HAB 1:1
The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
HAB 1:2 How long, O Lord, will I call for
help, And Thou wilt not hear? I cry out to Thee,
"Violence!" Yet Thou dost not save.
HAB 1:3 Why dost Thou make me see iniquity,
And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction
and violence are before me; Strife exists and
contention arises.
HAB 1:4 Therefore, the law is ignored And
justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the
righteous; Therefore, justice comes out perverted.
HAB 1:5 "Look among the nations! Observe! Be
astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in
your days - - You would not believe if you were
told.
HAB 1:6 "For behold, I am raising up the
Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who
march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places
which are not theirs.
HAB 1:7 "They are dreaded and feared. Their
justice and authority originate with themselves.
HAB 1:8 "Their horses are swifter than
leopards And keener than wolves in the evening.
Their horsemen come galloping, Their horsemen come
from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping down to
devour.
HAB 1:9 "All of them come for violence. Their
horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives
like sand.
HAB 1:10 "They mock at kings, And rulers are
a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every
fortress, And heap up rubble to capture it.
HAB 1:11 "Then they will sweep through like
the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty,
They whose strength is their god."
HAB 1:12 Art Thou not from everlasting, O
Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Thou, O
Lord, hast appointed them to judge; And Thou, O
Rock, hast established them to correct.
HAB 1:13 Thine eyes are too pure to approve
evil, And Thou canst not look on wickedness with
favor. Why dost Thou look with favor On those who
deal treacherously? Why art Thou silent when the
wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?
HAB 1:14 Why hast Thou made men like the fish
of the sea, Like creeping things without a ruler
over them?
HAB 1:15 The Chaldeans bring all of them up
with a hook, Drag them away with their net, And
gather them together in their fishing net.
Therefore, they rejoice and are glad.
HAB 1:16 Therefore, they offer a sacrifice to
their net. And burn incense to their fishing net;
Because through these things their catch is large,
And their food is plentiful.
HAB 1:17 Will they therefore empty their net
And continually slay nations without sparing?
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HAB 2:1
I will stand on my guard post And station myself on
the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He
will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am
reproved.
HAB 2:2 Then the Lord answered me and said,
"Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That
the one who reads it may run.
HAB 2:3 "For the vision is yet for the
appointed time; It hastens toward the goal, and it
will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For
it will certainly come, it will not delay.
HAB 2:4 "Behold, as for the proud one, His
soul is not right within him; But the righteous will
live by his faith.
HAB 2:5 "Furthermore, wine betrays the
haughty man, So that he does not stay at home. He
enlarges his appetite like Sheol, And he is like
death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself
all nations And collects to himself all peoples.
HAB 2:6 "Will not all of these take up a
taunt-song against him, Even mockery and
insinuations against him, And say, 'Woe to him who
increases what is not his - - For how long - - And
makes himself rich with loans?'
HAB 2:7 "Will not your creditors rise up
suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken?
Indeed, you will become plunder for them.
HAB 2:8 "Because you have looted many
nations, All the remainder of the peoples will loot
you - - Because of human bloodshed and violence done
to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants.
HAB 2:9 "Woe to him who gets evil gain for
his house To put his nest on high To be delivered
from the hand of calamity!
HAB 2:10 "You have devised a shameful thing
for your house By cutting off many peoples; So you
are sinning against yourself.
HAB 2:11 "Surely the stone will cry out from
the wall, And the rafter will answer it from the
framework.
HAB 2:12 "Woe to him who builds a city with
bloodshed And founds a town with violence!
HAB 2:13 "Is it not indeed from the Lord of
hosts That peoples toil for fire, And nations grow
weary for nothing?
HAB 2:14 "For the earth will be filled With
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the
waters cover the sea.
HAB 2:15 "Woe to you who make your neighbors
drink, Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk
So as to look on their nakedness!
HAB 2:16 "You will be filled with disgrace
rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose
your own nakedness. The cup in the Lord's right hand
will come around to you, And utter disgrace will
come upon your glory.
HAB 2:17 "For the violence done to Lebanon
will overwhelm you, And the devastation of its
beasts by which you terrified them, Because of human
bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town
and all its inhabitants.
HAB 2:18 "What profit is the idol when its
maker has carved it, Or an image, a teacher of
falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork
When he fashions speechless idols.
HAB 2:19 "Woe to him who says to a piece of
wood, 'Awake!' To a dumb stone, 'Arise!' And that is
your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and
silver, And there is no breath at all inside it.
HAB 2:20 "But the Lord is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before Him."
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HAB 3:1
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to
Shigionoth.
HAB 3:2 Lord, I have heard the report about
Thee and I fear. O Lord, revive Thy work in the
midst of the years, In the midst of the years make
it known; In wrath remember mercy.
HAB 3:3 God comes from Teman, And the Holy
One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the
heavens, And the earth is full of His praise.
HAB 3:4 His radiance is like the sunlight; He
has rays flashing from His hand, And there is the
hiding of His power.
HAB 3:5 Before Him goes pestilence, And
plague comes after Him.
HAB 3:6 He stood and surveyed the earth; He
looked and startled the nations. Yes, the perpetual
mountains were shattered, The ancient hills
collapsed. His ways are everlasting.
HAB 3:7 I saw the tents of Cushan under
distress, The tent curtains of the land of Midian
were trembling.
HAB 3:8 Did the Lord rage against the rivers,
Or was Thine anger against the rivers, Or was Thy
wrath against the sea, That Thou didst ride on Thy
horses, On Thy chariots of salvation?
HAB 3:9 Thy bow was made bare, The rods of
chastisement were sworn. Selah. Thou didst cleave
the earth with rivers.
HAB 3:10 The mountains saw Thee and quaked;
The downpour of waters swept by. The deep uttered
forth its voice, It lifted high its hands.
HAB 3:11 Sun and moon stood in their places;
They went away at the light of Thine arrows, At the
radiance of Thy gleaming spear.
HAB 3:12 In indignation Thou didst march
through the earth; In anger Thou didst trample the
nations.
HAB 3:13 Thou didst go forth for the
salvation of Thy people, For the salvation of Thine
anointed. Thou didst strike the head of the house of
the evil To lay him open from thigh to neck. Selah.
HAB 3:14 Thou didst pierce with his own
spears The head of his throngs. They stormed in to
scatter us; Their exultation was like those Who
devour the oppressed in secret.
HAB 3:15 Thou didst tread on the sea with Thy
horses, On the surge of many waters.
HAB 3:16 I heard and my inward parts
trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay
enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because
I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the
people to arise who will invade us.
HAB 3:17 Though the fig tree should not
blossom, And there be no fruit on the vines, Though
the yield of the olive should fail, And the fields
produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off
from the fold, And there be no cattle in the stalls,
HAB 3:18 Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will
rejoice in the God of my salvation.
HAB 3:19 The Lord God is my strength, And He
has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk
on my high places. For the choir director, on my
stringed instruments.
