1 THE vision which Habakkuk the prophet saw:

2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry to thee because of the plunderers, and thou wilt not deliver!

3 Why dost thou show me iniquity and deceit? For I see violence and evil; justice was on my side, but the judge accepted bribes.

4 Therefore the law is slacked, and justice never goes forth; for the wicked surely does evil to the righteous; thus justice goes forth perverted.

5 Behold, O you presumptuous, see, wonder, and be amazed! for I will do a work in your days that you would not believe if a man should declare it to you.

6 For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that hasty and bitter nation, who shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.

7 They are mighty and dreadful; their judgment and their notable doings proceed of themselves.

8 Their horses are swifter than eagles and more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen shall swoop down and shall come from afar; they shall fly like an eagle that hastens to eat.

9 They all come for plunder; the appearance of their faces is fearful, and they shall gather booty as the sand.

10 They scoff at kings, and princes they mock; and they laugh at every stronghold; for they heap up earth and capture it.

11 Then shall his wind change and pass away, and his army shall be found guilty before his god.

12 Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? Art thou without a law, O LORD? For thou hast ordained them for judgment, and thou hast created us for chastisement.

13 Thine eyes are too pure, they do not behold evil, and thou canst not look on wicked men; why dost thou look on presumptuous men, and art silent when the wicked devours the righteous man?

14 And thou didst make men as the fish of the sea, as the creeping things that have no ruler over them.

15 They take up all of them with the hook, they catch them in a net, and gather them in their drag; and when they gather them, they rejoice and are glad.

16 Therefore they sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their drag, because by them their portion is made rich, and their food dainty.

17 Therefore they cast their net continually, they slay peoples without pity.