Habakkuk 1

1 The burden that Habacuc the prophet saw.

THE BURDEN which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2 How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save?

How long, O LORD, shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save.

3 Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful.

Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and beholdest mischief? And why are spoiling and violence before me? so that there is strife, and contention ariseth.

4 Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore wrong judgment goeth forth.

Therefore the law is slacked, and right doth never go forth; for the wicked doth beset the righteous; therefore right goeth forth perverted.

5 Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished: for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told.

Look ye among the nations, and behold, and wonder marvellously; for, behold, a work shall be wrought in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.

6 For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not their own.

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.

7 They are dreadful, and terrible: from themselves shall their judgment, and their burden proceed.

They are terrible and dreadful; their law and their majesty proceed from themselves.

8 Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat.

Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the wolves of the desert; and their horsemen spread themselves; yea, their horsemen come from far, they fly as a vulture that hasteth to devour.

9 They shall all come to the prey, their face is like a burning wind: and they shall gather together captives as the sand.

They come all of them for violence; their faces are set eagerly as the east wind; and they gather captives as the sand.

10 And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it.

And they scoff at kings, and princes are a derision unto them; they deride every stronghold, for they heap up earth, and take it.

11 Then shall his spirit be changed, and he shall pass, and fall: this is his strength of his god.

Then their spirit doth pass over and transgress, and they become guilty: even they who impute their might unto their god.

12 Wast thou not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one, and we shall not die? Lord, thou hast appointed him for judgment: and made him strong for correction.

Art not Thou from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, Thou hast ordained them for judgment, and Thou, O Rock, hast established them for correction.

13 Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself?

Thou that art of eyes too pure to behold evil, and that canst not look on mischief, wherefore lookest Thou, when they deal treacherously, and holdest Thy peace, when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he;

14 And thou wilt make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping things that have no ruler.

And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15 He lifted up all them with his hook, he drew them in his drag, and gathered them into his net: for this he will be glad and rejoice.

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 exult.

16 Therefore will he offer victims to his drag, and he will sacrifice to his net: because through them his portion is made fat, and his meat dainty.

Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and offer unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their food plenteous.

17 For this cause therefore he spreadeth his net, and will not spare continually to slay the nations.

Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare to slay the nations continually?