1The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

     2How long, O LORD, will I call for help,
            And Thou wilt not hear?
            I cry out to Thee, “Violence!”
            Yet Thou dost not save.

     3Why dost Thou make me see iniquity,
            And cause me to look on wickedness?
            Yes, destruction and violence are before me;
            Strife exists and contention arises.

     4Therefore, the law is ignored
            And justice is never upheld.
            For the wicked surround the righteous;
            Therefore, justice comes out perverted.

     5“Look among the nations! Observe!
            Be astonished! Wonder!
            Because I am doing something in your days—
            You would not believe if you were told.

     6“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
            That fierce and impetuous people
            Who march throughout the earth
            To seize dwelling places which are not theirs.

     7“They are dreaded and feared.
            Their justice and authority originate with themselves.

     8“Their horses are swifter than leopards
            And keener than wolves in the evening.
            Their horsemen come galloping,
            Their horsemen come from afar;
            They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.

     9“All of them come for violence.
            Their horde of faces moves forward.
            They collect captives like sand.

     10“They mock at kings,
            And rulers are a laughing matter to them.
            They laugh at every fortress,
            And heap up rubble to capture it.

     11“Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on.
            But they will be held guilty,
            They whose strength is their god.”

     12Art Thou not from everlasting,
            O LORD, my God, my Holy One?
            We will not die.
            Thou, O LORD, hast appointed them to judge;
            And Thou, O Rock, hast established them to correct.

     13Thine eyes are too pure to approve evil,
            And Thou canst not look on wickedness with favor.
            Why dost Thou look with favor
            On those who deal treacherously?
            Why art Thou silent when the wicked swallow up
            Those more righteous than they?

     14Why hast Thou made men like the fish of the sea,
            Like creeping things without a ruler over them?

     15The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook,
            Drag them away with their net,
            And gather them together in their fishing net.
            Therefore, they rejoice and are glad.

     16Therefore, they offer a sacrifice to their net.
            And burn incense to their fishing net;
            Because through these things their catch is large,
            And their food is plentiful.

     17Will they therefore empty their net
            And continually slay nations without sparing?