THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK

CHAPTER 1

THE burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2 O Yahowah, how long will I cry, and you will not hear! even cry out unto you of violence, and you will not save!

3 Why dost you 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 does never go forth: for the wicked does compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceeds.

5 Behold You among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which You will not believe, though it be told you.

6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which will 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 will proceed of themselves.

8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen will spread themselves, and their horsemen will come from far; they will fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

9 They will come all for violence: their faces will sup up as the east wind, and they will gather the captivity as the sand.

10 And they will scoff at the kings, and the princes will be a scorn unto them: they will deride every strong hold; for they will heap dust, and take it.

11 Then will his mind change, and he will pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

12 Art you not from everlasting, O Yahowah my Elohim, mine Holy One? we will not die. O Yahowah, you have ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty Elohim, you have established them for correction.

13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest you upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest Your 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 Will they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

CHAPTER 2

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 will answer when I am reproved.

2 And Yahowah 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 will 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 will 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 Will 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 Will they not rise up suddenly that will bite you, and awake that will vex you, and you will be for booties unto them?

8 Because you have spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people will spoil you; 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 You have consulted shame to Your house by cutting off many people, and have sinned against Your soul.

11 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber will answer it.

12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!

13 Behold, is it not of Yahowah of hosts that the people will labour in the very fire, and the people will weary themselves for very vanity?

14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahowah, as the waters cover the sea.

15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest Your bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that you may look on their nakedness!

16 You are filled with shame for glory: drink you also, and let Your foreskin be uncovered: the cup of Yahowah’s right hand will be turned unto you, and shameful spewing will be on Your glory.

17 For the violence of Lebanon will cover you, 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 has 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 says to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it will teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

20 But Yahowah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

CHAPTER 3

A PRAYER of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.

2 O Yahowah, I have heard Your speech, and was afraid: O Yahowah, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

3 Elohim 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 Yahowah displeased against the rivers? was yours anger against the rivers? was Your wrath against the sea, that you did ride upon yours horses and Your chariots of salvation?

9 Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even Your word. Selah. You did cleave the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains saw you, 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 yours arrows they went, and at the shining of Your glittering spear.

12 You did march through the land in indignation, you did thresh the heathen in anger.

13 You wentest forth for the salvation of Your people, even for salvation with yours anointed; you woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

14 You did 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 You did walk through the sea with yours 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 will not blossom, neither will fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive will fail, and the fields will yield no meat; the flock will be cut off from the fold, and there will be no herd in the stalls:

18 Yet I will rejoice in Yahowah, I will joy in the Elohim of my salvation.

19 Yahowah Adonai 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.