King James Version KJV
New Revised Standard NRS
1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
1
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
2
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save?
3 Why dost thou 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.
3
Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
4
So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous— therefore judgment comes forth perverted.
5 Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.
5
Look at the nations, and see! Be astonished! Be astounded! For a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told.
6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.
6
For I am rousing the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous nation, who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
7
Dread and fearsome are they; their justice and dignity proceed from 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.
8
Their horses are swifter than leopards, more menacing than wolves at dusk; their horses charge. Their horsemen come from far away; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
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.
9
They all come for violence, with faces pressing forward; they gather captives like 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.
10
At kings they scoff, and of rulers they make sport. They laugh at every fortress, and heap up earth to take it.
11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
11
Then they sweep by like the wind; they transgress and become guilty; their own might is their god!
12 Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
12
Are you not from of old, O Lord my God, my Holy One? You shall not die. O Lord, you have marked them for judgment; and you, O Rock, have established them for punishment.
13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
13
Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, and you cannot look on wrongdoing; why do you look on the treacherous, and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?
14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
14
You have made people like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.
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.
15
The enemy brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his seine; so he rejoices and exults.
16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.
16
Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his seine; for by them his portion is lavish, and his food is rich.
17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
17
Is he then to keep on emptying his net, and destroying nations without mercy?
The King James Version is in the public domain.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.