Habakkuk
1:1The burden which Habakkuk the prophet
did see. 1:2O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and
thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not
save. 1:3Why dost thou show me iniquity, and
look upon perverseness? for destruction and violence are before me; and
there is strife, and contention riseth up. 1:4Therefore the law is
slacked, and justice doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass
about the righteous; therefore justice goeth forth perverted. 1:5Behold 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. 1:6For, 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. 1:7They
are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed from
themselves. 1:8Their 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. 1:9They come all of them for violence; the
set of their faces is forwards; and they gather captives as the sand. 1:10Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes
are a derision unto him; he derideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up
dust, and taketh it. 1:11Then shall he sweep by as a
wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty, even he whose might is
his god. 1:12Art 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. 1:13Thou 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; 1:14and
makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no
ruler over them? 1:15He 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. 1:16Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net,
and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and
his food plenteous. 1:17Shall he therefore empty his net, and
spare not to slay the nations continually?
2:1I 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. 2:2And Jehovah answered
me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he
may run that readeth it. 2:3For 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. 2:4Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is
not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith. 2:5Yea,
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. 2:6Shall 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! 2:7Shall they not rise up suddenly that
shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for
booty unto them? 2:8Because 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. 2:9Woe 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! 2:10Thou hast devised shame to thy house,
by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. 2:11For
the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall
answer it. 2:12Woe to him that buildeth a town with
blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity! 2:13Behold, is it not of
Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations
weary themselves for vanity? 2:14For the earth shall be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. 2:15Woe
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! 2:16Thou 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. 2:17For 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. 2:18What 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? 2:19Woe 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. 2:20But
Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
3:1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set
to Shigionoth.
3:2O 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.
3:3God came from Teman,
And the Holy One from mount Paran.
Selah.
His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of his praise.
3:4And his brightness was as the
light;
He had rays coming forth from his hand;
And there was the hiding of his power.
3:5Before him went the pestilence,
And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.
3:6He 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.
3:7I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
3:8Was 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?
3:9Thy bow was made quite bare;
The oaths to the tribes were a sure word.
Selah.
Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
3:10The mountains saw thee, and were
afraid;
The tempest of waters passed by;
The deep uttered its voice,
And lifted up its hands on high.
3:11The sun and moon stood still in their
habitation,
At the light of thine arrows as they went,
At the shining of thy glittering spear.
3:12Thou didst march though the land in
indignation;
Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.
3:13Thou 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.
3:14Thou 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.
3:15Thou didst tread the sea with thy
horses,
The heap of mighty waters.
3:16I 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.
3:17For 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:
3:18Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
3:19Jehovah, 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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