Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible

Why do You make me see iniquity,
And cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me;
Strife exists and contention arises.

King James Version

Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

Holman Bible

Why do You force me to look at injustice?
Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?
Oppression and violence are right in front of me.
Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.

International Standard Version

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.

A Conservative Version

Why do thou show me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? For destruction and violence are before me, and there is strife, and contention rises up.

American Standard Version

Why dost thou show me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? for destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up.

Amplified


Why do You make me see iniquity,
And cause me to look on wickedness?
For destruction and violence are before me;
Strife continues and contention arises.

Bible in Basic English

Why do you make me see evil-doing, and why are my eyes fixed on wrong? for wasting and violent acts are before me: and there is fighting and bitter argument.

Darby Translation

Why dost thou cause me to see iniquity, and lookest thou upon grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up.

Julia Smith Translation

Wherefore wilt thou cause me to see vanity and cause me to look at labor? and oppression and violence before me, and there will be contention, and strife will be raised up.

King James 2000

Why do you show me iniquity, and cause me to behold trouble? for plundering and violence are before me: and there are those that raise up strife and contention.

Lexham Expanded Bible

Why do you cause me to see evil [while] you look at trouble? Destruction and violence happen before me; contention and strife arise.

Modern King James verseion

Why do You show me evil, and You look on toil? For destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention rises up.

Modern Spelling Tyndale-Coverdale

Why lettest thou me see weariness and labour? Tyranny and violence are before me, power overgoeth right:

NET Bible

Why do you force me to witness injustice? Why do you put up with wrongdoing? Destruction and violence confront me; conflict is present and one must endure strife.

New Heart English Bible

Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.

The Emphasized Bible

Wherefore shouldst thou let me see iniquity, and, wrong, shouldst let me behold, and, force and violence, be straight before me, - and there should have ever been someone who, contention and strife, would uphold?

Webster

Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for devastation and violence are before me: and there are that raise strife and contention.

World English Bible

Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.

Youngs Literal Translation

Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, And perversity dost cause to behold? And spoiling and violence are before me, And there is strife, and contention doth lift itself up,

Interlinear

English(KJV)
Strong's
Root Form
Definition
Usage
Why dost thou shew
ראה 
Ra'ah 
Usage: 1308

and cause me to behold
נבט 
Nabat 
Usage: 69

שׁוד שׁד 
Shod 
Usage: 25

נסה נשׂא 
Nasa' 
Usage: 653

רב ריב 
Riyb 
Usage: 60

Devotionals

Devotionals about Habakkuk 1:3

References

Fausets

Hastings

Images Habakkuk 1:3

Context Readings

Habakkuk's Complaint

2 How long, O Lord, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
3 Why do You make me see iniquity,
And cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me;
Strife exists and contention arises.
4 Therefore the law is ignored
And justice is never upheld.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes out perverted.

Cross References

Psalm 55:9-11

Confuse, O Lord, divide their tongues,
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

Jeremiah 9:2-6

Oh that I had in the desert
A wayfarers’ lodging place;
That I might leave my people
And go from them!
For all of them are adulterers,
An assembly of treacherous men.

Psalm 12:1-2

For the choir director; upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.
Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be,
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

Psalm 73:3-9

For I was envious of the arrogant
As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Psalm 120:5-6

Woe is me, for I sojourn in Meshech,
For I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

Ecclesiastes 4:1

Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them.

Ecclesiastes 5:8

If you see oppression of the poor and denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight; for one official watches over another official, and there are higher officials over them.

Jeremiah 20:8

For each time I speak, I cry aloud;
I proclaim violence and destruction,
Because for me the word of the Lord has resulted
In reproach and derision all day long.

Ezekiel 2:6

And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house.

Micah 7:1-4

Woe is me! For I am
Like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers.
There is not a cluster of grapes to eat,
Or a first-ripe fig which I crave.

Matthew 10:16

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

2 Peter 2:8

(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),

King James Version Public Domain

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.

International Standard Version Copyright © 1996-2008 by the ISV Foundation.

New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org

American Standard Version Public Domain

NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. NetBible

Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain