Habakkuk 1:1-9 ▼

1 This is the burden that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision:

2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save?

3 Why do You make me see iniquity? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds.

4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

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.

6 For 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.

7 They are dreaded and feared; from themselves they derive justice and sovereignty.

8 Their 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.

9 All of them come bent on violence; their hordes advance like the east wind; they gather prisoners like sand.