Study Desk

The prophecy^(a) that Habakkuk the prophet received.

How long,^(b) Lord , must I call for help, but you do not listen?^(c) Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?^(d)

Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate^(e) wrongdoing?^(f) Destruction and violence^(g) are before me; there is strife,^(h) and conflict abounds.

Therefore the law⁽ⁱ⁾ is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice^(j) is perverted.^(k)

"Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed.^(l) For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.^(m)

I am raising up the Babylonians,^[a](n) that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth^(o) to seize dwellings not their own.^(p)

They are a feared and dreaded people;^(q) they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.

Their horses are swifter^(r) than leopards, fiercer than wolves^(s) at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;

they all come intent on violence. Their hordes^[b] advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners^(t) like sand.

They mock kings and scoff at rulers.^(u) They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps^(v) they capture them.

Then they sweep past like the wind^(w) and go on— guilty people, whose own strength is their god."^(x)

Lord , are you not from everlasting?^(y) My God, my Holy One,^(z) you^[c] will never die.^(aa) You, Lord , have appointed^(ab) them to execute judgment; you, my Rock,^(ac) have ordained them to punish.

Your eyes are too pure^(ad) to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.^(ae) Why then do you tolerate^(af) the treacherous?^(ag) Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?^(ah)

You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler.

The wicked^(ai) foe pulls all of them up with hooks,^(aj) he catches them in his net,^(ak) he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.

Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense^(al) to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.

Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?^(am)