Habakkuk 1:1–11

[1] The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

[2] O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?

[3] Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.

[4] So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.

[5] “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.

[6] For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.

[7] They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

[8] Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.

[9] They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand.

[10] At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it.

[11] Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!” (ESV)