Book of Habakkuk

The iniquity of Judah shall be punished - Habakkuk 1

1 - THE WEIGHT that saw the prophet Habakkuk.

2 - How long, O LORD, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hearken unto me? I will cry to you: Violence! and you will not save?

3 - Why do you show me iniquity, and show me oppression? For destruction and violence are before me, and there is also one who stirs up strife and litigation.

4 - For this cause the law is loosed, and justice is not manifested; For the wicked surroundeth the just, and righteousness is manifest as distorted.

5 - Behold among the heathen, and behold, and marvel, and marvel; for I will perform a work in your days, which ye will not believe, when it is told.

6 - For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and mighty nation, that goeth over the breadth of the land, to take hold of dwellings that are not theirs.

7 - Horrible and terrible is; from it shall come judgment and dignity.

8 And their horses are swifter than leopards, and smarter than the wolves in the evening; his horsemen are scattered abroad; his horsemen shall come from afar; They will fly like eagles that hasten to devour.

9 - They will all come to do violence; their faces shall seek the east wind, and gather the captives as sand.

10 - And they shall mock kings, and mock princes with princes; they shall laugh at all the strongholds, for they shall heap up the earth, and take them.

11 - Then change his mind, and he will follow, and he will make himself guilty, attributing his power to his god.

The intercession of Habakkuk

12 - Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, thou hast set it in judgment, and thou hast founded it, O Rock, to punish.

13 Thou art so pure of eyes that thou canst not see evil, and oppression canst not behold. Why do you look upon those who do wrong, and shut up when the wicked devours him who is more righteous than he?

14 - And why should men be like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things that have no ruler over them?

15 - He will raise them up with the hook, and gather them with his net, and gather them together in his sweeping net; therefore he will rejoice and rejoice.

16 - Therefore he shall sacrifice to his net, and he shall burn incense to his sweep; because he made their portion fat with them, and increased their meat.

17 - Wherefore doth he empty his net, and have no mercy upon the nations continually?

The Chaldeans shall be punished in their turn - Habakkuk 2

1 - I will stand upon my charge, and on the fortress I will appear and watch, to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer when I am accused.

2 - And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it readable upon boards, that it may read it that passeth by running.

3 - For the vision is yet for a season, but hasteneth to the end, and shall not deceive; if it linger, wait for him, for he will certainly come, he will not delay.

4 - Behold, his soul is proud, he is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith.

5 - All the more because, because it is given to wine, it is disloyal; a proud man that will not stand; who widens as hell his soul; and it is as a death that is not satisfied, and gathereth unto itself all nations, and gathereth together all nations.

6 - Shall not all these set up against him a parable and a sarcastic proverb against him? And it will be said: Woe to him who multiplies what is not his! (how long?) and of him that beareth debts!

7 - Will not your extortors rise suddenly, and those who make you tremble not, and you will not serve them as spoilers?

8 - Because thou hast spoiled many nations, so shall all other nations spoil thee, because of the blood of men, and violence to the land, to the city, and to all that dwell therein.

9 Woe to him that goeth into his house, and greedily gathereth evil things, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil.

10 - Shame thou hast made for thine house; destroying many peoples, you have sinned against your soul.

11 - For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam shall answer from the wood.

12 Woe to him who builds the city with blood, and who crushes the city with iniquity!

13 - Shall not the LORD of hosts come, that the people shall labor in the fire, and the men be weary in vain?

14 - For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

15 Woe to him that giveth his companion drink! Woe to you, that you add your wrath to drink, and make him drunk to see his nakedness!

16 - Thou shalt be filled with dishonor in the place of honor; Drink thou also, and be like an uncircumcised one; the cup of the Lord's right hand will come back to you, and shame will fall on your glory.

17 - For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts shall make thee afraid, because of the blood of men, and violence to the land, to the city, and to all that dwell therein.

18 - What does the graven image use, after the craftsman has carved it? Is it a molten image that teaches a lie, so that the one who formed it will trust in their work, making idols mute?

19 Woe to him that saith to the wood, Awake! and to the dumb stone, Awake! Can this teach? Behold, it is covered with gold and silver, but within it is no spirit.

20 - But the LORD is in his holy temple; Let the whole earth sit before him.

The prayer of Habakkuk - Chapter 3

1 - Oration of the prophet Habakkuk on Sigionote.

2 - Hear, O LORD, thy word, and I fear; revive, O LORD, thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in your wrath remember mercy.

3 - God came from Teman, and from the hill of Paran the Holy One (Shelah). His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was filled with his praise.

4 - And the brightness was as the light, and the bright rays went forth out of his hand, and there was the hiding place of his strength.

5 - And the plague went forth before him, and hot coals were gone out of his way.

6 - He paused, and measured the earth; he looked, and healed the nations; and the everlasting hills were scattered; the eternal hills have fallen, because the eternal ways belong to him.

7 - I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

8 - Are you angry with the rivers, O LORD? Is your wrath against the brooks, or against the sea your wrath, seeing that you ride upon your horses, and upon your chariots of salvation?

9 - Your bow is moved; oaths made to the tribes were a safe word. (Selah.) You have broken the land with rivers.

10 - The mountains saw you, and trembled; the flood of waters passed; the abyss gave his voice, and lifted up his hands.

11 - The sun and the moon stood in their dwellings; they have walked by the light of thy arrows, by the brightness of the lightning of thy spear.

12 - Thou hast marched through the land in wrath, thou hast trodden the Gentiles.

13 - Thou hast gone forth for the salvation of thy people, for the salvation of thy anointed; thou hast struck the head of the house of the wicked, uncovering the foundation unto the neck. (Saddle.)

14 - Thou hast pierced the heads of their villages with their own spears; they stormed me to scatter me; they rejoiced as if they were about to devour the poor man in secret.

15 - Thou hast marched by the sea with the mass of great waters.

16 - When I heard it, my belly was moved, my lips trembled at his voice; the rot in my bones, and I trembled within myself; in the day of trouble I will rest, when I rise against the people that will invade with their troops.

17 - For though the fig tree be not blossomed, neither shall there be fruit in the vine; though he disappoints the produce of the olive tree, and the fields produce no food; though the sheep of the herd are caught up, and there are no cattle in the pens;

18 - Nevertheless I will rejoice in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

19 - The LORD God is my strength, and he maketh my feet like the offspring, and maketh me to walk upon my high places. (To the lead singer on my stringed instruments).