1 This is the message that the Lord revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.
2 O Lord, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence?
3 Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere.
4 The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.
5 Then the Lord said to his people, “Keep watching the nations around you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it.
6 I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands.