Habakkuk
American Standard Version, 1901 ed.
Chapter 1
1The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. 2O
Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out
unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. 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. 4Therefore 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. 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. 7
They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity
proceed from themselves. 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. 9They
come all of them for violence; the set of their faces is
forwards; and they gather captives as the sand. 10Yea, he
scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him; he
derideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh
it. 11Then 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; 14and
makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things,
that have no ruler over them? 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. 16
Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto
his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food
plenteous. 17Shall he therefore empty his net, and spare
not to slay the nations continually?
Chapter 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. 2And Jehovah
answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon
tablets, that he may run that readeth it. 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. 4Behold, his soul is puffed
up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by
his faith. 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. 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! 7Shall they not rise up suddenly that
shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt
be for booty unto them? 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. 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! 10
Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many
peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. 11For the stone
shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall
answer it. 12Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood,
and establisheth a city by iniquity! 13Behold, is it not of
Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the
nations weary themselves for vanity? 14For the earth shall
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the
waters cover the sea. 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! 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.
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. 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? 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. 20But Jehovah
is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
Chapter 3
1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.
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.
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.
4And [his] brightness was as the light;
He had rays [coming forth] from his hand;
And there was the hiding of his power.
5Before him went the pestilence,
And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.
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.
7I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
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?
9Thy bow was made quite bare;
The oaths to the tribes were a [sure] word.
Selah.
Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
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.
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.
12Thou didst march though the land in indignation;
Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.
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.
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.
15Thou didst tread the sea with thy horses,
The heap of mighty waters.
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.
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:
18Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
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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