The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Advertisement.
• Revisers’ Preface.
• Old Testament
• The First Book of Moses, Commonly Called Genesis.
• The Second Book of Moses, Commonly Called Exodus.
• The Third Book of Moses, Commonly Called Leviticus.
• The Fourth Book of Moses, Commonly Called Numbers.
• The Fifth Book of Moses, Called Deuteronomy.
• The Book of Joshua.
• The Book of Judges.
• The Book of Ruth.
• The First Book of Samuel.
• The Second Book of Samuel.
• The First Book of the Kings.
• The Second Book of the Kings.
• The First Book of the Chronicles.
• The Second Book of the Chronicles.
• Ezra.
• The Book of Nehemiah.
• The Book of Esther.
• The Book of Job.
• The Psalms.
• Book I.
• Book II.
• Book III.
• Book IV.
• Book V.
• The Proverbs.
• Ecclesiastes; Or, the Preacher.
• The Song of Songs.
• The Book of the Prophet Isaiah.
• The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah.
• The Lamentations of Jeremiah.
• The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel.
• The Book of Daniel.
• Hosea.
• Joel.
• Amos.
• Obadiah.
• Jonah.
• Micah.
• Nahum.
• Habakkuk.
• Zephaniah.
• Haggai.
• Zechariah.
• Malachi.
• Appendix.
• Classes of Passages.

HABAKKUK.

1

1The1 burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2 O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. 3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and 2 look upon perverseness? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there is strife, and contention riseth up. 4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgement 3 doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore judgement goeth forth perverted. 5 Behold ye among the nations, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for 4 I 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 march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. 75 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgement and their dignity proceed from themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen 6 spread themselves: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour. 9 They come all of them for violence; 7 their faces are set eagerly 8as the east wind; and they gather captives as the sand. 109 Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him: he derideth every strong hold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it. 1110 Then shall he sweep by as a wind, and shall 11 pass over, and be guilty: even he whose might is his god. 12 Art not thou from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? 12 we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained him for judgement; and thou, O 13 Rock, hast established him for correction. 13 Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up 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 He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his meat 1 plenteous. 17 Shall he therefore empty his net, and not spare to slay the nations continually?

2

1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the 2 tower, and will look forth to see what he will speak 3 with me, and what I shall answer concerning my complaint. 2 And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it 4 hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay. 4 Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not 5 upright in him: but the just shall live 6 by his faith. 57 Yea, moreover, wine is a treacherous dealer, a haughty man, and 8 that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as 9 hell, and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples. 6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting 10 proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges! 7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall 11 bite thee, and awake that shall 12 vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? 8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.

9 Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! 10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. 11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity! 13 Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? 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 giveth his neighbour drink, that 13 addest thy 14 venom thereto, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! 16 Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and 15 be as one uncircumcised: the cup of the Lord’s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and foul shame shall be upon thy glory. 17 For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, 16 which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.

18 What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and the teacher of lies, that the maker of 17 his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? 19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple: 18 let all the earth keep silence before him.

3

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.

• • 2

    O Lord, I have heard 19 the report of thee, and 20 am afraid:
  • O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years,
  • In the midst of the years make it known;
  • In wrath remember mercy.

  • 3

    God 1 came from Teman,
  • And the Holy One from mount Paran. [Selah
  • His glory covered the heavens,
  • And the earth was full of his praise.

  • 4

    And his brightness was as the light;
  • He had 2 rays coming forth3 from his hand:
  • And there was the hiding of his power.

  • 5

    Before him went the pestilence,
  • And 4 fiery bolts went forth at his feet.

  • 6

    He stood, and 5 measured the earth;
  • He beheld, and drove asunder the nations:
  • And the eternal mountains were scattered,
  • The everlasting hills did bow;
  • 6 His goings were as of old.

  • 7

    I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction:
  • The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

  • 8

    Was the Lord displeased against the rivers?
  • Was thine anger against the rivers,
  • Or thy wrath against the sea,
  • That thou didst ride upon thine horses,
  • Upon thy chariots of salvation?

  • 9

    Thy bow was made quite bare;
  • 7 The oaths to the tribes were a sure word. [Selah
  • Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers

  • 10

    The mountains saw thee, and 8 were afraid;
  • The tempest of waters passed by:
  • The deep uttered his voice,
  • And lifted up his hands on high.

  • 11

    The sun and moon stood still in their habitation;
  • At the light of thine arrows as they went,
  • At the shining of thy glittering spear.

  • 12

    Thou didst march through the land in indignation,
  • Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.

  • 13

    Thou 9 wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,
  • 10 For the salvation of thine anointed;
  • 11 Thou 12 woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked,
  • Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck. [Selah

  • 14

    Thou 13 didst pierce with his own staves the head of his 14 warriors:
  • They came as a whirlwind to scatter me:
  • Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.

  • 15

    Thou 15 didst tread the sea with thine horses,
  • The 16 heap of mighty waters.

• • 16

    I heard, and my belly trembled,
  • My lips quivered at the voice;
  • Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in my place:
  • That I should rest 17 in the day of trouble,
  • 18 When it cometh up against the people 19 which invadeth him in troops.

  • 17

    For though the fig tree shall not blossom,
  • Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
  • The labour of the olive shall fail,
  • And the fields shall yield no meat;
  • The flock 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 salvation.

  • 19

    Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength,
  • And he maketh my feet like hinds’ feet,
  • And will make me to walk upon mine high places.

[1 ]Or, oracle

[2 ]Or, cause me to look

[3 ]Or, poeth not forth unto victory

[4 ]Or, one worketh

[5 ]Heb. He, and so in vv. 8, 9.

[6 ]Or, bear themselves proudly

[7 ]Heb. the eagerness (or assembling) of their faces is &c.

[8 ]Or, towards the east Or, forwards

[9 ]Or, And they scoff &c.

[10 ]Or, Then shall the wind sweep by, and he shall pass away

[11 ]Or, transgress

[12 ]According to an ancient Jewish tradition, thou diest not.

[13 ]See Deut. xxxii. 4.

[1 ]Heb fat.

[2 ]Or, fortress

[3 ]Or, by

[4 ]Heb panteth

[5 ]Or, straight

[6 ]Or, in his faithfulness

[7 ]Or, And also because his wine . . he is a haughty man

[8 ]Or, he shall not abide

[9 ]Heb. Sheol.

[10 ]Or, riddle

[11 ]Or, exact usury of thee

[12 ]Or, toss thee to and fro

[13 ]Or, pourest

[14 ]Or, fury

[15 ]Or, let thy foreskin be uncovered

[16 ]According to many ancient versions, shall make thee afraid

[17 ]Or, its

[18 ]Heb. be silent before him all the earth.

[19 ]Or, thy fame

[20 ]Or, was

[1 ]Or, cometh (and similarly to the end of ver. 15)

[2 ]Heb. horns.

[3 ]Or, at his side

[4 ]Or, burning coals

[5 ]Or, shook

[6 ]Or, His ways are everlasting

[7 ]Or, Sworn were the chastisements (Heb. rods) of thy word

[8 ]Or, were in pain

[9 ]Or, art come

[10 ]Or, For salvation (or victory) with thine anointed

[11 ]Or, Thou didst smite off the head from the house &c.

[12 ]Or, hast wounded

[13 ]Or, hast pierced

[14 ]Or, hordes Or, villages

[15 ]Or, hast trodden

[16 ]Or, surge

[17 ]Or, waiting for

[18 ]Or, When he that shall invade them in troops cometh up against the people

[19 ]Or, to invade them