CHAPTER 1 **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 their’s. **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? CHAPTER 2 **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. CHAPTER 3 **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.