| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1This is the burden that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision: | 1This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision. Habakkuk’s Complaint |
| 2How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save? | 2How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. |
| 3Why do You make me see iniquity? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds. | 3Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. |
| 4Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. | 4The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted. The LORD’s Reply |
| 5“Look at the nations and observe—be utterly astounded! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you. | 5The LORD replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. |
| 6For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. | 6I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands. |
| 7They are dreaded and feared; from themselves they derive justice and sovereignty. | 7They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they like. |
| 8Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour. | 8Their horses are swifter than cheetahs and fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their charioteers charge from far away. Like eagles, they swoop down to devour their prey. |
| 9All of them come bent on violence; their hordes advance like the east wind; they gather prisoners like sand. | 9“On they come, all bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind, sweeping captives ahead of them like sand. |
| 10They scoff at kings and make rulers an object of scorn. They laugh at every fortress and build up siege ramps to seize it. | 10They scoff at kings and princes and scorn all their fortresses. They simply pile ramps of earth against their walls and capture them! |
| 11Then they sweep by like the wind and pass on through. They are guilty; their own strength is their god.” | 11They sweep past like the wind and are gone. But they are deeply guilty, for their own strength is their god.” Habakkuk’s Second Complaint |
| 12Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction. | 12O LORD my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal— surely you do not plan to wipe us out? O LORD, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins. |
| 13Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? | 13But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they? |
| 14You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler. | 14Are we only fish to be caught and killed? Are we only sea creatures that have no leader? |
| 15The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly. | 15Must we be strung up on their hooks and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate? |
| 16Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet and burns incense to his fishing net, for by these things his portion is sumptuous and his food is rich. | 16Then they will worship their nets and burn incense in front of them. “These nets are the gods who have made us rich!” they will claim. |
| 17Will he, therefore, empty his net and continue to slay nations without mercy? | 17Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests? |
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