Habakkuk
Reading Habakkuk in the World English Bible, public-domain text from 2000.
Opening Verses
1 The revelation which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 LORD, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save?
3 Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.
4 Therefore the law is paralysed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.
5 “Look amongst the nations, watch, and wonder marvellously; for I am working a work in your days which you will not believe though it is told you.
6 For, behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation who march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
7 They are feared and dreaded. Their judgement and their dignity proceed from themselves.
8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.
9 All of them come for violence. Their hordes face forward. They gather prisoners like sand.
10 Yes, they scoff at kings, and princes are a derision to them. They laugh at every stronghold, for they build up an earthen ramp and take it.
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About this translation
The World English Bible (2000) is one of seven public-domain translations available in the OCC Bible Explorer. Use the full app to compare translations side by side, search across all translations, and explore Strong's Hebrew and Greek concordance entries linked to every word.