1 The burden which ^N62Habakkuk (Chavaqquq) the prophet did see.

2 O יהוה, how long shall I cry, and You wilt not hear! Even cry out unto You of violence, and You wilt not save!

3 Why dost You 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.

4 Therefore the Torah is slacked, and justice doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceedeth.

5 Behold you among the nations, and regard, and wonder marvelously; for I will work a work in your days, which you will not believe, though it be told you.

6 For, behold I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.

7 They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

9 They shall come all for violence; their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them; they shall deride every strong hold, for they shall heap dust, and take it.

11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

12 Are you not from everlasting, O יהוה my God (Elohim), Mine Holy One? We shall not die. O יהוה, You have ordained them for judgment; and, O Rock, You have established them for correction.

13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity; wherefore lookest You upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest Your tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15 They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag; therefore they rejoice and are glad.

16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their food plenteous.

17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?