Common English Bible CEB
English Standard Version ESV
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
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The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 LORD, how long will I call for help and you not listen? I cry out to you, "Violence!" but you don't deliver us.
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O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save?
3 Why do you show me injustice and look at anguish so that devastation and violence are before me? There is strife, and conflict abounds.
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Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
4 The Instruction is ineffective. Justice does not endure because the wicked surround the righteous. Justice becomes warped.
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So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.
5 Look among the nations and watch! Be astonished and stare because something is happening in your days that you wouldn't believe even if told.
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"Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.
6 I am about to rouse the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, which travels throughout the earth to possess dwelling places it does not own.
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For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.
7 The Chaldean is dreadful and fearful. He makes his own justice and dignity.
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They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 His horses are faster than leopards; they are quicker than wolves of the evening. His horsemen charge forward; his horsemen come from far away. They fly in to devour, swiftly, like an eagle.
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Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9 They come for violence, the horde with all their faces set toward the desert. He takes captives like sand.
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They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand.
10 He makes fun of kings; rulers are ridiculous to him. He laughs at every fortress, then he piles up dirt and takes it.
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At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it.
11 He passes through like the wind and invades; but he will be held guilty, the one whose strength is his god.
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Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!"
12 LORD, aren't you ancient, my God, my holy one? Don't let us die. LORD, you put the Chaldean here for judgment. Rock, you established him as a rebuke.
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Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you are unable to look at disaster. Why would you look at the treacherous or keep silent when the wicked swallows one who is more righteous?
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You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
14 You made humans like the fish of the sea, like creeping things with no one to rule over them.
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You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.
15 The Chaldean brings all of them up with a fishhook. He drags them away with a net; he collects them in his fishing net, then he rejoices and celebrates.
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He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore, he sacrifices to his net; he burns incense to his fishing nets, because due to them his portion grows fat and his food becomes luxurious.
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Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.
17 Should he continue to empty his net and continue to slay nations without sparing them?
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Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.