1:1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

1:2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! [even]

cry out unto thee [of] violence, and thou wilt not save!

1:3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause [me] to behold

grievance? for spoiling and violence [are] before me: and there

are [that] raise up strife and contention.

1:4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go

forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous;

therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

1:5 Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder

marvellously: for [I] will work a work in your days, [which] ye

will not believe, though it be told [you].

1:6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, [that] bitter and hasty

nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to

possess the dwellingplaces [that are] not theirs.

1:7 They [are] terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their

dignity shall proceed of themselves.

1:8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are

more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall

spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they

shall fly as the eagle [that] hasteth to eat.

1:9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up

[as] the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the

sand.

1:10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be

a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for

they shall heap dust, and take it.

1:11 Then shall [his] mind change, and he shall pass over, and

offend, [imputing] this his power unto his god.

1:12 [Art] thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy

One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for

judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for

correction.

1:13 [Thou art] of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not

look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal

treacherously, [and] holdest thy tongue when the wicked

devoureth [the man that is] more righteous than he?

1:14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping

things, [that have] no ruler over them?

1:15 They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in

their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they

rejoice and are glad.

1:16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense

unto their drag; because by them their portion [is] fat, and

their meat plenteous.

1:17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare

continually to slay the nations?

2:1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and

will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall

answer when I am reproved.

2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and

make [it] plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

2:3 For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the

end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it;

because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

2:4 Behold, his soul [which] is lifted up is not upright in him:

but the just shall live by his faith.

2:5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, [he is] a proud

man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell,

and [is] as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto

him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:

2:6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a

taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that

increaseth [that which is] not his! how long? and to him that

ladeth himself with thick clay!

2:7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and

awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto

them?

2:8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of

the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and [for]

the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell

therein.

2:9 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house,

that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from

the power of evil!

2:10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many

people, and hast sinned [against] thy soul.

2:11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out

of the timber shall answer it.

2:12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth

a city by iniquity!

2:13 Behold, [is it] not of the LORD of hosts that the people

shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary

themselves for very vanity?

2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the

glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest

thy bottle to [him], and makest [him] drunken also, that thou

mayest look on their nakedness!

2:16 Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and

let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right hand

shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing [shall be] on

thy glory.

2:17 For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil

of beasts, [which] made them afraid, because of men's blood,

and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that

dwell therein.

2:18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath

graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the

maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

2:19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb

stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it [is] laid over with

gold and silver, and [there is] no breath at all in the midst

of it.

2:20 But the LORD [is] in his holy temple: let all the earth

keep silence before him.

3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.

3:2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, [and] was afraid: O LORD,

revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the

years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

3:3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran.

Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of

his praise.

3:4 And [his] brightness was as the light; he had horns [coming]

out of his hand: and there [was] the hiding of his power.

3:5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth

at his feet.

3:6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove

asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were

scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways [are]

everlasting.

3:7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: [and] the curtains

of the land of Midian did tremble.

3:8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? [was] thine

anger against the rivers? [was] thy wrath against the sea, that

thou didst ride upon thine horses [and] thy chariots of

salvation?

3:9 Thy bow was made quite naked, [according] to the oaths of

the tribes, [even thy] word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth

with rivers.

3:10 The mountains saw thee, [and] they trembled: the

overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice,

[and] lifted up his hands on high.

3:11 The sun [and] moon stood still in their habitation: at the

light of thine arrows they went, [and] at the shining of thy

glittering spear.

3:12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou

didst thresh the heathen in anger.

3:13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, [even]

for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out

of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto

the neck. Selah.

3:14 Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his

villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their

rejoicing [was] as to devour the poor secretly.

3:15 Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses,

[through] the heap of great waters.

3:16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the

voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in

myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh

up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither [shall]

fruit [be] in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail,

and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off

from the fold, and [there shall be] no herd in the stalls:

3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my

salvation.

3:19 The LORD God [is] my strength, and he will make my feet

like hinds' [feet], and he will make me to walk upon mine high

places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

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