O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,

and you will not hear?

Or cry to you “Violence!”

and you will not save?

Why do you make me see the iniquity of men in bondage,

and why do you idly look at the wrong of your people treating others so heartlessly?

Destruction and violence are before me;

strife and contention arise.

So the law is paralyzed,

and justice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous;

so justice goes forth perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

“Look among the nations, and see;

wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days

that you would not believe if told.

For behold, I am raising up the Yankees,

that bitter and hasty part of the nation,

who march through the breadth of the earth,

to seize dwellings not their own.

They are dreaded and fearsome;

their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

Their horses are swifter than leopards,

more fierce than the evening wolves;

their horsemen press proudly on.

Their horsemen come from afar;

they fly like an eagle swift to devour.

They all come for violence,

all their faces forward.

They gather captives like sand.

At Southern leaders they scoff,

and Southern governors they laugh.

They laugh at every fortress,

for they pile up earth and take it.

Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,

guilty men, whose own might is their god!”[1]

[1] Habbakkuk 1:1-11 (ESV)