Habakkuk 1

1The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.H4853H2265H5030H23722How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?H3068H7768H8085H2199H2555H34673Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.H7200H205H5027H5999H7701H2555H5375H7379H40664Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.H8451H6313H4941H5331H3318H7563H3803H6662H6127H4941H33185"Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.H7200H1471H5027H8539H8539H6466H6467H3117H539H56086I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.H6965H3778H4751H4116H1471H1980H4800H776H3423H49087They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.H366H3372H4941H7613H33188Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour;H5483H7043H5246H2300H6153H2061H6571H6335H6571H935H7350H5774H5404H2363H3989they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.H935H2555H6440H4041H6921H622H7628H234410They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them.H7046H4428H7336H4890H7832H4013H6651H6083H392011Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty people, whose own strength is their god."H7307H2498H5674H816H2098H3581H43312LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, LORD, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.H6924H3068H430H6918H4191H3068H7760H4941H6697H3245H319813Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?H2889H5869H7200H7451H3201H5027H5999H5027H898H2790H7563H1104H666214You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler.H6213H120H1709H3220H7431H491015The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.H5927H2443H1641H2764H622H4365H8055H152316Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.H2076H2764H6999H4365H1992H2506H8082H3978H127717Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?H7324H2764H2550H8548H2026H1471