Habakkuk 1

1. The burden which Habbakkuk the prophet did see.

2 O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto

thee of violence, and thou wilt not save.

3 Why dost thou show me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? for

destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention

riseth up.

4 Therefore the law is slacked, and justice doth never go forth; for the

wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore justice goeth forth

perverted.

5. Behold ye among the nations, and look, and wonder marvellously; for I

am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told

you.

6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that

march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are

not theirs.

7 They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity

proceed from themselves.

8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than

the evening wolves; and their horsemen press proudly on: yea, their

horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour.

9 They come all of them for violence; the set of their faces is forwards;

and they gather captives as the sand.

10 Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him; he

derideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it.

11 Then shall he sweep by [as] a wind, and shall pass over, and be

guilty, [even] he whose might is his god.

12. Art not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? we shall

not die. O Jehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock,

hast established him for correction.

13 Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not

look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal

treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man

that is more righteous than he;

14 and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that

have no ruler over them?

15 He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net,

and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad.

16 Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his

drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food plenteous.

17 Shall he therefore empty his net, and spare not to slay the nations

continually?

Habakkuk 2

1. I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look

forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I shall answer concerning

my complaint.

2 And Jehovah answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain

upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it.

3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the

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

surely come, it will not delay.

4 Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the

righteous shall live by his faith.

5. Yea, moreover, wine is treacherous, a haughty man, that keepeth not at

home; who enlargeth his desire as Sheol, and he is as death, and cannot be

satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all

peoples.

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 that ladeth himself with pledges!

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

shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booty unto them?

8 Because thou hast plundered many nations, all the remnant of the

peoples shall plunder thee, because of men's blood, and for the violence

done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.

9 Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his

nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

10 Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and

hast sinned against thy soul.

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

timber shall answer it.

12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by

iniquity!

13 Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labor for the

fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of

Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.

15. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, [to thee] that addest thy

venom, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their

nakedness!

16 Thou art filled with shame, and not glory: drink thou also, and be as

one uncircumcised; the cup of Jehovah's right hand shall come round unto

thee, and foul shame shall be upon thy glory.

17 For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction

of the beasts, which made them afraid; because of men's blood, and for the

violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.

18 What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven

it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its

form trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise!

Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is

no breath at all in the midst of it.

20 But Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence

before him.

Habakkuk 3

1. A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.

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. 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.

4 And [his] brightness was as the light; He had rays [coming forth] from

his hand; And there was the hiding of his power.

5 Before him went the pestilence, And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.

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.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; The curtains of the land of

Midian did tremble.

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?

9 Thy bow was made quite bare; The oaths to the tribes were a [sure]

word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

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.

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.

12 Thou didst march though the land in indignation; Thou didst thresh the

nations in anger.

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.

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.

15 Thou didst tread the sea with thy horses, The heap of mighty waters.

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.

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:

18 Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

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.