1 aThe oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 O Lord, bhow long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you c“Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 dWhy do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction cand violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 eSo the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
fFor the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
The Lord’s Answer
5 g“Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
hFor I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, iI am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
jwho march through the breadth of the earth,
kto seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome;
ltheir justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 mTheir horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than nthe evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
othey fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9 They all come pfor violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives rlike sand.
10 At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
sThey laugh at every fortress,
for tthey pile up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12 Are you not wfrom everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
xWe shall not die.
O Lord, yyou have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O zRock, have established them for reproof.
13 You who are aof purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
bwhy do you idly look at traitors
and cremain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
1 I will htake my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and ilook out to see jwhat he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith
2 And the Lord answered me:
k“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
3 For still lthe vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, mwait for it;
nit will surely come; it will not delay.
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,