Habakkuk 1:17.
Habakkuk 1:1-17 (Good News Translation)
1This is the message that the LORD revealed to the prophet Habakkuk. 2O
LORD, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us
from violence? 3Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to
look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and
there is fighting and quarreling everywhere. 4The law is weak and useless,
and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and
so justice is perverted. 5Then the LORD said to his people, Keep watching
the nations around you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am
going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it. 6I
am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They
are marching out across the world to conquer other lands. 7They spread
fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves. 8Their
horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry
troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They
come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey. 9Their armies advance
in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach. Their
captives are as numerous as grains of sand. 10They treat kings with
contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them—they
pile up earth against it and capture it. 11Then they sweep on like the
wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god. 12LORD, from the
very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. LORD, my God
and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that
they can punish us. 13But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men?
Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of
people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who
are more righteous than they are? 14How can you treat people like fish or
like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them? 15The
Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag
them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch! 16They even worship
their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them
with the best of everything. 17Are they going to use their swords forever
and keep on destroying nations without mercy?
LORD, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us
from violence? 3Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to
look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and
there is fighting and quarreling everywhere. 4The law is weak and useless,
and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and
so justice is perverted. 5Then the LORD said to his people, Keep watching
the nations around you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am
going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it. 6I
am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They
are marching out across the world to conquer other lands. 7They spread
fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves. 8Their
horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry
troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They
come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey. 9Their armies advance
in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach. Their
captives are as numerous as grains of sand. 10They treat kings with
contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them—they
pile up earth against it and capture it. 11Then they sweep on like the
wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god. 12LORD, from the
very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. LORD, my God
and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that
they can punish us. 13But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men?
Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of
people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who
are more righteous than they are? 14How can you treat people like fish or
like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them? 15The
Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag
them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch! 16They even worship
their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them
with the best of everything. 17Are they going to use their swords forever
and keep on destroying nations without mercy?
God bless you.
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