1:1  The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

1:2   How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!" Yet You do not save.

1:3  Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence stand before me; Strife exists and contention arises.

1:4  Therefore the people ignore the law And no one ever uphold justice For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted.

1:5  " Look among the nations! Observe! Become astonished! Wonder! Because I do something in your days-- You would not believe if someone told you .

1:6  "For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which do not belong to them.

1:7  "People dread and fear them; Their justice and authority originate with themselves.

1:8  "Their horses move 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.

1:9  "All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand.

1:10   "They mock at kings And rulers become a laughing matter to them They laugh at every fortress And heap up rubble to capture it.

1:11  "Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on But people will judge them guilty, They who regard strength as their god."

1:12  Do You not exist 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.

1:13  You have eyes too pure to approve evil, And You cannot look on wickedness with favor Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why do You remain silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?

1:14  Why have You made men like the fish of the sea, Like creeping things without a ruler over them?

1:15   The 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 become glad.

1:16  Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net And burn incense to their fishing net; Because through these things their catch appears large, And their food has become plentiful.

1:17  Will they therefore empty their net And continually slay nations without sparing?