The burden which Habakkuk
the prophet
did see.
O LORD,
how long
shall
I cry,
and
thou wilt not hear!
even cry out
unto thee
of violence,
and
thou wilt not save!
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.
Therefore the law
is slacked,
and judgment
doth never go forth:
for the wicked
doth compass
about the righteous;
therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
Behold
ye among the heathen,
and regard,
and wonder marvelously:
for I
will work a work
in your days
which ye
will not believe,
though it
be told you.
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 their's.
They are
terrible
and dreadful:
their judgment
and their dignity
shall proceed
of themselves.
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.
They shall come all
for violence:
their faces
shall sup up
as the east wind,
and
they shall gather
the captivity
as the sand.
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.
Then shall
his mind change,
and
he shall pass over,
and offend,
imputing this
his power
unto his god.
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.
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?
And makest men
as the fishes
of the sea,
as the creeping things,
that have no ruler
over them?
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.
Therefore they
sacrifice
unto their net,
and burn
incense
unto their drag;
because by them their portion
is fat,
and their meat plenteous.
Shall
they therefore empty
their net,
and not spare continually
to slay the nations?
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.
And the LORD
answered me,
and said,
Write the vision,
and make it plain
upon tables,
that he
may run
that readeth it.
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.
Behold,
his soul which
is lifted
up is not upright
in him:
but the just shall live
by his faith.
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:
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!
Shall
they not rise
up suddenly
that shall bite thee,
and awake that
shall vex thee,
and
thou shalt be
for booties
unto them?
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.
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!
Thou hast consulted
shame to thy
house
by cutting off many people,
and hast sinned
against thy soul.
For the stone
shall cry
out of the wall,
and the beam
out of the timber
shall answer it.
Woe to him
that buildeth
a town
with blood,
and stablisheth a city
by iniquity!
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?
For the earth
shall be filled
with the knowledge
of the glory
of the LORD,
as the waters
cover the sea.
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!
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.
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.
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?
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.
But the LORD
is in his holy temple:
let all
the earth
keep silence
before him.
A prayer
of Habakkuk
the prophet
upon Shigionoth.
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.
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.
And his brightness
was as the light;
he had horns
coming out of his hand:
and there was
the hiding
of his power.
Before him
went the pestilence,
and burning coals
went forth
at his feet.
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.
I saw
the tents
of Cushan
in affliction:
and the curtains
of the land
of Midian
did tremble.
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?
Thy bow
was made quite naked,
according to
the oaths
of the tribes,
even thy word.
Selah.
Thou didst cleave
the earth
with rivers.
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.
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.
Thou didst march
through the land
in indignation,
thou didst thresh
the heathen
in anger.
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.
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.
Thou didst walk
through the sea
with thine horses,
through the heap
of great waters.
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.
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:
Yet
I will rejoice
in the LORD,
I will joy in the God
of my salvation.
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.