Habakkuk 1

¹This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:

¹This is the burden against the Valley of Vision: What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the rooftops,

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?

²I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?

²How long must I wrestle in my soul, with sorrow in my heart each day? How long will my enemy dominate me?

⁸Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.

⁹Why are You like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? Yet You are among us, O Lord, and we are called by Your name. Do not forsake us!

³How long will the wicked, O Lord, how long will the wicked exult?

¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who dwell upon the earth and avenge our blood?”

⁹O Lord, confuse and confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they encircle the walls, while malice and trouble lie within.

²If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.

³“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the Lord.

¹Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.

²The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.

⁸If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

⁸For whenever I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and destruction. For the word of the Lord has become to me a reproach and derision all day long.

³For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed.

²⁰Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree?

²¹They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

²¹See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers!

²²Your silver has become dross; your fine wine is diluted with water.

¹²⁶It is time for the Lord to act, for they have broken Your law.

⁷Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?

⁹He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’

¹Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

⁴⁰Watch out, then, that what was spoken by the prophets does not happen to you:

⁴¹‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’”

¹⁴Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”

¹²The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

¹²They have lied about the Lord and said: “He will not do anything; harm will not come to us; we will not see sword or famine.

¹³The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them.”

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—

²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

¹⁸Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”

²And the Lord sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah, according to the word that the Lord had spoken through His servants the prophets.

⁶Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

¹⁵Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.

¹⁷So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,

⁶Raise a signal flag toward Zion. Seek refuge! Do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and terrible destruction.

¹³Look at the land of the Chaldeans—a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin.

⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him.

⁶There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the nobles of Judah.

⁹The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on Zedekiah.

¹⁰There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the officials of Judah.

⁷At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord of Hosts—from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people widely feared, from a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers—to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord of Hosts.

²⁷Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then you can tell us everything the Lord our God tells you; we will listen and obey.”

¹⁹You shall not steal.

²⁵Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as seven trusted royal advisers. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.

²⁶Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

¹³Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!

³Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning.

⁴⁹The Lord will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,

¹Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the Lord, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.

³and tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers of many colors, came to Lebanon and took away the top of the cedar.

⁶Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces. For their rebellious acts are many, and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.

⁹behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the Lord, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.

¹⁸If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.

¹⁸So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.

⁵and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own.

⁶Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long will this go on?’

¹²Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.

⁵¹They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish.

⁵²They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the Lord your God has given you.

⁶Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

¹⁰In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the Lord. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

²⁴See how the siege ramps are mounted against the city to capture it. And by sword and famine and plague, the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened, as You now see!

¹⁶Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble,

⁴For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword:

⁴So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.

⁵And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

²⁰But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.

³⁰the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

³¹While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has departed from you.

³Thus they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king drank from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.

⁴As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift;

¹²a wind too strong for that comes from Me. Now I also pronounce judgments against them.”

⁴He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

²Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

²⁷The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’

²⁸And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid, declares the Lord, for I am with you. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have banished you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

¹¹For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have scattered you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

²Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity.

⁴For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; no evil can dwell with You.

⁵The boastful cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all workers of iniquity.

¹⁵The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.

¹⁶But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to wipe out all memory of them from the earth.

¹Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

²You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.

³Why do You make me see iniquity? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds.

⁴Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

⁸Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.

⁹Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.

³Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.

²The Lord God has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.

¹⁶But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the Lord, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.

⁹He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.

⁶He told them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it there, and they were unable to haul it in because of the great number of fish.

⁷Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it) and jumped into the sea.

¹⁵As you rejoiced when the inheritance of the house of Israel became desolate, so will I do to you. You will become a desolation, O Mount Seir, and so will all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

²“Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken; it has swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will be filled,’

³⁰the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

¹¹Then they sweep by like the wind and pass through. They are guilty; their own strength is their god.”

³Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you!

¹⁷You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.”

²⁴Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests.

¹³For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.

¹⁴My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’”

⁶It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.

⁹behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the Lord, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.

¹⁰Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

¹Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them.

¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

²And Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.

¹⁷For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of animals will terrify you, because of your bloodshed against men and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers.

⁹All of them come bent on violence; their hordes advance like the east wind; they gather prisoners like sand.

¹⁰They scoff at kings and make rulers an object of scorn. They laugh at every fortress and build up siege ramps to seize it.