1 This is the message that the Lord revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.
Habakkuk Complains of Injustice
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.
The Lord's Reply
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. 7 They spread fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves.
8 “Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.
9 “Their armies advance in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach. Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand. 10 They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them—they pile up earth against it and capture it. 11 Then they sweep on like the wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god.”
Habakkuk Complains to the Lord Again
12 Lord, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. Lord, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us. 13 But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?
14 How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them? 15 The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch! 16 They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything.
17 Are they going to use their swords forever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?
Oukolokoshi nowii woiwana
1 Exunganeko, omuxunganeki Habakuk e li mona.
2 Akutu Omwene, fiyo naini ame ndi nokwiingida ekwafo, ndelenee Ove ito udu ko? Handi ku ingidile: Oukolokoshi! Ndelenee Ove ito kwafa? 3 Oshike Ove ho talifa nge osho inashi yuka, ndele ndi nokutala eshunduko? Heeno, owii noukolokoshi u li koshipala shange. Ope nondubo neemhata.
4 Omhango osho tai kanifa eenghono dayo. Neyukifo ihali holoka nande vali. Osheshi omudinikalunga ota dingilile omuyuki, osho hano ouyuki tau endamekwa.
Oye ta xweenenwa nokudengwa kOvakaldea
5 Taleni, mu tale, oiwana nye mu didilike ndele kaleni mwa mwena. Osheshi pomafiku eni ohandi ka longa oshilonga, eshi nye itamu ke shi itavela nande mu shi lombwelwe. 6 Osheshi tala, ohandi ka pendula Ovakaldea, oshiwana osho shidjuu shihe nolukeno, tashi taulula oumbwalangadja wedu, ndele tashi nyeka eenhele deenghalelo dihe fi dasho. 7 Osho oshitilifi tashi tumhaukifa omaxwilili, musho vene tamu va dile eyukifo noukulunhu. 8 Eenghambe dasho ohadi tondoka di dule eengwe, nodi nonhapo i dule yomambungu onguloshi. Novalondi veenghambe vasho tave di lotokifa neenghono ndee hava di kokule ndele hava tuka ngaashi onhwa tai foonyokele koshihakanwa shayo. 9 Ovo aveshe tave uya okutinha. Oipala yavo ya yukilila komesho. Tava ongele eenghwate ngaashi eheke. 10 Otava sheke yo eehamba, nomalenga otave a ningi oiyolifa kuvo. Otava yolo ohotekuma keshe. Otava ongele eheke ndele tave i teya. 11 Opo tava endelele ngaashi okafudaela nokweehena komesho, ndelenee tava pewa etimba, vo, eenghono davo da ninga oshikalunga shavo.
Eilikano nekemo lomuxunganeki
12 Hamba haave Omwene, Kalunga kange omuyapuki okudja omafimbo onalenale? Fye itatu ka fya. Omwene, owe va ninga etokolo. Oove emanya, we va ninga oshihanyenifo. 13 Omesho oye okuyela, itaa shiiva okutala owii, ndele ito shiiva okutala oulunde. Oshike hano ho tale ovaliteeki, Ove ho mwena, ngeenge omudinikalunga ta pona po omuyuki? 14 Osho ngaha to faafanifa ovanhu neeshi domefuta noilipwedi ei ihe nomwene. 15 Ye ote i shili mo nongona, te i yulu mo noiyulifo yaye, ndee te i ongele meendjadja daye. Onghee ye ota hafe nokukuwilila. 16 Onghee hano ye ota yambele ondjadja yaye, ndele ta twiminine oikwatifo yaye, osheshi molwayo oshipewa shaye oshinene neendja daye da ondoka. 17 Ota itavelwa tuu molwayo okupimha oshiyulifo shaye naalushe okudipaa oiwana ehe nonghenda?
