= &nb= sp; DASV: Digital American Standard Version

= &nb= sp; = DASV: Habakkuk 1

¹ The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk's First Complaint

² How long, O LORD, must I cry, and you not listen?

&nb= sp; I cry out to you "Violence," but you do not save.=

³ Why do you force me to view injustice?

&nb= sp; Why do you make me look at trouble?

For destruction and violence are before me;

&nb= sp; there is strife and conflict prevails.

⁴ Therefore = the law is paralyzed,

&nb= sp; and justice is never executed.

For the wick= ed surround the righteous,

&nb= sp; so that justice is perverted.

The LORD's Response
⁵ Look at the nations, and see.

&nb= sp; Be absolutely amazed.

For I am doi= ng a deed in your days

&nb= sp; which you will not believe,
&= nbsp; even if you were told about it.

⁶ For look, = I am raising up the Chaldeans,

&nb= sp; that ruthless and unruly nation.

They march over the entire earth,

&nb= sp; to seize dwelling places that do not belong to them.

⁷ They are dreadful and terrifying;

&nb= sp; they make up their own justice and promote themselves.

⁸ Their hors= es are swifter than leopards,

&nb= sp; and are more fierce than wolves in the evening.

Their horsemen cha= rge ahead,

&nb= sp; their horsemen come from far away;

they fly lik= e an eagle swooping down to devour prey.

⁹ They all c= ome for violence,

&nb= sp; with their faces fixed forward.

&nb= sp; = They gather captives like sand.

¹⁰ They mock kings,

&nb= sp; and ridicule rulers.

They laugh at every fortress,

&nb= sp; for they build earthen siege ramps,

&nb= sp; = and take them.

¹¹ Then they sweep by like a wind and go on,

&nb= sp; but they are guilty, whose might is their god.

Habakkuk's Second Complaint
¹² O LORD, are you not from everlasting?

&nb= sp; My God, my Holy One, you never die.
O LORD, you have ordained them to administer judgment;

&nb= sp; you, O Rock, have established them for correction.

¹³ Your eyes = are too pure than to gaze on evil;

&nb= sp; you cannot look on wrongdoing.

So why do you look= on those who deal treacherously?

&nb= sp; Why are you silent when the wicked swallow up

&nb= sp; = those more righteous than they are?

¹⁴ You have made people like the fish of the sea,

&nb= sp; as the creeping things that have no ruler over them.

¹⁵ The wicked hauls them up with a hook,

&nb= sp; he catches them in his net.

He gat= hers them in his dragnet,

&nb= sp; so he rejoices and is glad.

¹⁶ Then he sacrifices to his net,

&nb= sp; and burns incense worshipping his dragnet;

= for by them he lives in luxury,

&nb= sp; and has plenty of food.

¹⁷ Will he continue emptying his net,

&nb= sp; and keep on slaying nations without mercy?

= &nb= sp; = DASV: Habakkuk 2

¹ I will stand at my guard post,

&nb= sp; and station myself on the rampart.

I will watch= to see what he will say to me,

&nb= sp; and how I should respond concerning my complaint.

² Then the LORD answered me and said, =

&nb= sp; "Write down the vision,

&nb= sp; = and make it clear on tablets,

&nb= sp; so that the runner may easily read it.

³ For the vi= sion is for its appointed time,

&nb= sp; and it speaks about how things will end up,

&= nbsp; and it will not be proven false.

Though it de= lays, wait for it;

&nb= sp; it will surely come,

&nb= sp; = it will not be late.

⁴ Look at the proud,

&nb= sp; his soul is not upright in him;

&nb= sp; = but the righteous will live by his faithfulness.

⁵ Furthermor= e, wine is treacherous;

&nb= sp; the arrogant are never at rest.

They open their mo= uths as wide as the grave,

&nb= sp; and as death they are never satisfied.

They gather = to themselves all nations,

&nb= sp; and harvests together all peoples.

⁶ Will not all these take up a proverb agai= nst him,

&nb= sp; a saying ridiculing him, <= /o:p>

'Woe to him who accumulates what is not his!

&nb= sp; How long? He weighs himself down with heavy debts!'

⁷ Will not y= our creditors rise up suddenly,

&nb= sp; those who terrify you will get up?

&nb= sp; = You will become their plunder.

⁸ Because you have plundered many nations,

&nb= sp; all the survivors of the peoples will plunder you.

For you have shed = blood

&nb= sp; and done violence to the land,

&nb= sp; to the city and all its inhabitants.

⁹ Woe to the= one who gets evil gain for his house,

&nb= sp; so that he may set his nest on high,

&nb= sp; = attempting to escape from the hand of disaster!

¹⁰ You have plotted bringing shame to your house,

&nb= sp; by cutting off many peoples,

&nb= sp; = and have sinned against your own life.

