1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O Yahweh, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you of violence, and you will not save.
3 Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perverseness? For destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention rises up.
4 Therefore the law is slacked, and justice does never go forth; for the wicked circles about the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.
5 Look{+} among the nations, and see{+}, and wonder{+} marvelously; for a work is working in your{+} days, which you{+} will not believe though it is told you{+}.
6 For, look, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that marches through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.
7 They are terrible and awesome; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen press proudly on: and they ride from afar; they fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.
9 They come all of them for violence; the set of their faces is forwards; and they gather captives as the sand.
10 Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him; he derides every stronghold; for he heaps up dust, and takes it.
11 Then he will sweep by [as] a wind, and will pass over, and be guilty, [even] he whose might is his god.
12 Are not you from everlasting, O Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment; and you, O Rock, have established him for correction.
13 You who are of purer eyes than to look at evil, and who cannot look at perverseness, why do you look on betrayers, and hold your peace when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he;
14 and make man as the fish of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15 He takes up all of them with the angle, he catches them in his net, and gathers them in his drag: therefore he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food plenteous.
17 Will he therefore draw his sword, and not spare to slay the nations continually?