Parallel Bible results for "habakkuk 1"

Habakkuk 1

Good News Translation GNT

1 This is the message that the Lord revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.

2 O Lord, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence?

3 Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere.

4 The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.

5 Then the Lord said to his people, "Keep watching the nations around you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it.

6 I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands.

7 They spread fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves.

8 "Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.

9 "Their armies advance in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach. Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand.

10 They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them - they pile up earth against it and capture it.

11 Then they sweep on like the wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god."

12 Lord, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. Lord, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us.

13 But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?

14 How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them?

15 The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch!

16 They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything.

17 Are they going to use their swords forever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?

New International Version NIV

1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

2 How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.

4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

5 “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

6 I am raising up the Babylonians,that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.

7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.

8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves 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 advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.

10 They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them.

11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

12 LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, LORD, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

14 You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler.

15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.

16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense 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?