1 *aThe burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2  O Lord, bhow long shall I ccry, and thou wilt not hear!

Even cdcry out unto thee of deviolence, and thou wilt not save!

3  Why dost thou shew me finiquity, and cause me to behold fgrievance?

For gspoiling and efviolence are before me:

And there are that raise up fstrife and contention.

4  Therefore the law his slacked, and judgment doth never go forth:

For ithe wicked doth kcompass about the righteous;

Therefore ||wrong judgment proceedeth.

5  lBehold ye among the heathen, and regard, and mwonder marvellously:

For I will work a work in your days,

Which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

6  For, lo, n||I raise up othe Chaldeans, that bitter and phasty nation,

ppWhich shall march through the †breadth of the land,

ppTo possess the dwellingplaces qthat are not theirs.

7  They are qqterrible and dreadful:

||Their judgment and their rdignity shall proceed of themselves.

8  sTheir horses also are swifter than tthe leopards,

And are more †fierce than uthe evening wolves:

And their horsemen shall vspread themselves,

And their horsemen shall come wfrom far;

xThey shall fly as sthe eagle ythat hasteth to eat.

9  They shall come all for violence:

||†Their faces shall sup up as the east wind,

And they shall gather athe captivity bas the sand.

10  And they shall scoff at the kings,

And the princes shall be a scorn unto them:

cThey shall deride every strong hold;

For dthey shall heap dust, and take it.

11  Then shall ehis mind change, and he shall pass over, and foffend,

gImputing this his power unto his god.

12  hArt thou not from everlasting,

O Lord my God, mine Holy One? iwe shall not die.

O Lord, kthou hast ordained them for judgment;

And, O †mighty God, kthou hast †established them for correction.

13  Thou art of purer eyes than to lbehold evil,

And canst not look on ||iniquity:

mWherefore lookest thou upon them mnthat deal treacherously,

And oholdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth pthe man that is more righteous than he?

14  And makest men as ppthe fishes of the sea,

As qthe ||creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15  rThey take up all of them with sthe angle,

They catch them in their tnet, and gather them in their ||udrag:

Therefore they rejoice and are glad.

16  vTherefore they sacrifice unto their tnet, and vburn incense unto their udrag;

Because by them their portion is fat, and their meat ||†plenteous.

17  Shall they therefore empty their tnet,

And not spare continually to slay the nations?

2 I will astand upon my watch, and set me upon the †tower,

And will bwatch to see cwhat he will say ||unto me,

And what I shall answer ||†when I am reproved.

2  And the Lord answered me, and said,

ccWrite the vision, and dmake it plain upon tables,

That he may run that readeth it.

3  For ethe vision is yet ffor an appointed time,

But fat the end it shall speak, and not lie:

gThough it htarry, iwait for it;

Because kit will surely come, lit will not tarry.

4  Behold, khis soul which mis lifted up is not upright in him:

knBut the just shall live by his faith.

5  ||Yea also, because he otransgresseth pby wine,

He is qa proud man, neither keepeth at home,

Who renlargeth his desire sas hell,

And is sas death, and cannot be satisfied,

But tgathereth unto him all nations,

And theapeth unto him all people:

6  Shall not all these tttake up ua parable against him,

And va taunting vwproverb against him, and say,

||Woe to him that increaseth xthat which is not his! yhow long?

And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!

7  Shall they not rise up zsuddenly that shall bite thee,

And awake that shall avex thee,

And thou shalt be bfor booties unto them?

8  cBecause thou hast spoiled many nations,

cAll the remnant of the people dshall spoil thee;

eBecause of men’s †blood, and for fthe violence of the land,

eOf the city, and of all that dwell therein.

9  gWoe to him that ||coveteth an evil covetousness to his house,

That he may set hhis nest ion 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 ksinned against thy soul.

11  For lthe stone shall cry out of the wall,

And the ||beam out of the timber shall ||answer it.

12  Woe to him mthat buildeth a town with †blood,

And stablisheth a city mby iniquity!

13  Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts

That nthe people shall labour oin the very fire,

And nthe people pshall weary themselves ||ofor very vanity?

14  For qrthe earth shall be filled ||with qthe knowledge of rthe glory of the Lord,

qAs the waters cover the sea.

15  Woe unto him sthat giveth his neighbour drink,

That tputtest thy ubottle to him, and vmakest him drunken also,

vThat thou mayest look on their nakedness!

16  Thou art filled ||with wshame for glory:

xDrink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered:

xThe cup of the Lord’s right hand shall be turned unto thee,

And yshameful spewing shall be on thy glory.

17  For fthe violence of zLebanon shall cover thee,

And zzthe spoil of beasts, which made them afraid,

eBecause of men’s blood, and for fthe violence of the land,

eOf the city, and of all that dwell therein.

18  aWhat profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it;

The molten image, and ba teacher of lies,

That †the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make cdumb 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 dthere is no breath at all in the midst of it.

20  But ethe Lord is in his holy temple:

†Let gall the earth keep silence before him.

3 aA prayer of Habakkuk the prophet ||upon Shigionoth.

2  O Lord, I have heard †bthy speech, and cwas afraid:

O Lord, ||drevive ethy work in the midst of the years,

In the midst of the years make known;

fIn wrath remember mercy.

3  God came from ||gTeman,

And hthe Holy One from mount Paran. Selah.

His glory covered the heavens,

And the earth was full of his praise.

4  And ihis brightness was as the light;

He had ||horns coming out of his hand:

And jthere was the hiding of his power.

5  kBefore him went the pestilence,

And ||klburning coals went forth mat his feet.

6  He stood, and measured the earth:

He beheld, and ndrove asunder the nations;

And othe everlasting pmountains were scattered,

The perpetual phills did bow:

His ways are everlasting.

7  I saw the tents of ||qCushan ||in raffliction:

And the curtains of the land of tMidian did tremble.

8  uWas the Lord displeased against vthe rivers?

Was thine anger against vthe rivers?

uWas thy wrath against the sea,

That wthou didst ride upon thine horses and ||thy chariots of salvation?

9  xThy bow was made quite naked,

yAccording to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah.

||zThou didst cleave the earth with vrivers.

10  aThe mountains bsaw thee, and bthey trembled:

The overflowing of the water passed by:

cThe deep uttered his voice,

And dlifted up his hands on high.

11  eThe sun and moon stood still in ftheir habitation:

||At the light of gthine arrows they went,

And at ithe shining of thy glittering spear.

12  jThou didst march through the land in indignation,

Thou didst kthresh the heathen in anger.

13  jThou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,

Even for salvation with lthine anointed;

mThou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked,

nBy †discovering the foundation unto othe neck. Selah.

14  Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of phis villages:

qThey †came out as a whirlwind rto scatter me:

Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor ssecretly.

15  tThou didst walk through the sea uwith thine horses,

Through the ||heap of great waters.

16  vWhen I heard, wmy belly trembled;

My lips quivered at the voice:

xRottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself,

That yI might rest in the day of trouble:

When he cometh up unto the people, zhe 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 †zzfail,

And the fields shall yield no meat;

The flock shall be acut off from bthe fold,

And there shall be no herd in the stalls:

18  cYet I will rejoice in the Lord,

dI will joy in the God of my salvation.

19  The Lord God is my strength,

And he will make emy feet like hinds’ feet,

And fhe will make me to walk efgupon mine high places.

hTo the chief singer on imy †stringed instruments.