Beginning

1 ¶ The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

² O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear; and raise my voice unto thee because of the violence, and thou wilt not save?

³ Why dost thou cause me to see iniquity and cause me to behold grievance and destruction and violence before me, in addition to those that raise up strife and contention?

⁴ Therefore the law is weakened, and the judgment does not go forth true: for the wicked compasses about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceeds.

⁵ ¶ Behold among the Gentiles and regard and wonder marvelously, for a work shall be done in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

⁶ For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which march through the breadth of the earth to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.

⁷ She is terrible and dreadful: from her herself shall go forth their rights and their grandeur.

⁸ Their horses shall be swifter than tigers and are sharper than the evening wolves, and their horsemen shall multiply themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as eagles that hasten to eat.

⁹ All of her shall come for the prey, before their faces an east wind, and they shall gather the captives as the sand.

¹⁰ And he shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto him, he shall deride every fortress and shall heap dust and take it.

¹¹ Then he shall become arrogant against God, and he shall pass ahead and shall be found guilty, imputing this his power unto his god.

¹² ¶ Art thou not from the beginning, O LORD my God, my Holy One? we shall not die, O LORD, thou hast ordained him for judgment, and thou hast established him strong for chastisement.

¹³ Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity: why dost thou look upon those that deal treacherously and hold thy tongue when the wicked devour the man that is more righteous than he?

¹⁴ And dost make men as the fishes of the sea, as reptiles that have no lord?

¹⁵ He shall take up all of them with his hook; he shall catch them in his net and gather them in his drag: therefore, he shall rejoice and be glad.

¹⁶ Therefore, he shall sacrifice unto his net and burn incense unto his drag because by them his portion is fat, and his food plenteous.

¹⁷ Shall he therefore empty his net, or have pity to stop slaying Gentiles continually?

2 ¶ I will stand upon my watch and affirm my foot upon the fortress and will watch to see what he will say in me and what I shall answer to my question.

² And the LORD answered me and said, Write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that reads it.

³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it because it will surely come; wait for it.

⁴ Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him will become filled with pride, but the just in his faith shall live.

⁵ ¶ Even more than he who is given over to wine, the transposer, the proud man, shall not remain, who enlarges his desire as Sheol and is as death and cannot be satisfied, but gathered unto him all the Gentiles and heaps unto him all the peoples;

⁶ Shall not all these take up a parable against him and a taunting enigma against him and say, Woe to him that multiplied that which was not his! And for how long would he pile thick clay upon himself?

⁷ Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee and awake those that shall take thy place, and thou shalt be for a prey unto them?

⁸ Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the other peoples shall spoil thee because of human blood and for the robberies of the land, of the cities, and of all that dwell therein.

⁹ Woe to him that covets ill-gotten gain by violence for his house that he may set his nest on high, that he may escape from the power of evil!

¹⁰ Thou hast taken shameful counsel for thy house by cutting off many peoples and hast committed a sin against thy life.

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

¹² Woe to him that builds the city with blood and founds the village with iniquity!

¹³ Is this not of the LORD of the hosts? Therefore the peoples shall labour for the fire, and the Gentiles shall weary themselves in vain.

¹⁴ For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵ ¶ Woe unto him that gives his neighbours drink, that puts thy bottle to them, and makes them drunken also, that thou may look on their nakedness!

¹⁶ Thou hast filled thyself with dishonour instead of honour; drink thou also, and thy foreskin shall be uncovered; the cup of the LORD’s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful vomit shall fall upon thy glory.

¹⁷ For the violence of Lebanon shall fall upon thee and the destruction of the wild beasts shall break thee, because of the human blood, and of the robbery of the land, of the cities, and of all that dwell therein.

¹⁸ Of what profit is the graven image that its maker has sculpted; the molten image, that teaches lies, so that in making dumb images the maker trusts in his work?

¹⁹ Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Can it ever teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.

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

3 ¶ A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, because of all the ignorance.

² O LORD, I have heard thy word and was afraid; O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the times; in the midst of the times make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

³ ¶ God shall come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was filled with his praise.

⁴ And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand; and there was hidden his strength.

⁵ Before his face went mortality, and burning coals went forth from his feet.

⁶ He stood and measured the earth; he beheld and drove out the Gentiles; and the ancient mountains crumbled, the ancient hills; the ways of the world bowed unto him.

⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan as nothing, and the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

⁸ Oh LORD, wast thou displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath even against the sea when thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of saving health?

⁹ Thy bow was entirely uncovered, and the oaths unto the tribes, eternal word, when thou didst divide the earth with rivers.

¹⁰ The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the waters passed by; the abyss uttered its voice; the deep lifted up its hands.

¹¹ The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

¹² Thou didst tread upon the land in wrath; thou didst thresh the Gentiles in anger.

¹³ Thou didst go forth to save thy people, to save with thine anointed; thou didst shatter the head of the house of the wicked by uncovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

¹⁴ Thou didst strike through with his staffs the heads of his villages, who as a whirlwind attempted to scatter me; their pride was as to devour the poor secretly.

