VerseAI

NIV

Habakkuk 1

  1. 1<pb/>The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.
  2. 2<pb/><t>How long, LORD, must I call for help,</t> <t>but you do not listen?</t> <t>Or cry out to you, “Violence!”</t> <t>but you do not save?</t>
  3. 3<t>Why do you make me look at injustice?</t> <t>Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?</t> <t>Destruction and violence are before me;</t> <t>there is strife, and conflict abounds.</t>
  4. 4<t>Therefore the law is paralyzed,</t> <t>and justice never prevails.</t> <t>The wicked hem in the righteous,</t> <t>so that justice is perverted.</t>
  5. 5<t>“Look at the nations and watch—</t> <t>and be utterly amazed.</t> <t>For I am going to do something in your days</t> <t>that you would not believe,</t> <t>even if you were told.</t>
  6. 6<t>I am raising up the Babylonians,<f>[1]</f></t> <t>that ruthless and impetuous people,</t> <t>who sweep across the whole earth</t> <t>to seize dwellings not their own.</t>
  7. 7<t>They are a feared and dreaded people;</t> <t>they are a law to themselves</t> <t>and promote their own honor.</t>
  8. 8<t>Their horses are swifter than leopards,</t> <t>fiercer than wolves at dusk.</t> <t>Their cavalry gallops headlong;</t> <t>their horsemen come from afar.</t> <t>They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;</t>
  9. 9<t>they all come intent on violence.</t> <t>Their hordes<f>[2]</f> advance like a desert wind</t> <t>and gather prisoners like sand.</t>
  10. 10<t>They mock kings</t> <t>and scoff at rulers.</t> <t>They laugh at all fortified cities;</t> <t>by building earthen ramps they capture them.</t>
  11. 11<t>Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—</t> <t>guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”</t>
  12. 12<t>LORD, are you not from everlasting?</t> <t>My God, my Holy One, you<f>[3]</f> will never die.</t> <t>You, LORD, have appointed them to execute judgment;</t> <t>you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.</t>
  13. 13<t>Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;</t> <t>you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.</t> <t>Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?</t> <t>Why are you silent while the wicked</t> <t>swallow up those more righteous than themselves?</t>
  14. 14<t>You have made people like the fish in the sea,</t> <t>like the sea creatures that have no ruler.</t>
  15. 15<t>The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,</t> <t>he catches them in his net,</t> <t>he gathers them up in his dragnet;</t> <t>and so he rejoices and is glad.</t>
  16. 16<t>Therefore he sacrifices to his net</t> <t>and burns incense to his dragnet,</t> <t>for by his net he lives in luxury</t> <t>and enjoys the choicest food.</t>
  17. 17<t>Is he to keep on emptying his net,</t> <t>destroying nations without mercy?</t>