| 1 | The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. |
| 2 | O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! {even} cry out unto thee {of} violence, and thou wilt not save! |
| 3 | Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause {me} to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence {are} before me: and there are {that} raise up strife and contention. |
| 4 | Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. |
| 5 | Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for {I} will 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 shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces {that are} not theirs. |
| 7 | They {are} terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 10 | And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. |
| 11 | Then shall {his} mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, {imputing} this his power unto his god. |
| 12 | {Art} thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. |
| 13 | {Thou art} of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, {and} holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth {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 | 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. |
| 16 | Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion {is} fat, and their meat plenteous. |
| 17 | Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? |