Habakkuk 1:12-17

Habakkuk has another problem

12 Lord, you have always been God,

since the beginning.

You are the God that I worship as holy,

and you will never die.

Lord, you have chosen the Babylonians

as your weapon to punish your people.

You are a strong rock to protect us,

but you have decided to use them to punish us.

13 But you are too holy to accept anything that is evil.

You cannot agree with people who do wrong things.

So why do you let these wicked people live?

Why do you say nothing?

They are killing people who are more righteous than themselves.

14 It seems that you have made people like fish in the sea.

They are like animals that have no leader to rule them.

15 The Babylonians can easily catch them,

like people who catch fish with hooks.

They throw their nets into the water,

and they catch as many as they want.

When they store their fish in special nets,

they sing happy songs.

16 Their nets give them everything that they need,

so they offer sacrifices to their nets.

Their nets give them plenty of good food to eat,

so they burn incense to thank their nets.

17 Will you let them continue to do that?

Will they make their nets full of fish

as many times as they want to?

Will they continue to destroy other nations

and never stop?