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
marvelously: 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?
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