## Habakkuk Calls for Help 

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The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld. 

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How long, O Yahweh, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!" Yet You do not save. 

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Why do You make me see wickedness And cause _me_ to look on trouble? Indeed, devastation and violence are before me; And there is strife, and contention is lifted up. 

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Therefore the law is ignored, And justice never comes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes forth perverted. 

## Yahweh Raises the Dreaded Chaldeans 

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"See among the nations! And look! Be also astonished! Be astounded! Because _I am_ doing something in your days-- You would not believe if it was recounted _to you_. 

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For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That bitter and hasty nation Who walks on the breadth of the land To possess dwelling places which are not theirs. 

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They are dreaded and feared; Their justice and exaltation come forth from themselves. 

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Their horses are swifter than leopards And sharper than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping; Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping _down_ to devour. 

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All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces _moves_ forward. And they gather captives like sand. 

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And they mock at kings, And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress And heap up dirt and capture it. 

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Then they will sweep through _like_ the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, They whose power is their god." 

## Yahweh Has Placed Them to Judge 

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Are You not from everlasting, O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Yahweh, have placed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to reprove. 

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_Your_ eyes are too pure to see evil, And You cannot look on trouble. Why do You look On those who deal treacherously? _Why_ are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they? 

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And You have made men like the fish of the sea, Like creeping things without a ruler over them. 

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_The Chaldeans_ bring all of them up with a hook, Drag them away with their net, And gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore they are glad and rejoice. 

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Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net And burn incense to their fishing net Because through these things their portion is rich And their food is fat. 

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Will they therefore empty their net And continually kill nations without sparing?