| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. | 1This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision. Habakkuk’s Complaint |
| 2O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt 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 dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. | 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 slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. | 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 |
| 5Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be 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, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. | 6I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands. |
| 7They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. | 7They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they like. |
| 8Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. | 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. |
| 9They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. | 9“On they come, all bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind, sweeping captives ahead of them like sand. |
| 10And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take 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 shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his 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 |
| 12Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast 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. |
| 13Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? | 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? |
| 14And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? | 14Are we only fish to be caught and killed? Are we only sea creatures that have no leader? |
| 15They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. | 15Must we be strung up on their hooks and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate? |
| 16Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. | 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. |
| 17Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? | 17Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests? |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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