1. The divine revelation that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
2. How long, O Lord, am I to cry for help,but you will not listen?I cry out to you, “There’s violence!”yet you will not come to the rescue.
3. Why do you make me see wrongdoing?And why do you watch wickedness?Destruction and violence are in front of me.Quarrels and disputes arise.
4. That is why your teaching is numbed,and justice is never carried out.Wicked people surround righteous peopleso that when justice is carried out, it’s perverted.
5. Look among the nations and watch.Be amazed and astonished.I am going to do something in your daysthat you would not believe even if it were reported to you.
6. I am going to send the Babylonians,that fierce and reckless nation.They will march throughout the earthto take possession of lands that don’t belong to them.
7. They will be terrifying and fearsome.They will carry out their own kind of justice and honor.
8. Their horses will be faster than leopardsand quicker than wolves in the evening.Their riders will gallop along proudly.Their riders will come from far away.They will fly like an eagle that swoops down for its prey.