Why do you put up with wrongdoing? Destruction and violence confront me; conflict is present and one must endure strife. |
| 4Therefore, the Law has become paralyzed, and justice never comes about. Because criminals outnumber the righteous, whenever judgments are issued, they come out crooked." | 4For this reason the law lacks power, and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimidate the innocent. For this reason justice is perverted. |
| 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. | 5"Look at the nations and pay attention! You will be shocked and amazed! For I will do something in your lifetime that you will not believe even though you are forewarned. |
| 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. | 6Look, I am about to empower the Babylonians, that ruthless and greedy nation. They sweep across the surface of the earth, seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them. |
| 7They are terrible and fearsome; their brand of justice and sense of honor derive only from themselves! | 7They are frightening and terrifying; they decide for themselves what is right. |
| 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. | 8Their horses are faster than leopards and more alert than wolves in the desert. Their horses gallop, their horses come a great distance; like a vulture they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. |
| 9"They all come to oppress— hordes of them, their faces pressing onward— they take prisoners as numerous as the desert sand! | 9All of them intend to do violence; every face is determined. They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. |
| 10They make fun of kings, deriding those who rule. They laugh at all of the fortified places, constructing ramps to seize them. | 10They mock kings and laugh at rulers. They laugh at every fortified city; they build siege ramps and capture them. |
| 11Then like the wind sweeping by they will pass through— they're guilty because they say their power is their god." | 11They sweep by like the wind and pass on. But the one who considers himself a god will be held guilty." |
| 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. | 12LORD, you have been active from ancient times; my sovereign God, you are immortal. LORD, you have made them your instrument of judgment. Protector, you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. |
| 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? | 13You are too just to tolerate evil; you are unable to condone wrongdoing. So why do you put up with such treacherous people? Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour those more righteous than they are? |
| 14"You have fashioned mankind like fish in the ocean, like creeping things that have no ruler. | 14You made people like fish in the sea, like animals in the sea that have no ruler. |
| 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. | 15The Babylonian tyrant pulls them all up with a fishhook; he hauls them in with his throw net. When he catches them in his dragnet, he is very happy. |
| 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. | 16Because of his success he offers sacrifices to his throw net and burns incense to his dragnet; for because of them he has plenty of food, and more than enough to eat. |
| 17Is he to continue to empty his fishing net? Will he ever stop killing entire nations without mercy?" | 17Will he then continue to fill and empty his throw net? Will he always destroy nations and spare none? |
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