Geneva1599 - Habakkuk

Chapter 1

1:1  The burden, which Habakkuk the Prophet did see.

1:2  O Lord, howe long shall I crye, and thou wilt not heare! euen crye out vnto thee for violence, and thou wilt not helpe!

1:3  Why doest thou shewe mee iniquitie, and cause me to beholde sorowe? for spoyling, and violence are before me: and there are that rayse vp strife and contention.

1:4  Therefore the Lawe is dissolued, and iudgement doeth neuer go forth: for the wicked doeth compasse about the righteous: therefore wrong iudgement proceedeth.

1:5  Beholde among the heathen, and regarde, and wonder, and maruaile: for I will worke a worke in your dayes: yee will not beleeue it, though it be tolde you.

1:6  For lo, I raise vp the Caldeans, that bitter and furious nation, which shall goe vpon the breadth of the lande to possesse the dwelling places, that are not theirs.

1:7  They are terrible and fearefull: their iudgement and their dignitie shall proceede of theselues.

1:8  Their horses also are swifter then the leopards, and are more fierce then the wolues in the euening: and their horsemen are many: and their horsemen shall come from farre: they shall flie as the eagle hasting to meate.

1:9  They come all to spoyle: before their faces shalbe an Eastwinde, and they shall gather the captiuitie, as the sand.

1:10  And they shall mocke the Kings, and the princes shalbe a skorne vnto them: they shall deride euery strong holde: for they shall gather dust, and take it.

1:11  Then shall they take a courage, and transgresse and doe wickedly, imputing this their power vnto their god.

1:12  Art thou not of olde, O Lord my God, mine holy one? we shall not die: O Lord, thou hast ordeined them for iudgement, and O God, thou hast established them for correction.

1:13  Thou art of pure eyes, and canst not see euill: thou canst not behold wickednesse: wherefore doest thou looke vpon the transgressors, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked deuoureth the man, that is more righteous then he?

1:14  And makest men as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping things, that haue no ruler ouer them.

1:15  They take vp all with the angle: they catch it in their net, and gather it in their yarne, whereof they reioyce and are glad.

1:16  Therefore they sacrifice vnto their net, and burne incense vnto their yarne, because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous.

1:17  Shall they therefore stretch out their net and not spare continually to slay the nations?

Chapter 2

2:1  I will stand vpon my watch, and set me vpon the towre, and wil looke and see what he would say vnto mee, and what I shall answere to him that rebuketh me.

2:2  And the Lord answered me, and sayde, Write the vision, and make it plaine vpon tables, that he may runne that readeth it.

2:3  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the last it shall speake, and not lie: though it tarie, waite: for it shall surely come, and shall not stay.

2:4  Beholde, he that lifteth vp himselfe, his minde is not vpright in him, but the iust shall liue by his fayth,

2:5  Yea, in deede the proude man is as hee that transgresseth by wine: therefore shall he not endure, because he hath enlarged his desire as the hell, and is as death, and can not be satisfied, but gathereth vnto him all nations, and heapeth vnto him all people.

2:6  Shall not all these take vp a parable against him, and a tanting prouerbe against him, and say, Ho, he that increaseth that which is not his? howe long? and hee that ladeth himselfe with thicke clay?

2:7  Shall they not rise vp suddenly, that shall bite thee? and awake, that shall stirre thee? and thou shalt be their praye?

2:8  Because thou hast spoyled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoyle thee, because of mens blood, and for the wrong done in the land, in the citie, and vnto all that dwell therein.

2:9  Ho, he that coueteth an euil couetousnesse to his house, that he may set his nest on hie, to escape from the power of euil.

2:10  Thou hast consulted shame to thine owne house, by destroying many people, and hast sinned against thine owne soule.

2:11  For the stone shall crie out of the wall, and the beame out of the timber shall answere it.

2:12  Wo vnto him that buildeth a towne with blood, and erecteth a citie by iniquitie.

2:13  Beholde, is it not of the Lord of hostes that the people shall labour in ye very fire? the people shall euen weary themselues for very vanitie.

2:14  For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters couer the sea.

2:15  Wo vnto him that giueth his neighbour drinke: thou ioynest thine heate, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest see their priuities.

2:16  Thou art filled with shame for glorie: drinke thou also, and be made naked: the cup of the Lords right hand shall be turned vnto thee, and shamefull spuing shalbe for thy glory.

2:17  For the crueltie of Lebanon shall couer thee: so shall the spoyle of the beastes, which made them afraide, because of mens blood, and for the wrong done in the land, in the citie, and vnto all that dwell therein.

2:18  What profiteth the image? for the maker thereof hath made it an image, and a teacher of lies, though he that made it, trust therein, when he maketh dumme idoles.

2:19  Wo vnto him that sayth to the wood, Awake, and to the dumme stone, Rise vp, it shall teach thee: beholde, it is layde ouer with golde and siluer, and there is no breath in it.

2:20  But the Lord is in his holy Temple: let all the earth keepe silence before him.

Chapter 3

3:1  A prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet for the ignorances.

3:2  O Lord, I haue heard thy voyce, and was afraide: O Lord, reuiue thy worke in the mids of the people, in the mids of the yeeres make it knowen: in wrath remember mercy.

3:3  God commeth from Teman, and the holy one from mount Paran, Selah. His glory couereth the heauens, and the earth is full of his prayse,

3:4  And his brightnes was as the light: he had hornes comming out of his hands, and there was the hiding of his power.

3:5  Before him went the pestilence, and burning coales went forth before his feete.

3:6  He stoode and measured the earth: he behelde and dissolued the nations and the euerlasting mountaines were broken, and the ancient hilles did bowe: his wayes are euerlasting.

3:7  For his iniquitie I sawe the tentes of Cushan, and the curtaines of the land of Midian did tremble.

3:8  Was the Lord angry against the riuers? or was thine anger against the floods? or was thy wrath against the sea, that thou diddest ride vpon thine horses? thy charets brought saluation.

3:9  Thy bowe was manifestly reueiled, and the othes of the tribes were a sure worde, Selah. thou diddest cleaue the earth with riuers.

3:10  The mountaines sawe thee, and they trembled: the streame of the water passed by: the deepe made a noyse, and lift vp his hand on hie.

3:11  The sunne and moone stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrowes they went, and at the bright shining of thy speares.

3:12  Thou trodest downe the land in anger, and didest thresh the heathen in displeasure.

3:13  Thou wentest foorth for the saluation of thy people, euen for saluation with thine Anointed: thou hast wounded the head of the house of the wicked, and discoueredst the foundations vnto the necke, Selah.

3:14  Thou didest strike thorowe with his owne staues the heades of his villages: they came out as a whirle winde to scatter me: their reioycing was as to deuoure the poore secretly.

3:15  Thou didest walke in the sea with thine horses vpon the heape of great waters.

3:16  When I heard, my bellie trembled: my lippes shooke at the voyce: rottennesse entred into my bones, and I trembled in my selfe, that I might rest in the day of trouble: for whe he commeth vp vnto the people, he shall destroy them.

3:17  For the figtree shall not flourish, neither shall fruite be in the vines: the labour of the oliue shall faile, and the fieldes shall yeelde no meate: the sheepe shalbe cut off from the folde, and there shalbe no bullocke in the stalles.

3:18  But I will reioyce in the Lord: I will ioy in the God of my saluation.

3:19  The Lord God is my strength: hee will make my feete like hindes feete, and he will make me to walke vpon mine hie places. To the chiefe singer on Neginothai.