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Chaldeans Used to Punish Judah

¹ The ^(F1)(C1)oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

^2 (C1)How long, O LORD, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, "Violence!"
Yet You do ^(C2)not save.

³ Why do You make me ^(C1)see iniquity,
And cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, ^(C2)destruction and violence are before me;
^(C3)Strife exists and contention arises.

⁴ Therefore the ^(C1)law is ^(F1)ignored
And justice ^(F2)is never upheld.
For the wicked ^(C2)surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes out ^(C3)perverted.

⁵ "^(C1)Look among the nations! Observe!
Be astonished! ^(C2)Wonder!
Because I am doing ^(C3)something in your days--
You would not believe if ^(F1)you were told.

⁶ "For behold, I am ^(C1)raising up the Chaldeans,
That ^(F1)fierce and impetuous people
Who march ^(F2)throughout the earth
To ^(F3)(C2)seize dwelling places which are not theirs.

⁷ "They are dreaded and ^(C1)feared;
Their ^(C2)justice and ^(F1)authority ^(F2)originate with themselves.

⁸ "Their ^(C1)horses are swifter than leopards
And ^(F1)keener than ^(C2)wolves in the evening.
Their ^(F2)horsemen come galloping,
Their horsemen come from afar;
They fly like an ^(C3)eagle swooping down to devour.

⁹ "All of them come for violence.
^(F1)Their horde of ^(C1)faces moves forward.
They collect captives like sand.

¹⁰ "They ^(C1)mock at kings
And rulers are a laughing matter to them.
They ^(C2)laugh at every fortress
And ^(C3)heap up rubble to capture it.

¹¹ "Then they will sweep through like the ^(C1)wind and pass on.
But they will be held ^(C2)guilty,
They whose ^(C3)strength is their god."

¹² Are You not from ^(C1)everlasting,
O LORD, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
You, O LORD, have ^(C2)appointed them to judge;
And You, O ^(C3)Rock, have established them to correct.

¹³ Your eyes are too ^(C1)pure to ^(F1)approve evil,
And You can not look on wickedness with favor.
Why do You ^(C2)look with favor
On those who deal ^(C3)treacherously?
Why are You ^(C4)silent when the wicked ^(C5)swallow up
Those more righteous than they?

¹⁴ Why have You made men like the fish of the sea,
Like creeping things without a ruler over them?

¹⁵ The Chaldeans ^(C1)bring all of them up with a hook,
^(C2)Drag them away with their net,
And gather them together in their fishing net.
Therefore they rejoice and are glad.

¹⁶ Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net
And ^(F1)burn incense to their fishing net;
Because through ^(C1)these things their ^(F2)catch is ^(F3)large,
And their food is ^(F4)plentiful.

¹⁷ Will they therefore empty their ^(C1)net
And continually ^(C2)slay nations without sparing?