¹⁵ Thou didst make a way through the sea for thine 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 my seat, that I might rest in the day of trouble when he comes up unto the people to destroy them.

¹⁷ Because the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on the vines; the labour of the olive shall lie, and the cultivated fields shall yield no food; the sheep shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will joy in the God of my saving health.

¹⁹ The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and upon my high places he will cause me to walk victorious in my instruments of music.

1 ¶ The word of the LORD which went unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

² I will utterly destroy all things from off the face of the earth, saith the LORD.

³ I will destroy the men and the beasts; I will destroy the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea, and the wicked shall stumble; and I will cut off men from upon the face of the earth, saith the LORD.

⁴ And I will extend my hand over Judah and over all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place and the name of their religious persons with their priests

⁵ and those that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops and those that worship swearing by the LORD and by their king

⁶ and those that have turned back from following the LORD and those that did not seek the LORD, nor enquired about him.

⁷ ¶ Be silent before the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, he has bid his guests.

⁸ And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’s sacrifice that I will make a visitation upon the princes and upon the king’s sons and upon all such as are clothed with strange apparel.

⁹ In the same day I will also make a visitation upon all those that leap over the door, who fill their masters’ houses with robbery and deceit.

¹⁰ And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate and a howling from the school and a great destruction from the hills.

¹¹ Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all those that brought ye silver are cut off.

¹² And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps and make a visitation upon the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.

¹³ Therefore their goods shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: they shall build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.

¹⁴ ¶ The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hastens greatly, the bitter voice of the day of the LORD; the mighty man shall cry there.

¹⁵ That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

¹⁶ A day of the shofar and alarm upon the strong cities, and upon the high towers.

¹⁷ And I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the LORD, and their blood shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as the dung.

¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath, but the whole earth shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all those that dwell in the earth.

2 ¶ Search yourselves and one another, O unfriendly people;

² before the decree is executed, before the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you.

³ Seek ye the LORD, all ye humble of the earth, who have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek humility: it may be ye shall be kept in the day of the LORD’s anger.

⁴ ¶ For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall spoil Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.

⁵ Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the people of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Palestinians, I will cause thee to be destroyed until there shall be no inhabitant left.

⁶ And the sea coast shall be for dwellings and cottages for pastors, and sheepfolds.

⁷ And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon they shall sleep for the night; for the LORD their God shall visit them and return their captives.

⁸ ¶ I have heard the reproaches of Moab, and the revilings of the sons of Ammon, by which they have dishonoured my people and magnified themselves over their border.

⁹ Therefore as I live, said the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah, even a field of nettles and saltpits and a perpetual desolation; the remnant of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my Gentiles shall inherit them.

¹⁰ This shall come upon them for their pride because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of the hosts.

¹¹ The LORD shall be terrible against them for he will weaken all the gods of the earth; and each one from his place shall worship him, even all the isles of the Gentiles.

¹² ¶ Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.

¹³ And he will stretch out his hand over the north wind and destroy Assyria and will make Nineveh a desolation and dry like a wilderness.

¹⁴ And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the Gentiles; both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in her thresholds; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the gates: for her cedar work shall be uncovered.

¹⁵ This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! anyone that passes by her shall hiss and wag his hand.

3 ¶ Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!

² She did not obey the voice; she did not receive correction; she did not trust in the LORD; she did not draw near to her God.

³ Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they do not leave a bone for tomorrow.

⁴ Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary; they have falsified the law.

⁵ The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: each morning he shall bring his judgment to light; he never fails; but the unjust know no shame.

⁶ I have caused the Gentiles to be cut off: their castles are desolate; I made their streets waste until no one passes by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man left, there is no inhabitant.

⁷ Saying, Surely now thou wilt fear me; thou wilt receive chastisement; so thy dwelling shall not be thrown down, all of which I visited upon her; but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.

⁸ ¶ Therefore wait for me, said the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my judgment is to gather the Gentiles, that I may assemble the kingdoms to pour upon them my indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

⁹ For then I will restore to the peoples the pure language that they may all call upon the name of the LORD to serve him with one consent.

¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring me an offering.

¹¹ In that day thou shalt not be ashamed for any of thy doings, in which thou hast rebelled against me, for then I will take away out of the midst of thee those that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no longer be haughty because of the mountain of my holiness.

¹² I will also leave in the midst of thee a poor and humble people, and they shall wait in the name of the LORD.

¹³ The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they shall be fed and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.

¹⁴ ¶ Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout with joy O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The LORD has taken away thy judgments; he has cast out thine enemy; the LORD is king of Israel in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more.

¹⁶ In that time it shall be said to Jerusalem, Do not fear; and to Zion, Do not let thine hands be slack.

¹⁷ The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save; he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing.

¹⁸ I will gather those that are weary because of the long time, who are thine, unto whom her confusion was a burden.

¹⁹ Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee; and I will save her that is lame and gather her that was driven out; and I will make them a praise and of good reputation in every land where they have been put to shame.

²⁰ At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you; for I will give you as fame and as praise among all peoples of the earth, when I shall return your captives before your eyes, saith the LORD.