THE BOOK HABAKKUK
King James Version
1 ¶ The burden which Habakkuk the
prophet did see.
2 O LORD, how
long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence,
and thou wilt not save!
3 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.
4
Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the
wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
5 ¶ 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.
6 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.
7 They are
terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of
themselves.
8 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.
9 They shall come
all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall
gather the captivity as the sand.
10 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.
11
Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing
this his power unto his god.
12 ¶ 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.
13
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?
14 And makest men
as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15
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.
16 Therefore they
sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them
their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.
17 Shall they
therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
1 ¶ 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.
2 And the LORD answered
me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it.
3 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.
4 Behold, his
soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his
faith.
5 ¶ 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:
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 to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!
7 Shall they not
rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou
shalt be for booties unto them?
8 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.
9 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!
10 Thou hast
consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, 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 stablisheth a city by iniquity!
13 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?
14
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the
LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
15 ¶ 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!
16 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.
17 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.
18
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?
19 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.
20 But the LORD
is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
1 ¶ A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
2 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.
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 horns coming out of his hand: and there
was the hiding of his power.
5 Before him went
the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
6 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.
7
I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of
Midian did tremble.
8 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?
9
Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even
thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
10 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.
11 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.
12 Thou didst
march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
13 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.
14 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.
15 Thou didst
walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
16 ¶ 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.
17 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:
18 Yet I will
rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 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.