Habakkuk 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 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?
