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¹The pronouncement which Habakkuk the prophet saw:

²How long, LORD, have I called for help, And You do not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save.

³Why do You make me see disaster, And make me look at destitution? Yes, devastation 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 confused.

⁵“Look among the nations! Watch! Be horrified! Be frightened speechless! For I am accomplishing a work in your days— You would not believe it even if you were told!

⁶For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That grim and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth, To take possession of dwelling places that are not theirs.

⁷They are terrifying and feared; Their justice and authority originate with themselves.

⁸Their horses are faster than leopards, And quicker than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen charge along, Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.

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

¹⁰They make fun of kings, And dignitaries are an object of laughter to them. They laugh at every fortress, Then heap up dirt and capture it.

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

¹²Are You not from time everlasting, LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, LORD, have appointed them to deliver judgment; And You, O Rock, have destined them to punish.

¹³Your eyes are too pure to look at evil, And You cannot look at harm favorably. Why do You look favorably At those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?

¹⁴Why have You made people like the fish of the sea, Like crawling things that have no 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 joyful.

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?

¹I will stand at my guard post And station myself on the watchtower; And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me, And how I may reply when I am reprimanded.

²Then the LORD answered me and said, “Write down the vision And inscribe it clearly on tablets, So that one who reads it may run.

³For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hurries toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it delays, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay long.

⁴“Behold, as for the impudent one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous one will live by his faith.

⁵Furthermore, wine betrays an arrogant man, So that he does not achieve his objective. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, And he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all the nations And collects to himself all the peoples.

⁶“Will all of these not take up a song of ridicule against him, Even a saying and insinuations against him And say, ‘Woe to him who increases what is not his— For how long— And makes himself rich with debts!’

⁷Will your creditors not rise up suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them.

⁸Since you have looted many nations, All the rest of the peoples will loot you— Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants.

⁹“Woe to him who makes evil profit for his household, To put his nest on high, To be saved from the hand of catastrophe!

¹⁰You have planned a shameful thing for your house By bringing many peoples to an end; So you are sinning against yourself.

¹¹For the stone will cry out from the wall, And the rafter will answer it from the framework.

¹²“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed, And founds a town with violence!

¹³Is it not indeed from the LORD of armies That peoples labor merely for fire, And nations become weary for nothing?

¹⁴For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵“Woe to him who makes his neighbor drink; To you who mix in your venom even to make your neighbors drunk, So as to look at their genitalia!

¹⁶You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Drink, you yourself, and expose your own foreskin! The cup in the LORD’S right hand will come around to you, And utter disgrace will come upon your glory.

¹⁷For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, And the devastation of its animals by which you terrified them, Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants.

¹⁸“What benefit is a carved image when its maker has carved it, Or a cast metal image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols.

¹⁹Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ That is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, Yet there is no breath at all inside it.

²⁰But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”

¹A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

²LORD, I have heard the report about You, and I was afraid. LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known. In anger remember mercy.

³God comes from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His splendor covers the heavens, And the earth is full of His praise.

⁴His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, And the hiding of His might is there.

⁵Before Him goes plague, And plague comes forth after Him.

⁶He stood and caused the earth to shudder; He looked and caused the nations to jump. Yes, the everlasting mountains were shattered, The ancient hills collapsed. His paths are everlasting.

⁷I saw the tents of Cushan under distress, The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.

⁸Did the LORD rage against the rivers, Or was Your anger against the rivers, Or was Your rage against the sea, That You rode on Your horses, On Your chariots of salvation?

⁹You removed Your bow from its holder, The arrows of Your word were sworn. Selah You divided the earth with rivers.

¹⁰The mountains saw You and quaked; The downpour of waters swept by. The deep raised its voice, It lifted high its hands.

¹¹Sun and moon stood in their lofty places; They went away at the light of Your arrows, At the radiance of Your flashing spear.

¹²In indignation You marched through the earth; In anger You trampled the nations.

¹³You went forth for the salvation of Your people, For the salvation of Your anointed. You smashed the head of the house of evil To uncover him from foot to neck. Selah

¹⁴You pierced with his own arrows The head of his leaders. They stormed in to scatter us; Their arrogance was like those Who devour the oppressed in secret.

¹⁵You trampled on the sea with Your horses, On the foam of many waters.

¹⁶I heard, and my inner parts trembled; At the sound, my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble; Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will attack us.

¹⁷Even if the fig tree does not blossom, And there is no fruit on the vines, If the yield of the olive fails, And the fields produce no food, Even if the flock disappears from the fold, And there are no cattle in the stalls,

¹⁸Yet I will triumph in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like deer’s feet, And has me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.