Habakkuk 1
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1The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.1The pronouncement that the prophet Habakkuk perceived.
2How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?2"How long, LORD, must I cry out for help, but you won't listen? I'm crying out to you, 'Violence!' but you aren't providing deliverance.
3Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.3Why are you forcing me to look at iniquity and to stare at wickedness? Social havoc and oppression are all around me; there are legal conflicts, and disputes abound.
4Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.4Therefore, the Law has become paralyzed, and justice never comes about. Because criminals outnumber the righteous, whenever judgments are issued, they come out crooked."
5"Look at the nations and watch-- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.5"Look out at the nations and pay attention! Be astounded! Be really astounded! Because something is happening in your lifetime that you won't believe, even if it were described down to the smallest detail.
6I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.6Watch out! For I am bringing in the Chaldeans, that cruel and impetuous people, who sweep across the earth dispossessing people from homes not their own.
7They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.7They are terrible and fearsome; their brand of justice and sense of honor derive only from themselves!
8Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;8Their horses are swifter than leopards, and more cunning than wolves that attack at night. Their horsemen are galloping as they approach from far away. They swoop in like ravenous vultures.
9they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.9"They all come to oppress— hordes of them, their faces pressing onward— they take prisoners as numerous as the desert sand!
10They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them.10They make fun of kings, deriding those who rule. They laugh at all of the fortified places, constructing ramps to seize them.
11Then they sweep past like the wind and go on-- guilty people, whose own strength is their god."11Then like the wind sweeping by they will pass through— they're guilty because they say their power is their god."
12LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, LORD, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.12"Haven't you existed forever, LORD my God, my Holy One? We won't die! LORD, you've prepared them for judgment; Rock, you've sentenced them to correction.
13Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?13Your eyes are too pure to gaze upon evil; and you cannot tolerate wickedness. So why do you tolerate the treacherous? And why do you stay silent while the wicked devour those who are more righteous than they are?
14You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler.14"You have fashioned mankind like fish in the ocean, like creeping things that have no ruler.
15The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.15The adversary captures them with a hook, gathering them up in a fishing net. He collects them with a dragnet, rejoicing and gloating over his catch.
16Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.16Therefore he sacrifices to his fishing net, and burns incense in the presence of his dragnet, because by them his assets increase and he gets plenty of food.
17Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?17Is he to continue to empty his fishing net? Will he ever stop killing entire nations without mercy?"
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Nahum 3
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