Habakkuk Chapter 1 (NIV)
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The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.
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Habakkuk’s ComplaintHow long, O Lord, must I call for help,but you do not listen?Or cry out to you, “Violence!”but you do not save?
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Why do you make me look at injustice?Why do you tolerate wrong?Destruction and violence are before me;there is strife, and conflict abounds.
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Therefore the law is paralyzed,and justice never prevails.The wicked hem in the righteous,so that justice is perverted.
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The Lord’s Answer“Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed.For I am going to do something in your daysthat you would not believe,even if you were told.
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I am raising up the Babylonians,that ruthless and impetuous people,who sweep across the whole earthto seize dwelling places not their own.
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They are a feared and dreaded people;they are a law to themselvesand promote their own honor.
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Their horses are swifter than leopards,fiercer than wolves at dusk.Their cavalry gallops headlong;their horsemen come from afar.They fly like a vulture swooping to devour;
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they all come bent on violence.Their hordes advance like a desert windand gather prisoners like sand.
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They deride kingsand scoff at rulers.They laugh at all fortified cities;they build earthen ramps and capture them.
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Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”
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Habakkuk’s Second ComplaintO Lord, are you not from everlasting?My God, my Holy One, we will not die.O Lord, you have appointed them to execute judgment;O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.
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Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;you cannot tolerate wrong.Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?Why are you silent while the wickedswallow up those more righteous than themselves?
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You have made men like fish in the sea,like sea creatures that have no ruler.
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The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,he catches them in his net,he gathers them up in his dragnet;and so he rejoices and is glad.
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Therefore he sacrifices to his netand burns incense to his dragnet,for by his net he lives in luxuryand enjoys the choicest food.
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Is he to keep on emptying his net,destroying nations without mercy?
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