Habakkuk 1

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 The charge that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision.	1 The burden that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 How long, Yahweh, am I to cry for help while you wil not listen; to cry, 'Violence!' in your ear while youwil not save?	2 How long, O Lord, shall I cry out, and you will not heed? Shall I shout to you while suffering violence, and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see wrong-doing, why do you countenance oppression? Plundering and violenceconfront me, contention and discord flourish.	3 Why have you revealed to me iniquity and hardship, to see plunder and injustice opposite me? And there has been judgment, but the opposition is more powerful.
4 And so the law loses its grip and justice never emerges, since the wicked outwits the upright and sojustice comes out perverted.	4 Because of this, the law has been torn apart, and judgment does not persevere to its conclusion. For the impious prevail against the just. Because of this, a perverse judgment is issued.
5 Cast your eyes over the nations, look, and be amazed, astounded. For I am doing something in yourown days which you wil not believe if you are told of it.	5 Gaze among the nations, and see. Admire, and be astounded. For a work has been done in your days, which no one will believe when it is told.
6 For look, I am stirring up the Chaldaeans, that fierce and fiery nation who march miles across country toseize the homes of others.	6 For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift people, marching across the width of the earth, to possess tabernacles not their own.
7 They are dreadful and awesome, a law and authority to themselves.	7 It is dreadful and terrible. From themselves, judgment and their burden will issue.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at night; their horsemen gal op on, theirhorsemen advance from afar, swooping like an eagle anxious to feed.	8 Their horses are more nimble than leopards and swifter than wolves in the evening; their horsemen will spread out. And then their horsemen will approach from far away; they will fly like the eagle, hurrying to devour.
9 They are al bent on violence, their faces scorching like an east wind; they scoop up prisoners likesand.	9 They will all approach towards the prey; their face is like a burning wind. And they will gather captives together like sand.
10 They scoff at kings, they despise princes. They make light of al fortresses: they heap up earth andtake them.	10 And concerning kings, he will triumph, and sovereign rulers will be his laughingstock, and he will laugh over every fortress, and he will transport a rampart and seize it.
11 Then the wind changes and is gone . . . Guilty is he who makes his strength his god.	11 Then his spirit will be altered, and he will cross over and fall. Such is his strength from his god.
12 Surely you, Yahweh, are from ancient times, my holy God, who never dies! Yahweh, you haveappointed him to execute judgement; O Rock, you have set him firm to punish.	12 Have you not existed from the beginning, Lord my God, my holy one, and so we shall not die? Lord, you have stationed him for judgment, and you have establish that his strength will be swept away.
13 Your eyes are too pure to rest on evil, you cannot look on at oppression. Why do you look on at thosewho play the traitor, why say nothing while the wicked swal ows someone more upright than himself?	13 Your eyes are pure, you do not behold evil, and you cannot look towards iniquity. Why do you look upon the agents of iniquity, and remain silent, while the impious is devouring one who is more just than himself?
14 Why treat people like fish of the sea, like gliding creatures who have no leader?	14 And you will make men like the fish of the sea and like the creeping things that have no ruler.
15 They haul them al up on their hook, they catch them in their net, they sweep them up in their dragnetand then make merry and rejoice.	15 He lifted up everything with his hook. He drew them in with his dragnet, and gathered them into his netting. Over this, he will rejoice and exult.
16 And so they offer a sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet, for by these they get a richliving and live off the fat of the land.	16 For this reason, he will offer victims to his dragnet, and he will sacrifice to his netting. For through them, his portion has been made fat, and his meals elite.
17 Are they to go on emptying their net unceasingly, slaughtering the nations without pity?	17 Because of this, therefore, he expands his dragnet and will not be lenient in continually putting to death the peoples.