1 *aThe burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2  O Lord, bhow long shall I ccry, and thou wilt not hear!

Even cdcry out unto thee of deviolence, and thou wilt not save!

3  Why dost thou shew me finiquity, and cause me to behold fgrievance?

For gspoiling and efviolence are before me:

And there are that raise up fstrife and contention.

4  Therefore the law his slacked, and judgment doth never go forth:

For ithe wicked doth kcompass about the righteous;

Therefore ||wrong judgment proceedeth.

5  lBehold ye among the heathen, and regard, and mwonder marvellously:

For I will work a work in your days,

Which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

6  For, lo, n||I raise up othe Chaldeans, that bitter and phasty nation,

ppWhich shall march through the †breadth of the land,

ppTo possess the dwellingplaces qthat are not theirs.

7  They are qqterrible and dreadful:

||Their judgment and their rdignity shall proceed of themselves.

8  sTheir horses also are swifter than tthe leopards,

And are more †fierce than uthe evening wolves:

And their horsemen shall vspread themselves,

And their horsemen shall come wfrom far;

xThey shall fly as sthe eagle ythat hasteth to eat.

9  They shall come all for violence:

||†Their faces shall sup up as the east wind,

And they shall gather athe captivity bas the sand.

10  And they shall scoff at the kings,

And the princes shall be a scorn unto them:

cThey shall deride every strong hold;

For dthey shall heap dust, and take it.

11  Then shall ehis mind change, and he shall pass over, and foffend,

gImputing this his power unto his god.

12  hArt thou not from everlasting,

O Lord my God, mine Holy One? iwe shall not die.

O Lord, kthou hast ordained them for judgment;

And, O †mighty God, kthou hast †established them for correction.

13  Thou art of purer eyes than to lbehold evil,

And canst not look on ||iniquity:

mWherefore lookest thou upon them mnthat deal treacherously,

And oholdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth pthe man that is more righteous than he?

14  And makest men as ppthe fishes of the sea,

As qthe ||creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15  rThey take up all of them with sthe angle,

They catch them in their tnet, and gather them in their ||udrag:

Therefore they rejoice and are glad.

16  vTherefore they sacrifice unto their tnet, and vburn incense unto their udrag;

Because by them their portion is fat, and their meat ||†plenteous.

17  Shall they therefore empty their tnet,

And not spare continually to slay the nations?