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Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Habakkuk 1:3

Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God Continued...;   Minister, Christian;   Punishment;   Strife;   Wicked (People);   Zeal, Religious;   Thompson Chain Reference - Contentiousness;   Dissention;   Unity-Strife;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Strife;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Fire;   Habakkuk;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Justice;   Prayer;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Habakkuk;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Suffering;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Habakkuk;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Grievance;   Habakkuk;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Job, the Book of;   Optimism and Pessimism;   Wolf;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for January 31;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Why do you force me to look at injustice?Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?Oppression and violence are right in front of me.Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.
Hebrew Names Version
Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.
King James Version (1611)
Why doest thou shew me iniquity, & cause me to behold grieuance? for spoiling and violence are before me: & there are that raise vp strife and contention.
King James Version
Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
English Standard Version
Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
New American Standard Bible
Why do You make me see disaster, And make me look at destitution? Yes, devastation and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises.
New Century Version
Why do you make me see wrong things and make me look at trouble? People are destroying things and hurting others in front of me; they are arguing and fighting.
Amplified Bible
Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? For destruction and violence are before me; Strife continues and contention arises.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Why doest thou shewe mee iniquitie, and cause me to beholde sorowe? for spoyling, and violence are before me: and there are that rayse vp strife and contention.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises.
Legacy Standard Bible
Why do You make me see wickednessAnd cause me to look on trouble?Indeed, devastation and violence are before me;And there is strife, and contention is lifted up.
Berean Standard Bible
Why do You make me see iniquity? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds.
Contemporary English Version
Why do you make me watch such terrible injustice? Why do you allow violence, lawlessness, crime, and cruelty to spread everywhere?
Complete Jewish Bible
Why do you make me see wrongdoing, why do you permit oppression? Pillage and cruelty confront me, so that strife and discord prevail.
Darby Translation
Why dost thou cause me to see iniquity, and lookest thou upon grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up.
Easy-to-Read Version
People are stealing things and hurting others. They are arguing and fighting. Why do you make me look at these terrible things?
George Lamsa Translation
Why dost thou show me iniquity and deceit? For I see violence and evil; justice was on my side, but the judge accepted bribes.
Lexham English Bible
Why do you cause me to see evil while you look at trouble? Destruction and violence happen before me; contention and strife arise.
Literal Translation
Why do You make me see evil, and You look upon toil? For destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention rises up.
American Standard Version
Why dost thou show me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? for destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up.
Bible in Basic English
Why do you make me see evil-doing, and why are my eyes fixed on wrong? for wasting and violent acts are before me: and there is fighting and bitter argument.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and beholdest mischief? And why are spoiling and violence before me? so that there is strife, and contention ariseth.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Why doest thou shew me iniquitie, and cause me to beholde sorowe? for spoyling and violence are before me, & there are that rayse vp stryfe and contention,
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Wherefore hast thou shown me troubles and griefs to look upon, misery and ungodliness? judgment is before me, and the judge receives a reward.
English Revised Version
Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there is strife, and contention riseth up.
World English Bible
Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whi schewidist thou to me wickidnesse and trauel, for to se prey and vnriytwisnesse ayens me? Whi biholdist thou dispiseris, and art stille, the while an vnpitouse man defoulith a riytfulere than hym silf? And thou schalt make men as fischis of the see, and as crepynge thingis not hauynge a ledere; and doom is maad, and ayenseiyng is more miyti.
Update Bible Version
Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perverseness? for destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention rises up.
Webster's Bible Translation
Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause [me] to behold grievance? for devastation and violence [are] before me: and there are [that] raise strife and contention.
New English Translation
Why do you force me to witness injustice? Why do you put up with wrongdoing? Destruction and violence confront me; conflict is present and one must endure strife.
New King James Version
Why do You show me iniquity, And cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises.
New Living Translation
Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight.
New Life Bible
Why do you make me see sins and wrong-doing? People are being destroyed in anger in front of me. There is arguing and fighting.
New Revised Standard
Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
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?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful.
Revised Standard Version
Why dost thou make me see wrongs and look upon trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
Young's Literal Translation
Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, And perversity dost cause to behold? And spoiling and violence [are] before me, And there is strife, and contention doth lift [itself] up,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Why lettest thou me se weerynesse and laboure? Tyrany and violence are before me, power ouergoeth right:

Contextual Overview

1 This is the message that the Lord revealed to the prophet Habakkuk. 2 O Lord , how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence? 3 Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere. 4 The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Psalms 12:1, Psalms 12:2, Psalms 55:9-11, Psalms 73:3-9, Psalms 120:5, Psalms 120:6, Ecclesiastes 4:1, Ecclesiastes 5:8, Jeremiah 9:2-6, Ezekiel 2:6, Micah 7:1-4, Matthew 10:16, 2 Peter 2:8

