1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.
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1 Habakkuk's Complaint
2 How long, O Lord, must I call for help, 2 but you do not listen? 2 Or cry out to you, "Violence!" 2 but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice? 3 Why do you tolerate wrong? 3 Destruction and violence are before me; 3 there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, 4 and justice never prevails. 4 The wicked hem in the righteous, 4 so that justice is perverted.
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5 The Lord's Answer
5 "Look at the nations and watch— 5 and be utterly amazed. 5 For I am going to do something in your days 5 that you would not believe, 5 even if you were told.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,[a] 6 that ruthless and impetuous people, 6 who sweep across the whole earth 6 to seize dwelling places not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people; 7 they are a law to themselves 7 and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, 8 fiercer than wolves at dusk. 8 Their cavalry gallops headlong; 8 their horsemen come from afar. 8 They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; 9 they all come bent on violence. 9 Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind 9 and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They deride kings 10 and scoff at rulers. 10 They laugh at all fortified cities; 10 they build earthen ramps and capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— 11 guilty men, whose own strength is their god."
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