Chaldeans Used to Punish Judah

1 The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2
How long, O LORD, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!
Yet You do not save.3
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.4
Therefore 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.

12
Are You not from everlasting,
O LORD, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge;
And You, O Rock, have established them to correct.13
{Your} eyes are too pure to approve evil,
And You can not look on wickedness {with favor.}
Why do You look with favor
On those who deal treacherously?
Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up
Those more righteous than they?14
{Why} have You made men like the fish of the sea,
Like creeping things without a ruler over them?15
{The 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.16
Therefore 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.17
Will they therefore empty their net
And continually slay nations without sparing?