¹ The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

² How long, Lord, must I call for help,

but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”

but you do not save?

³ Why do you make me look at injustice?

Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me;

there is strife, and conflict abounds.

⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,

and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous,

so that justice is perverted.

⁵ “Look at the nations and watch—

and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days

that you would not believe,

even if you were told.

⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians,

that ruthless and impetuous people,

who sweep across the whole earth

to seize dwellings not their own.

⁷ They are a feared and dreaded people;

they are a law to themselves

and promote their own honor.

⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards,

fiercer than wolves at dusk.

Their cavalry gallops headlong;

their horsemen come from afar.

They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;

⁹ they all come intent on violence.

Their hordes advance like a desert wind

and gather prisoners like sand.

¹⁰ They mock kings

and scoff at rulers.

They laugh at all fortified cities;

by building earthen ramps they capture them.

¹¹ Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—

guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

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