Habakkuk speaks of wicked people destroying others as if the wicked were swallowing them. Alternate translation: "Why are you silent while the wicked destroy those more righteous than they are?" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
This refers to the Israelites, about whom Habakkuk had been complaining. The reader should understand that these are wicked people, but they are "more righteous than" or not as wicked as the Chaldeans. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-irony]])