Reciprocal: Job 19:7 - I cry Psalms 140:1 - violent man Ecclesiastes 2:17 - work Isaiah 24:16 - the treacherous Amos 6:12 - for Habakkuk 1:13 - the wicked Zephaniah 3:5 - just Acts 21:35 - for James 3:14 - if

Cross-References

Job 36:30
He sends lightning through all the sky, but the depths of the sea remain dark.
Job 38:19
Do you know where the light comes from or what the source of darkness is?
Psalms 33:6
The Lord created the heavens by his command, the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word.
Psalms 33:9
When he spoke, the world was created; at his command everything appeared.
Psalms 97:11
Light shines on the righteous, and gladness on the good.
Psalms 104:2
you cover yourself with light. You have spread out the heavens like a tent
Psalms 118:27
The Lord is God; he has been good to us. With branches in your hands, start the festival and march around the altar.
Psalms 148:5
Let them all praise the name of the Lord ! He commanded, and they were created;
Isaiah 45:7
I create both light and darkness; I bring both blessing and disaster. I, the Lord , do all these things.
Isaiah 60:19
"No longer will the sun be your light by day Or the moon be your light by night; I, the Lord , will be your eternal light; The light of my glory will shine on you.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause [me] to behold grievance?.... That is, wicked men, and such as give a great deal of trouble vexation, and grief to others, by their rapine and oppression; suggesting that he could not turn his eyes any where, but such persons presented themselves to his view; and that their wicked actions were performed by them openly and publicly, in the sight of all, without any shame or fear. So the Targum,

"why do I see oppressors, and behold those that do the labour of falsehood?''

For spoiling and violence [are] before me; in my sight and presence, though a prophet, and notwithstanding all my remonstrances, exhortations, and reproofs; such were the hardness, obstinacy, and impudence of this people; to such a height and pitch of iniquity were they arrived, as to regard not the prophets of the Lord. The Targum is,

"spoilers and robbers are before me:''

or, "against me" q, as in the text; these sins were committed against him, he was injuriously used himself; or they were done to others, contrary to his advice and persuasion:

and there are [that] raise up strife and contention; in the kingdom, in cities, in families; in one man, brother, friend, and neighbour, against another; which occasion lawsuits, and in them justice is not done, as follows. It may be rendered, and "there shall be [and] is [a man] of strife"; so Japhet: "and he shall raise up contention"; one man given to strife will and does use great contention in communities, civil and religious.

q לנגדי "contra me", Pagninus, Montanus; "e regione mei", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold - , or rather, “Why beholdest Thou grievance?” God seemed to reverse what He had said by Balaam Numbers 23:21, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, and hath not seen grievousness in Israel”; and in the Psalms Psalms 10:14, “Thou hast seen, for thou (emphatic) beholdest grievousness and wrong, to put it in Thy hand,” i. e., Thou layest it up in Thy hand, to cast it back on the head of the evildoer. Now He seemed to behold it and leave it unpunished, which yet Habakkuk says to God below, He could not do Habakkuk 1:13; “Thou canst not look upon iniquity.” What then did this mean? What was the solution?

All forms and shapes of sin are multiplied; oppressive “violence” , such as “covered the earth” before the flood, and brought it down; which Nineveh had to put away Jonah 3:8, and it was spared; “iniquity,” i. e., what is unequal and contrary to truth, falsehood.

Grievance - literally, burdensome wearisome “toil”; “spoiling,” or open robbery; “strife and contention,” both through perversion of the law and, without it, through endless jarrings of man with man. Sin recoils on the sinner. So what he beholds is not “iniquity” only, but (in the same word) “vanity”; “grievance”; which is a burden both to him who suffers, and yet more to him who inflicts it. For nothing is so burdensome as sin, nothing so empty as wickedness. And while to him who suffers, the suffering is temporal, to him who inflicts it, it is eternal. And yet the prophet and whose prays against ungodliness, “must commiserate him who doth wrong yet more, since they hurt what is most precious, their own soul, and that eternally” . All then is full of evil. Wherever the prophet looks, some fresh violence is before him; it confronts him on every side; “strife hath arisen” , come up, exists where it was not before; “contention lifteth itself” on high, bowing down all beside.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Habakkuk 1:3. And cause me to behold grievance — עמל amal, labour, toil, distress, misery, &c., the common fruits of sin.


 
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