1   An oracle which the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision. Divine justice

2   How long, O Lord, have I cried to thee, unanswered?
I cry, ‘Violence!’, but thou dost not save.
   3   Why dost thou let me see such misery,
    why countenance ^note wrongdoing?


  Devastation and violence confront me;
strife breaks out, discord raises its head,
   4   and so law grows effete;
  justice does not come forth victorious;
  for the wicked outwit the righteous,
  and so justice comes out perverted.


   5   Look, you treacherous people, ^note look:
    here is what will astonish you and stun you,
  for there is work afoot in your days
  which you will not believe when it is told you.
   6   It is this: I am raising up the Chaldaeans,
  that savage and impetuous nation,
    who cross the wide tracts of the earth
  to take possession of homes not theirs.
   7   Terror and awe go with them;
their justice and judgement are of their own making.
8   Their horses are swifter than hunting-leopards,
  keener than wolves of the plain; ^note
  their cavalry wait ready, they spring forward, ^note
  they come flying from afar
  like vultures swooping to devour the prey.
9   Their whole army advances, violence in their hearts;
  a sea of faces rolls on;
  they bring in captives countless as the sand.

Divine justice
   10   Kings they hold in derision,
  rulers they despise;
  they despise every fortress,
  they raise siege-works and capture it.
   11   Then they pass on like the wind and are gone;
and dismayed are all those whose strength was their god.


   12   Art thou not from of old, O Lord?—
  my God, the holy, the immortal. ^note
O Lord, it is thou who hast appointed them to execute judgement;
O mighty God, ^note thou who hast destined them to chastise,
   13   thou whose eyes are too pure to look upon evil,
  and who canst not countenance wrongdoing,
  why dost thou countenance the treachery of the wicked?
Why keep silent when they devour men more righteous than they?
   14   Why dost thou make men like the fish of the sea,
  like gliding creatures that obey no ruler?
   15   They haul them up with hooks, one and all,
    they catch them in nets
    and drag them in their trawls;
  then they make merry and rejoice,
   16   sacrificing to their nets
    and burning offerings ^note to their trawls;
  for by these they live sumptuously
    and enjoy rich fare.
17   Are they then to unsheathe the sword ^note every day,
  to slaughter the nations without pity?


     1   I will stand at my post,
  I will take up my position on the watch-tower,
  I will watch to learn what he will say through me,
    and what I shall reply when I am challenged. ^note
   2   Then the Lord made answer:
Write down the vision, inscribe it on tablets,
  ready for a herald ^note to carry it with speed; ^note
   3   for there is still a vision for the appointed time.
  At the destined hour it will come in breathless haste,
    it will not fail.
    If it delays, wait for it;
    for when it comes will be no time to linger.

Divine justice
4   The reckless will be unsure of himself,
  while the righteous man will live by being faithful; ^note
   5   as for the traitor in his over-confidence, ^note
  still less will he ride out the storm, for all his bragging.
  Though he opens his mouth as wide as Sheol
  and is insatiable as Death,
  gathering in all the nations,
  making all peoples his own harvest,
6   surely they will all turn upon him
  with insults and abuse, and say,
  ‘Woe betide you who heap up wealth that is not yours ^note
  and enrich yourself with goods taken in pledge!’
   7   Will not your creditors suddenly start up,
    will not all awake who would shake you till you are empty,
  and will you not fall a victim to them?
8   Because you yourself have plundered mighty ^note nations,
  all the rest of the world will plunder you,
    because of bloodshed and violence done in the land,
    to the city and all its inhabitants.


   9   Woe betide you who seek unjust gain for your house,
  to build your nest on a height,
  to save yourself from the grasp of wicked men!
   10   Your schemes to overthrow mighty ^note nations
    will bring dishonour to your house
    and put your own life in jeopardy.
   11   The very stones will cry out from the wall,
  and from the timbers a beam will answer them.


12   Woe betide you who have built a town with bloodshed
  and founded a city on fraud,
   13   so that nations toil for a pittance,
  and peoples weary themselves for a mere nothing!
Is not all this the doing of the Lord of Hosts?
14   For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
  as the waters fill the sea.


15   Woe betide you who make your ^note companions drink the outpouring of your wrath,
  making them drunk, that you may watch their naked orgies ^note!
   16   Drink deep draughts of shame, not of glory;
  you too shall drink until you stagger. ^note

Divine justice
  The cup in the Lord's right hand is passed to you,
  and your shame will exceed ^note your glory.
     17   The violence done to Lebanon shall sweep over you,
    the havoc done to its beasts shall break your own spirit, ^note
    because of bloodshed and violence done in the land,
    to the city and all its inhabitants.


18   What use is an idol when its maker has shaped it?—
    it is only an image, a source of lies;
or when the maker trusts what he has made?—
  he is only making dumb idols.
   19   Woe betide him who says to the wood, ‘Wake up’,
  to the dead stone, ‘Bestir yourself’! ^note
Why, it is firmly encased in gold and silver
  and has no breath in it.
   20   But the Lord is in his holy temple;
  let all the earth be hushed in his presence.
A prayer for mercy

1   A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk. ^note

2   O Lord, I have heard tell of thy deeds;
I have seen, ^note O Lord, thy work. ^note
  In the midst of the years thou didst make thyself known,
and in thy wrath thou didst remember mercy.


3   God comes from Teman,
  the Holy One from Mount Paran;
his radiance overspreads the skies,
and his splendour fills the earth.
   4   He rises ^note like the dawn,
  with twin rays starting forth at his side;
the skies are ^note the hiding-place of his majesty,
and the everlasting ^note ways are for ^note his swift flight. ^note
5   Pestilence stalks before him,
and plague comes forth behind.

A prayer for mercy
6   He stands still and shakes the earth,
he looks and makes the nations tremble;
  the eternal mountains are riven,
  the everlasting ^note hills subside,
   7   the tents of Cushan are snatched away, ^note
  the tent-curtains of Midian flutter.
   8   Art thou angry with the streams? ^note
  Is thy wrath against the sea, O Lord?
  When thou dost mount thy horses,
  thy riding is to victory.
9   Thou dost draw thy bow from its case ^note
and charge thy quiver with shafts. ^note
Thou cleavest the earth with rivers;
10    11   the mountains see thee and writhe with fear.
The torrent of water rushes by,
and the deep sea thunders aloud.
The sun forgets to turn in his course, ^note
and the moon stands still at her zenith,
at the gleam of thy speeding arrows
  and the glance of thy flashing spear.
12   With threats thou dost bestride the earth
and trample down the nations in anger.
   13   Thou goest forth to save thy people,
  thou comest ^note to save thy anointed;
thou dost shatter the wicked man's house from the roof down, ^note
uncovering ^note its foundations to the bare rock. ^note
14   Thou piercest their ^note chiefs with thy ^note shafts,
and their leaders are torn from them by the whirlwind,
  as they open ^note their jaws
to devour their wretched victims in secret.


15   When thou dost tread the sea with thy horses
  the mighty waters boil.
16   I hear, and my belly quakes;
my lips quiver at the sound;
trembling comes over my bones,
and my feet ^note totter in their tracks;

A prayer for mercy
  I sigh for the day of distress
to dawn over my ^note assailants.
   17   Although the fig-tree does not burgeon,
  the vines bear no fruit,
  the olive-crop fails,
the orchards yield no food,
the fold is bereft of its flock
  and there are no cattle in the stalls,
18   yet I will exult in the Lord
  and rejoice in the God of my deliverance.
19   The Lord God is my strength,
who makes my feet nimble as a hind's
  and sets me to range the ^note heights.

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