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 marvellously: 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 theirs. 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.