| New Living Translation | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 1This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision. Habakkuk’s Complaint | 1The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. |
| 2How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. | 2How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!" Yet You do not save. |
| 3Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. | 3Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. |
| 4The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted. The LORD’s Reply | 4Therefore the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted. |
| 5The LORD replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. | 5"Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days-- You would not believe if you were told. |
| 6I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands. | 6"For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which are not theirs. |
| 7They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they like. | 7"They are dreaded and feared; Their justice and authority originate with themselves. |
| 8Their horses are swifter than cheetahs and fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their charioteers charge from far away. Like eagles, they swoop down to devour their prey. | 8"Their horses are swifter than leopards And keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping, Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour. |
| 9“On they come, all bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind, sweeping captives ahead of them like sand. | 9"All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand. |
| 10They scoff at kings and princes and scorn all their fortresses. They simply pile ramps of earth against their walls and capture them! | 10"They mock at kings And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress And heap up rubble to capture it. |
| 11They sweep past like the wind and are gone. But they are deeply guilty, for their own strength is their god.” Habakkuk’s Second Complaint | 11"Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, They whose strength is their god." |
| 12O LORD my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal— surely you do not plan to wipe us out? O LORD, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins. | 12Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct. |
| 13But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they? | 13Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they? |
| 14Are we only fish to be caught and killed? Are we only sea creatures that have no leader? | 14Why have You made men like the fish of the sea, Like creeping things without a ruler over them? |
| 15Must we be strung up on their hooks and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate? | 15The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, Drag them away with their net, And gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. |
| 16Then they will worship their nets and burn incense in front of them. “These nets are the gods who have made us rich!” they will claim. | 16Therefore 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. |
| 17Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests? | 17Will they therefore empty their net And continually slay nations without sparing? |
| 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. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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