1. THE BURDEN or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2. O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and You will not hear? Or cry out to You of violence and You will not save?
3. Why do You show me iniquity and wrong, and Yourself look upon or cause me to see perverseness and trouble? For destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention arises.
4. Therefore the law is slackened and justice and a righteous sentence never go forth, for the [hostility of the] wicked surrounds the [uncompromisingly] righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.
5. Look around [you, Habakkuk, replied the Lord] among the nations and see! And be astonished! Astounded! For I am putting into effect a work in your days [such] that you would not believe it if it were told you. [Acts 13:40, 41.]
6. For behold, I am rousing up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation who march through the breadth of the earth to take possession of dwelling places that do not belong to them. [II Kings 24:2.]
7. [The Chaldeans] are terrible and dreadful; their justice and dignity proceed [only] from themselves.
8. Their horses also are swifter than leopards and are fiercer than the evening wolves, and their horsemen spread themselves and press on proudly; yes, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle that hastens to devour.
9. They all come for violence; their faces turn eagerly forward, and they gather prisoners together like sand.