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Habakkuk 1
New International Version

1 The prophecy(A) that Habakkuk the prophet received.

### Habakkuk’s Complaint

2 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)
3 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.
4 Therefore the law(I) is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice(J) is perverted.(K)

### The Lord’s Answer

5 “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)
6 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)
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;(Q)
they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor.
8 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;
9 they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners(T) like sand.
10 They mock kings
and scoff at rulers.(U)
They laugh at all fortified cities;
by building earthen ramps(V) they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind(W) and go on—
guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”(X)

### Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 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.
13 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)
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 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.
16 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.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
destroying nations without mercy?(AM)

#### Footnotes

1. Habakkuk 1:6 Or Chaldeans
2. Habakkuk 1:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
3. Habakkuk 1:12 An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition; Masoretic Text we

#### Cross references

1. Habakkuk 1:1 : S Na 1:1
2. Habakkuk 1:2 : S Ps 6:3
3. Habakkuk 1:2 : Ps 13:1-2; 22:1-2
4. Habakkuk 1:2 : Jer 14:9; Zec 1:12
5. Habakkuk 1:3 : ver 13
6. Habakkuk 1:3 : S Job 9:23
7. Habakkuk 1:3 : Jer 20:8
8. Habakkuk 1:3 : S Ps 55:9
9. Habakkuk 1:4 : Ps 119:126
10. Habakkuk 1:4 : S Isa 29:21
11. Habakkuk 1:4 : S Job 19:7; S Isa 1:23; 5:20; S Eze 9:9
12. Habakkuk 1:5 : S Isa 29:9
13. Habakkuk 1:5 : Ac 13:41*
14. Habakkuk 1:6 : S Dt 28:49; S 2Ki 24:2
15. Habakkuk 1:6 : Rev 20:9
16. Habakkuk 1:6 : S Jer 13:20; S 21:7
17. Habakkuk 1:7 : Isa 18:7; Jer 39:5-9
18. Habakkuk 1:8 : S Jer 4:13
19. Habakkuk 1:8 : S Ge 49:27
20. Habakkuk 1:9 : Hab 2:5
21. Habakkuk 1:10 : S 2Ch 36:6
22. Habakkuk 1:10 : S Jer 33:4
23. Habakkuk 1:11 : Jer 4:11-12
24. Habakkuk 1:11 : S Da 4:30
25. Habakkuk 1:12 : S Ge 21:33
26. Habakkuk 1:12 : Isa 31:1; 37:23
27. Habakkuk 1:12 : Ps 118:17
28. Habakkuk 1:12 : Isa 10:6
29. Habakkuk 1:12 : S Ge 49:24; S Ex 33:22
30. Habakkuk 1:13 : Ps 18:26
31. Habakkuk 1:13 : S La 3:34-36
32. Habakkuk 1:13 : ver 3
33. Habakkuk 1:13 : S Ps 25:3
34. Habakkuk 1:13 : S Job 21:7
35. Habakkuk 1:15 : Jer 5:26
36. Habakkuk 1:15 : S Isa 19:8
37. Habakkuk 1:15 : S Job 18:8; Jer 16:16
38. Habakkuk 1:16 : Jer 44:8
39. Habakkuk 1:17 : S Isa 14:6; 19:8

New International Version (NIV)

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