Habakkuk

1 The oracle of which Habakkuk the prophet had vision:

2 How long, O Yahweh, have I called out And thou wouldst not hear me? Have I kept crying unto thee of violence And thou wouldst not save?

3 Wherefore Shouldst thou let me see iniquity And wrong shouldst let me behold, And force and violence be straight before me,—And there should have ever been someone who contention and strife would uphold?

4 For which cause benumbed is the law, And there is never any going forth of justice,—For the lawless doth circumvent the righteous, For which cause justice doth go forth perverted?

5 Behold ye among the nations and look around, Yea stand stock still—stare,—For a work is being wrought in your days, Ye will not believe when it is recounted.

6 For behold me! raising up the Chaldeans, The bitter and headlong nation,—That marcheth to the breadths of the earth, To take possession of habitations not his.

7 Awful and fearful is he,—From himself his decision and his uprising proceed.

8 Then swifter than leopards are his horses And more sharply they attack than evening wolves, And forward have leapt his chargers,—Yea his chargers from afar will come in, They will fly as an eagle hath hastened to devour.

9 Solely for violence will he come, The intent of their faces is—To the east! And he hath gathered as the sand a captive host;

10 And he over kings will make merry, And nobles will be a scorn to him: He at any fortress will laugh, Once he hath heaped up dust he hath captured it!

11 Then hath he become arrogant in spirit And hath committed excess And so is guilty,—This his violence is due to his god.

12 Art not thou from of old, O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One? Thou diest not! O Yahweh, to judgment hast thou appointed him, And, O Rock, to correction hast thou devoted him:

13 [Thou] whose eyes are too pure to look with approval on wrong, To respect oppression canst not endure,—Wherefore Shouldst thou respect the treacherous? Be silent when the lawless swalloweth up one more righteous than he?

14 So wouldst thou have made Men Like the fishes of the sea,—Like the creeping thing that hath no ruler over it:

15 All of which with a hook one bringeth up, Raketh together with his drag And hath gathered with his net,—

16 On which account he is glad and exulteth: On which account He sacrificeth to his Net, And burneth incense to his Drag; Because thereby rich is his portion, and his food—fatness!

17 Shall he on this account empty his net? And the continual slaying of nations deem to be no pity?