1The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw. 2O Jehovah, how long shall I cry for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, Violence! But You do not save. 3Why do You show me evil, and You cause me to look upon toil? For destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention rises up. 4On account of this the law has become feeble, and justice does not continue to go forth. For the wicked surrounds the righteous, so justice goes forth, perverted. 5Look among the nations and see, and be amazed. Be astounded. For a work is working in your days which you will not believe, though it be told to you. 6For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, the bitter and hasty nation which is proceeding into the breadth of the land, to possess dwellings that are not their own. 7They are terrible and fearful; their judgment and their glory goes forth from themselves. 8Their horses also are swifter than leopards and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen spread themselves; yea, their horsemen come from afar; they fly as the eagle hurrying to eat. 9All of them shall come for violence; the eagerness of their faces is like the east wind; and they gather captives like the sand. 10And they shall scoff against kings, and officials shall be a scorn to them. They shall scorn every fortress, and they shall heap up dirt and capture it. 11Then shall his mind change; and he shall pass over and be guilty, crediting this power of his to his god. 12Are You not from ancient times, Jehovah my God, my Holy One? We shall not die, Jehovah, for You have appointed them for judgment. And, my Rock, You have established them for correction. 13You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and You are not able to look upon vexation. Why do you look on those who deal deceitfully? Will You be silent when the wicked swallows one more righteous than he? 14For You make man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things with no ruler over them. 15They take up all of them with the hook; they drag them with the net and gather them with the dragnet. On account of this they rejoice and exult. 16Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet; because by them their portion is fat, and their food plentiful. 17Shall they therefore empty their net, and shall they not spare to continually slay nations?