Habakkuk’s mission
1This is a message [1] the prophet Habakkuk was told to deliver.Accusing God
2LORD, how long do you expect me to beg for help? [2]When do you start listening? Just so I know.
I scream to you, “We’re under attack!”
So, why won’t you save us?
3I live in a world of injustice because you put me in this position.
You tolerate sin, so it’s everywhere.
I see violence and destruction.
I see arguing and fighting.
4There’s too much of it for the law [3] to handle.
Justice suffers.
Bad people win their cases and good people lose.
Justice dies.
God confesses he’s backing the bad guys
5Lift your head high enough to see the nations around you.You’ll be amazed at what you see.
I’m about to do something unusual in your lifetime.
You won’t believe it when I tell you.
6I’m going to boost the Babylonians, [4]
Those violent people quick to attack.
They’ll sweep across your world,
Stealing people’s homes for themselves.
7They terrify everyone.
The only law they know is the law they write.
They do whatever they want.
8Their horses outrun leopards,
And are meaner than wolves in the dark.
Their cavalry charges into battle,
Launching swift attacks from long-distance.
They fly on the ground like an eagle in the sky,
And swoop on the prey they kill.
9The army comes to hurt and to kill.
They blow in like a desert storm,
Sweeping up prisoners like sand.
10They laugh at enemy kings,
Making fun of them to their faces.
They don’t worry about city walls.
They build dirt ramps as roads to the top.
11They blow past the walls
Like wind in the air,
Guilty and wicked as sin.
They worship themselves,
For strength is their god.
Habakkuk: Aren’t you a Holy God?
12LORD, aren’t you eternal,From ages past and on to forever?
Holy God, you will never die.
Yet you give these people the job of a punisher?
You are the solid Rock in my life.
Yet you tell these people to punish us?
13Your eyes are too pure to look at our sin.
You don’t tolerate evil among us.
So why on earth would you tolerate these intolerable people?
How can you side with the bad guys,
Letting them kill people better than they are?
14You’ve made this world a sea of inhumanity.
We’re like fish [5] swimming around without a leader.
15The wicked are fishermen who catch us with hooks,
And with dragnets pulled behind their boats.
They love it when they catch us.
16So, they sacrifice to their nets as they would to a god.
They burn incense in worship, as well.
For the net feeds them, in a life of luxury,
And serves them the best foods of all.
17Are you going to let them keep filling their nets,
Destroying our cities, and killing without mercy?
