This is the message that came to the prophet Habakkuk in a vision from God:

O Lord, how long must I call for help before you will listen? I shout to you in vain; there is no answer. “Help! Murder!” I cry, but no one comes to save.

Must I forever see this sin and sadness all around me? Wherever I look I see oppression and bribery and men who love to argue and to fight.

I am raising a new force on the world scene, the Chaldeans, a cruel and violent nation who will march across the world and conquer it.

Their horses are swifter than leopards. They are a fierce people, more fierce than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry move proudly forward from a distant land; like eagles they come swooping down to pounce upon their prey.

All opposition melts away before the terror of their presence. They collect captives like sand.

O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal—is your plan in all of this to wipe us out? Surely not! O God our Rock, you have decreed the rise of these Chaldeans to chasten and correct us for our awful sins.

We are wicked, but they far more! Will you, who cannot allow sin in any form, stand idly by while they swallow us up? Should you be silent while the wicked destroy those who are better than they?

Must we be strung up on their hooks and dragged out in their nets, while they rejoice?

Then they will worship their nets and burn incense before them! “These are the gods who make us rich,” they’ll say.

I will climb my watchtower now and wait to see what answer God will give to my complaint.

And the Lord said to me, “Write my answer on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell the others.

“Note this: Wicked men trust themselves alone as these Chaldeans do, and fail; but the righteous man trusts in me and lives!

What’s more, these arrogant Chaldeans are betrayed by all their wine, for it is treacherous. In their greed they have collected many nations, but like death and hell, they are never satisfied.

You have ruined many nations; now they will ruin you. You murderers! You have filled the countryside with lawlessness and all the cities too.

“Woe to you for getting rich by evil means, attempting to live beyond the reach of danger.

By the murders you commit, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives.

“Woe to you who build cities with money gained from murdering and robbery!

“Woe to you for making your neighboring lands reel and stagger like drunkards beneath your blows, and then gloating over their nakedness and shame.

You cut down the forests of Lebanon—now you will be cut down! You terrified the wild animals you caught in your traps—now terror will strike you because of all your murdering and violence in cities everywhere.

“What profit was there in worshiping all your man-made idols? What a foolish lie that they could help! What fools you were to trust what you yourselves had made.

O Lord, now I have heard your report, and I worship you in awe for the fearful things you are going to do. In this time of our deep need, begin again to help us, as you did in years gone by. Show us your power to save us. In your wrath, remember mercy.

I see God moving across the deserts from Mount Sinai. His brilliant splendor fills the earth and sky; his glory fills the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise! What a wonderful God he is!

Pestilence marches before him; plague follows close behind.

He stops; he stands still for a moment, gazing at the earth. Then he shakes the nations, scattering the everlasting mountains and leveling the hills. His power is just the same as always!