| Chapter 1 |
1 |
The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw. -
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2 |
O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out to thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! -
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3 |
Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for devastation and violence are before me: and there are that raise strife and contention. -
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4 |
Therefore the law is slackened, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth encompass the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. -
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5 |
Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you. -
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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 dwelling-places that are not theirs. -
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7 |
They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed from themselves. -
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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. -
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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. -
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10 |
And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn to them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. -
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11 |
Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power to his god. -
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12 |
Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. -
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13 |
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: why lookest thou on them that deal treacherously, and keepest silence when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? -
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14 |
And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping animals that have no ruler over them? -
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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. -
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16 |
Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their food plenteous. -
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17 |
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? -
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