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Habakkuk’s Vision

The divine revelation that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

Habakkuk’s Question

How long, O Yahweh, am I to cry for help,
    but you will not listen?
    I cry out to you, “There’s violence!”
    yet you will not come to the rescue.
Why do you make me see wrongdoing?
    And why do you watch wickedness?
    Destruction and violence are in front of me.
    Quarrels and disputes arise.
That is why your teaching is numbed,
    and justice is never carried out.
        Wicked people surround righteous people
            so that when justice is carried out, it’s perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

Look among the nations and watch.
    Be amazed and astonished.
    I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe even if it were reported to you.
I am going to send the Babylonians,
    that fierce and reckless nation.
    They will march throughout the earth
    to take possession of lands that don’t belong to them.
They will be terrifying and fearsome.
    They will carry out their own kind of justice and honor.
Their horses will be faster than leopards
    and quicker than wolves in the evening.
    Their riders will gallop along proudly.
    Their riders will come from far away.
    They will fly like an eagle that swoops down for its prey.
They will all come for violence.
    Every face will be directed forward.
    They will gather prisoners like sand.
10 They will make fun of kings and treat rulers as a joke.
    They will laugh at every fortified city
    and build a dirt ramp to capture it.
11 They will move quickly and pass through like the wind.
    So they will be guilty,
        because their own strength is their god.

Habakkuk’s Question

12 Didn’t you exist before time began, O Yahweh, my Elohim, my Holy One?
    We will not die!
    O Yahweh, you have appointed the Babylonians to bring judgment.
    O Rock, you have destined them to correct us.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look at evil.
    You can’t watch wickedness.
    Why do you keep watching treacherous people?
    Why are you silent when wicked people swallow those
        who are more righteous than they are?
14 You make all people like the fish in the sea,
    like schools of sea life that have no ruler.
15 The Babylonians pull them all up with fishhooks,
    drag them away in nets,
        and gather them in dragnets.
            So they rejoice and are happy.
16 That is why they sacrifice to their nets and burn incense to their dragnets.
    They are rich and well fed because of them.
17 Will they keep on emptying their nets
    and always kill nations without mercy?

The prophecy(A) that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

How long,(B) Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?(C)
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?(D)
Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate(E) wrongdoing?(F)
Destruction and violence(G) are before me;
    there is strife,(H) and conflict abounds.
Therefore the law(I) is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice(J) is perverted.(K)

The Lord’s Answer

“Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.(L)
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.(M)
I am raising up the Babylonians,[a](N)
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth(O)
    to seize dwellings not their own.(P)
They are a feared and dreaded people;(Q)
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.
Their horses are swifter(R) than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves(S) at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
    they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners(T) like sand.
10 They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.(U)
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps(V) they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind(W) and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”(X)

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?(Y)
    My God, my Holy One,(Z) you[c] will never die.(AA)
You, Lord, have appointed(AB) them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock,(AC) have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure(AD) to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.(AE)
Why then do you tolerate(AF) the treacherous?(AG)
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?(AH)
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked(AI) foe pulls all of them up with hooks,(AJ)
    he catches them in his net,(AK)
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense(AL) to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?(AM)

Footnotes

  1. Habakkuk 1:6 Or Chaldeans
  2. Habakkuk 1:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  3. Habakkuk 1:12 An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition; Masoretic Text we

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not their's.

They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

12 Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15 They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.

16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.

17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?