Habakkuk 1

‘Lord, how long must I keep on praying?

How long do I have to beg You to help us?

You do not listen to us.

You don't help us against the people

who make us suffer.

₃Why do You show me how some people

do wrong to other people?

You see how they suffer

but You don't do anything.

I see how people do bad things to other people,

and they don't do to them what is right.

₄That is why the laws of Moses

are no longer important to anyone.

That is why they don't do

to other people what is right.

It seems better to be bad and not righteous

than to be good and listen to the laws.

People go to the city gate to complain

but when they go away,

no one helps them

or does what they should do.’

‘You must look at the nations.

Look at the people

and you will be surprised.

You will not know what to say.

I am now going to do something,

and you will not believe it

when people tell you this.

₆I will call the Babylonians.

They are cruel and wild people

and they go all over the world

and they defeat and take lands

that do not belong to them.

₇Everyone is afraid of them,

and they do what they want to do.

₈Their horses are faster than leopards

and wilder than hungry wolves.

Their soldiers on horses come from far places.

They come as fast as vultures

that dive down when they come to eat.

₉They all come to war, and they run to fight.

They catch a lot of people,

as many as the sand of the sea.

₁₀They laugh at kings and people who rule.

It is easy for them to come into a city,

because they build up sand against the strong walls

and they climb over the walls.

₁₁Then they go away

like the wind that keeps on blowing.

They think they can do what they want

because they are strong.

Their power is like a god to them.’

‘Lord, You have always been God.

You are my God. You are my holy God,

and You will live forever.

Lord, You are the Rock who protects us

but You have chosen the Babylonians to punish us

and You have made them strong.

₁₃I know You do not want people to sin.

You don't want bad people to do wrong.

You do not like it when someone

makes other people suffer.

Why do You look at everything

that the Babylonians do,

but not do anything to stop them?

They are bad people.

Why do you keep quiet when they

kill people who are better than they are?

₁₄The people on earth did not have leaders.

You made them like the fish in the sea

and like the small creeping animals.

₁₅The Babylonian enemies catch people

like a man who catches fish

with a fishing hook or net,

and is then happy and rejoices.

₁₆He then sacrifices offerings

and burns incense to his fishing nets,

because his nets help him

to become rich and to eat good food.

₁₇Lord, do You think it is right

that the Babylonians keep on killing people?

Is it right for them

not to feel sorry for other people?’