¹¹ For the st= one will cry out of the wall,

&nb= sp; and the wooden beams will respond.

¹² Woe to the= one who builds a town by bloodshed,

&nb= sp; and establishes a city by injustice!

¹³ Look, is it not from the LORD of hosts

&nb= sp; that the peoples labor only to fuel the fire,

and t= he nations weary themselves for nothing?

¹⁴ For the ea= rth will be filled

with= the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,

&nb= sp; = as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵ Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink,<= o:p>

&nb= sp; pouring out your wrath until they a= re drunk,

so that you = can gawk at their nakedness!

¹⁶ You are fi= lled with shame, instead of glory.

&nb= sp; Now you will drink and expose your uncircumcised genitals.

The cup of L= ORD's right hand will come to you,

&nb= sp; and utter shame will cover over your glory.

¹⁷ For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you,

&nb= sp; and the destruction of the animals by which you terrified them;

because of h= uman bloodshed,

&nb= sp; and for the violence done to the land,

&nb= sp; to the cities and to all their inhabitants.

¹⁸ What benefit is an idol when a craftsman carved it?

&nb= sp; What good is a metal image, a teacher of lies?

Why does eve= n the one who makes them

&nb= sp; trust in speechless idols?

¹⁹ Woe to him that says to wood, 'Wake up,'

&nb= sp; To speechless stone, 'Arise!'

&nb= sp; = Can it instruct?

Look, = it is overlaid with gold and silver,

&nb= sp; and there is absolutely no breath in it.

²⁰ But the LO= RD is in his holy temple;

&nb= sp; let all the earth be silent before him."

= &nb= sp; = DASV: Habakkuk 3

¹ A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, accordi= ng to Shigionoth.

&nb= sp; = &nb= sp;
2 O LORD, I have heard the report about wha= t you have done,

&nb= sp; and stand in awe, O LORD.

Revive your work i= n our time;

&nb= sp; in the midst of these years make it known;

&nb= sp; in wrath remember mercy.

³ God came from Teman<= /span>,

&nb= sp; the Holy One from Mount Paran. = Selah.

His glory co= vered the heavens,

&nb= sp; and the earth was full of his praise.

⁴ His splend= or is like the light;

&nb= sp; rays flashed from his hand;

where = his power was hidden.

⁵ Pestilence went before him,

&nb= sp; and plague followed his feet.

⁶ He stood a= nd the earth shook;

&nb= sp; his gaze startled the nations.

The ancient mounta= ins shattered;

&nb= sp; the everlasting hills bow,

&nb= sp; = along his ancient paths.

⁷ I see the tents of Cushan in distress; =

&nb= sp; the tent curtains of the land of Midian tremble.

⁸ Was the LORD angry at the rivers?

&nb= sp; Was your wrath against the rivers?

Or your rage again= st the sea

&nb= sp; when you rode on your horses,

&nb= sp; = on your chariots to victory?

⁹ You brandi= shed your bare bow,

&nb= sp; calling for many arrows. &n= bsp; Selah.

You split the eart= h with rivers;

¹⁰ the mountains saw you and trembled.

The downpour swept through;

&nb= sp; the deep raised its voice,

= &= nbsp; and lifted its hands high.

¹¹ The sun and moon stood still in the sky,

&nb= sp; at the light of your arrows as they flew,

&nb= sp; = at the shining of your glistening spear.

¹² In rage you marched = though the land;

&nb= sp; in anger you threshed the nations.

¹³ You went o= ut to rescue your people,

&nb= sp; to save your anointed ones.

You wounded the le= ader of the house of the wicked,

&nb= sp; laying him open from head to toe. &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Selah.

¹⁴ You pierced the head of his warriors with his own spear.

They came = like a whirlwind to scatter us,

&nb= sp; rejoicing as they were devouring the poor who were in hiding.

¹⁵ You trample the sea with your horses,

&nb= sp; on the surging of mighty waters.

¹⁶ I listened and my belly trembled;

&nb= sp; my lips quivered at the sound.

My bones gav= e way like they were decayed,

&nb= sp; and I trembled in my place.

I must wait quietly for the day of calamity,

&nb= sp; coming on the people who invaded us.

¹⁷ Even though the fig tree does not blossom= ,

&nb= sp; and there is no fruit on the vines;

when t= he olive tree fails to produce,

&nb= sp; and the fields produce no crops;

even w= hen the flock is cut off from the fold,

&nb= sp; and there is no herd in the stalls;

¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

&nb= sp; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹ The sovere= ign LORD, is my strength.

&nb= sp; He makes my feet as agile as a deer's,

&nb= sp; and enables me to walk on high places.

To the music director, on my stringed instruments.