Habakkuk 1

1 *See Nah. 1:1The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

2 O Lord, *Ps. 13:1;89:46how long shall I cry for help,

and you will not hear?

Or cry to you *Mic. 6:12"Violence!"

and you will not save?

3 *See Jer. 9:2-6Why do you make me see iniquity,

and why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction *[See ver. 2above]and violence are before me;

strife and contention arise.

4 *[Mic. 7:3] So the law is paralyzed,

and justice never goes forth.

*[Job 21:7;Jer. 12:1]For the wicked surround the righteous;

so justice goes forth perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

5 *Cited Acts 13:41"Look among the nations, and see;

wonder and be astounded.

*[Isa. 28:21;29:14]For I am doing a work in your days

that you would not believe if told.

6 For behold, *See Jer. 5:15I am raising up the Chaldeans,

that bitter and hasty nation,

*[ch. 2:5] who march through the breadth of the earth,

*[ch. 2:6]to seize dwellings not their own.

7 They are dreaded and fearsome;

*[ver. 10, 11]their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

8 *Jer. 4:13Their horses are swifter than leopards,

more fierce than *Jer. 5:6;Zeph. 3:3the evening wolves;

their horsemen press proudly on.

Their horsemen come from afar;

*See Deut. 28:49they fly like an eagle swift to devour.

9 They all come *[ch. 2:17] for violence,

all their faces forward.

They gather captives *See Josh. 11:4like sand.

10 At kings they scoff,

and at rulers they laugh.

*[Nah. 3:12] They laugh at every fortress,

for *[Ezek. 4:2]they pile up earth and take it.

11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,

*[Hos. 13:16] guilty men, *[ver. 7]whose own might is their god!"

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 Are you not *Deut. 33:27;Ps. 90:2;93:2from everlasting,

O Lord my God, my Holy One?

*[Mal. 3:6] We shall not die.

O Lord, *See Isa. 10:5-7you have ordained them as a judgment,

and you, O *See Deut. 32:4Rock, have established them for reproof.

13 You who are *[Ps. 5:5] of purer eyes than to see evil

and cannot look at wrong,

*Jer. 12:1why do you idly look at traitors

and *Ps. 35:22remain silent when the wicked swallows up

the man more righteous than he?

14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea,

like crawling things that have no ruler.

15 *Jer. 16:16;Amos 4:2He*1:15 That is, the wicked foe brings all of them up *[Isa. 19:8]with a hook;

he drags them out with his net;

he gathers them in his dragnet;

so he rejoices and is glad.

16 *[ver. 11]Therefore he sacrifices to his net

and makes offerings to his dragnet;

for by them he lives in luxury,*1:16 Hebrew his portion is fat

and his food is rich.

17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net

*[ch. 2:10]and mercilessly killing nations forever?