MLV(i)
1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O Jehovah, how long shall I cry and you will not hear? I cry out to you of violence and you will not save. 3 Why do you show me wickedness and look upon perverseness? For destruction and violence are before me and there is strife and contention rises up. 4 Therefore the law is slacked and justice never goes forth. For the wicked man surrounds the righteous man, therefore justice goes forth perverted.
5 Behold you* scoffers and look and wonder marvelously. For I am working a work in your* days, which you* will not believe though it is told you*. 6 For behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.
7 They are fearful and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from far. They fly as an eagle that hastens to devour. 9 They come all of them for violence. The set of their faces is forwards and they gather captives as the sand.
10 Yes, he scoffs at kings and rulers are a mocking to him. He derides every stronghold, for he heaps up dust and takes it. 11 Then he will sweep by as a wind and will pass over and be guilty; he whose might is his god.
12 Are not you from long-ago, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O Jehovah, you have placed him for judgment and you, O Rock, have established him for correction.
13 You who are of purer eyes than to behold evil and who cannot look on perverseness, why do you look upon those who deal treacherously and hold your peace when the wicked man swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, 14 and makes men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15 He takes all of them up with the hook. He catches them in his net and gathers them in his drag. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his drag, because by them his portion is fat and his food plentiful. 17 Shall he therefore empty his net and not spare to kill the nations continually?
2 O Jehovah, how long shall I cry and you will not hear? I cry out to you of violence and you will not save. 3 Why do you show me wickedness and look upon perverseness? For destruction and violence are before me and there is strife and contention rises up. 4 Therefore the law is slacked and justice never goes forth. For the wicked man surrounds the righteous man, therefore justice goes forth perverted.
5 Behold you* scoffers and look and wonder marvelously. For I am working a work in your* days, which you* will not believe though it is told you*. 6 For behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.
7 They are fearful and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from far. They fly as an eagle that hastens to devour. 9 They come all of them for violence. The set of their faces is forwards and they gather captives as the sand.
10 Yes, he scoffs at kings and rulers are a mocking to him. He derides every stronghold, for he heaps up dust and takes it. 11 Then he will sweep by as a wind and will pass over and be guilty; he whose might is his god.
12 Are not you from long-ago, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O Jehovah, you have placed him for judgment and you, O Rock, have established him for correction.
13 You who are of purer eyes than to behold evil and who cannot look on perverseness, why do you look upon those who deal treacherously and hold your peace when the wicked man swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, 14 and makes men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15 He takes all of them up with the hook. He catches them in his net and gathers them in his drag. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his drag, because by them his portion is fat and his food plentiful. 17 Shall he therefore empty his net and not spare to kill the nations continually?