2How long, O LORD, must I call for help
but You do not hear,
or cry out to You, “Violence!”
but You do not save?
3Why do You make me see iniquity?
Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me.
Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds.
4Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
5“Look at the nations and observe —
be utterly astounded!
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would never believe
even if someone told you.
6For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans —
that ruthless and impetuous nation
which marches through the breadth of the earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
7They are dreaded and feared;
from themselves they derive justice and sovereignty.
8Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves of the night.
Their horsemen charge ahead,
and their cavalry comes from afar.
They fly like a vulture,
swooping down to devour.
9All of them come bent on violence;
their hordes advance like the east wind;
they gather prisoners like sand.
10They scoff at kings
and make rulers an object of scorn.
They laugh at every fortress
and build up siege ramps to seize it.
— Habakkuk 1:2-10