Habakkuk
{1:1} The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. {1:2} OJehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out untothee of violence, and thou wilt not save. {1:3} Why dost thou show meiniquity, and look upon perverseness? for destruction and violence arebefore me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up. {1:4}Therefore the law is slacked, and justice doth never go forth; for thewicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore justice goeth forthperverted. {1:5} Behold ye among the nations, and look, and wondermarvellously; for I am working a work in your days, which ye will notbelieve though it be told you. {1:6} For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans,that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of theearth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs. {1:7} They areterrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed fromthemselves. {1:8} Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and aremore fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen press proudlyon: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle thathasteth to devour. {1:9} They come all of them for violence; the set oftheir faces is forwards; and they gather captives as the sand. {1:10}Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him; hederideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it.{1:11} Then shall he sweep by [as] a wind, and shall pass over, and beguilty, [even] he whose might is his god. {1:12} Art not thou fromeverlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? we shall not die. OJehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hastestablished him for correction. {1:13} Thou that art of purer eyes thanto behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, whereforelookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peacewhen the wicked swalloweth up 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} He taketh up all of them with theangle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag:therefore he rejoiceth and is glad. {1:16} Therefore he sacrificethunto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them hisportion is fat, and his food plenteous. {1:17} Shall he therefore emptyhis net, and spare not to slay the nations continually?
{2:1} I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, andwill look forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I shallanswer concerning my complaint. {2:2} And Jehovah answered me, andsaid, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may runthat readeth it. {2:3} For the vision is yet for the appointed time,and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, waitfor it; because it will surely come, it will not delay. {2:4} Behold,his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteousshall live by his faith. {2:5} Yea, moreover, wine is treacherous, ahaughty man, that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire asSheol, and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth untohim all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples. {2:6} Shall not allthese take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb againsthim, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! howlong? and that ladeth himself with pledges! {2:7} Shall they not riseup suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, andthou shalt be for booty unto them? {2:8} Because thou hast plunderedmany nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder thee,because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to thecity and to all that dwell therein. {2:9} Woe to him that getteth anevil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he maybe delivered from the hand of evil! {2:10} Thou hast devised shame tothy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thysoul. {2:11} For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam outof the timber shall answer it. {2:12} Woe to him that buildeth a townwith blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity! {2:13} Behold, is itnot of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and thenations weary themselves for vanity? {2:14} For the earth shall befilled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters coverthe sea. {2:15} Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, [to thee]that addest thy venom, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayestlook on their nakedness! {2:16} Thou art filled with shame, and notglory: drink thou also, and be as one uncircumcised; the cup ofJehovah’s right hand shall come round unto thee, and foul shame shallbe upon thy glory. {2:17} For the violence done to Lebanon shall coverthee, and the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid;because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to thecity and to all that dwell therein. {2:18} What profiteth the gravenimage, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, eventhe teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its form trusteth therein,to make dumb idols? {2:19} Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake;to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid withgold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.{2:20} But Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keepsilence before him.
{3:1} A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.{3:2} O Jehovah, I have heard the report of thee, and am afraid:O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years;In the midst of the years make it 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 rays [coming forth] from his hand;And there was the hiding of his power.
{3:5} Before him went the pestilence,
And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.{3:6} He stood, and measured the earth;He beheld, and drove asunder the nations;And the eternal mountains were scattered;The everlasting hills did bow;
His goings were [as] of old.
{3:7} I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.{3:8} Was Jehovah displeased with the rivers?Was thine anger against the rivers,
Or thy wrath against the sea,
That thou didst ride upon thy horses,
Upon thy chariots of salvation?
{3:9} Thy bow was made quite bare;
The oaths to the tribes were a [sure] word.
Selah.
Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.{3:10} The mountains saw thee, and were afraid;The tempest of waters passed by;
The deep uttered its voice,
And lifted up its hands on high.
{3:11} The sun and moon stood still in their habitation,At the light of thine arrows as they went,At the shining of thy glittering spear.{3:12} Thou didst march though the land in indignation;Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.{3:13} Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,For the salvation of thine anointed;
Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked man,Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck.
Selah.
{3:14} Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors:They came as a whirlwind to scatter me;Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.{3:15} Thou didst tread the sea with thy horses,The heap of mighty waters.
{3:16} I heard, and my body trembled,
My lips quivered at the voice;
Rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble in my place;Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble,For the coming up of the people that invadeth us.{3:17} For though the fig-tree shall not flourish,Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
The labor of the olive shall fail,
And the fields shall yield no food;
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 Jehovah,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
{3:19} Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength;And he maketh my feet like hinds’ [feet],And will make me to walk upon my high places.
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