"How long, LORD, must I cry out for help, but you won't listen? I'm crying out to you, "Violence!' but you aren't providing deliverance.

"Notice their arrogance they have no inward uprightness but the righteous will live by their faith.

When he answered, the LORD told me: "Write out the revelation, engraving it clearly on the tablets, so that a courier may run with it.

Why are you forcing me to look at iniquity and to stare at wickedness? Social havoc and oppression are all around me; there are legal conflicts, and disputes abound.

His radiance is like sunlight; beams of light shine from his hand, where his strength lays hidden.

Therefore, the Law has become paralyzed, and justice never comes about. Because criminals outnumber the righteous, whenever judgments are issued, they come out crooked."

Watch out! For I am bringing in the Chaldeans, that cruel and impetuous people, who sweep across the earth dispossessing people from homes not their own.

They are terrible and fearsome; their brand of justice and sense of honor derive only from themselves!

Then like the wind sweeping by they will pass through they're guilty because they say their power is their god."

Their horses are swifter than leopards, and more cunning than wolves that attack at night. Their horsemen are galloping as they approach from far away. They swoop in like ravenous vultures.

"Haven't you existed forever, LORD my God, my Holy One? We won't die! LORD, you've prepared them for judgment; Rock, you've sentenced them to correction.

They make fun of kings, deriding those who rule. They laugh at all of the fortified places, constructing ramps to seize them.

"You have fashioned mankind like fish in the ocean, like creeping things that have no ruler.

Before him pestilence walks, and disease follows behind him.

"They all come to oppress hordes of them, their faces pressing onward they take prisoners as numerous as the desert sand!

Is he to continue to empty his fishing net? Will he ever stop killing entire nations without mercy?"

Moreover, just as wine leads astray the proud and powerful man, he remains restless; he has expanded his appetite like the afterlife or death itself, he is never satisfied. He gathers to himself all of the nations, taking captive all of the people for himself."

The adversary captures them with a hook, gathering them up in a fishing net. He collects them with a dragnet, rejoicing and gloating over his catch.

"Will not all of these ridicule him with mocking scorn? They will say, "Woe to the one who hordes for himself what isn't his. How long will you enrich yourself by extortion?'

Therefore he sacrifices to his fishing net, and burns incense in the presence of his dragnet, because by them his assets increase and he gets plenty of food.

He stood up and shook the land; with his stare he startled the nations. The age-old mountains were shattered, and the ancient hilltops bowed down. His ways are eternal.

I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, and the tent curtains of the land of Midian in anguish.

Because you plundered many nations, all of their remnants will plunder you. Human blood has been shed, and violence has been done to the land, to the city, and to all who live in it."

Was the LORD displeased with the rivers? Was your anger directed against the watercourses or your wrath against the sea? Indeed, you rode upon your horses, upon your chariots of deliverance.

Won't your creditors revolt unexpectedly? Won't those who make you tremble wake up? As a result, you'll become their prey!

"Woe to the one who amasses profit upon unjust profit in order to establish his household, so he can establish a secure place on the heights and escape from the power of evil.

You have brought shame to yourself by killing many people you are forfeiting your own life.

Your bow was exposed, and your arrows targeted by command. Interlude You split the earth with rivers.

When the mountains looked upon you, they trembled; the overflowing water passed by, the ocean shouted, and its waves surged upward.

"Woe to the one who supplies his neighbor with a drink! You are forcing your bottle on him, making him drunk so you can see them naked.

The sun and moon stand still in their orbits; at the glint of your arrows they speed along, even at the gleam of your flashing spear.

The LORD God is my strength he will make my feet like those of a deer, equipping me to tread on my mountain heights. For the choir director: On my stringed instruments.

"Woe to the one who founds a city upon bloodshed, and constructs a city by lawlessness.

"The LORD is in his holy Temple. All the earth be quiet in his presence."

Indeed, the stone will cry out from the wall and the rafter will respond from the woodwork."

God comes from Teman the Holy One from Mount Paran. Interlude His glory spreads throughout the heavens, and praises about him fill the earth.

A prayer by the prophet Habakkuk, set to music.

You are filled with dishonor instead of glory. So go ahead, drink and be naked! The LORD will turn against you, and utter disgrace will debase your reputation.

I heard and I trembled within. My lips quivered at the noise. My legs gave way beneath me, and I trembled. Nevertheless, I await the day of distress that will dawn on our invaders.

You march through the land in righteous indignation; you tread down the nations in anger.

You rode on the sea with your horses, even riding the crested waves of mighty waters.

LORD, as I listen to what has been said about you, I am afraid. LORD, revive your work throughout all of our lives reveal yourself throughout all of our lives when you are angry, remember compassion.

You marched out to deliver your people, to deliver with your anointed. You struck the head of the house of the wicked; you stripped him naked from head to foot. Interlude

Is it not because of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies that people grow tired putting out fires, and nations weary themselves over nothing?

"Where is the benefit in owning a carved image, that motivates its maker to carve it? It is only a cast image a teacher that lies because the engraver entrusts himself to his carving, crafting speechless idols.

Indeed, the violence done to Lebanon will overtake you, and the destruction of the beasts will terrorize you because you shed human blood and did violence to the land, to the city, and to all who live in it."

With his own lances you pierced the heads of his warriors, who came out like a windstorm to scatter us their joy is to devour the afflicted who are in hiding.

"Woe to the one who says to a tree, "Wake up!' or "Arise!' to a speechless stone. Idols like this can't teach, can they? Look, even though it is overlaid with gold and silver, there's no breath in it at all."

as for me, I will rejoice in the LORD. I will find my joy in the God who delivers me.

Indeed, the earth will be filled with knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as water fills the sea."

For the revelation pertains to an appointed time it speaks truthfully about the end. Though it delays, wait for it, because it will surely come about it will not be late!

Even though the fig tree does not blossom, and there are no grapes on the vines; even if the olive harvest fails, and the fields produce nothing edible; even if the flock is snatched from the sheepfold, and there is no herd in the stalls

Your eyes are too pure to gaze upon evil; and you cannot tolerate wickedness. So why do you tolerate the treacherous? And why do you stay silent while the wicked devour those who are more righteous than they are?

"I will stand at my guard post and station myself on a tower. I will wait and see what the LORD will say about me and what I will answer when he reprimands me."

"Look out at the nations and pay attention! Be astounded! Be really astounded! Because something is happening in your lifetime that you won't believe, even if it were described down to the smallest detail.

The pronouncement that the prophet Habakkuk perceived.