“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?”
(Habakkuk 1:1-17 AV)