O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? How long shall I complain unto thee, suffering wrong, and thou wilt not help?

Behold, whoso will not believe, his soul shall not prosper: but the just shall live by his faith.

But the LORD answered me, and said, "Write the vision plainly upon thy tables, that whoso cometh by, may read it:

Why lettest thou me see weariness and labour? Tyranny and violence are before me, power overgoeth right:

His glory covereth the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. His shine is as the sun, and beams of light go out of his hands; there is his power hid.

for the law is torn in pieces, and there can no right judgment go forth. And why? The ungodly is more set by than the righteous: this is the cause that wrong judgment proceedeth.

For lo, I will raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and swift people: which shall go as wide as the land is, to take possession of dwelling places that be not their own.

A grim and boisterous people is it, these shall sit in judgment and punish.

Then shall they take a fresh courage unto them, to go forth and do more evil, and so ascribe that power unto their God.

Their horses are swifter than the cats of the mountain, and bite sorer than the wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come by great heaps from far, they flee hastily to devour as the Eagle.

But thou, O LORD my God, my holy one: thou art from the beginning, therefore shall we not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for punishment, and set them to reprove the mighty.

They shall mock the kings, and laugh the princes to scorn. They shall not set by any strong hold, for they shall lay ordinance against it, and take it.

Thou makest men as the fish in the sea, and like as the creeping beasts, that have no guide.

Destruction goeth before him, and burning cressettes go from his feet.

They come all to spoil: out of them cometh an east wind, which bloweth and gathereth their captives, like as the sand.

Wherefore they cast out their net again, and never cease to slay the people.

Like as the wine deceiveth the drunkard, even so the proud shall fail and not endure. He openeth his desire wide up as the hell, and is as insatiable as death. All Heathen gathereth he to him, and heapeth unto him all people."

They take up all with their angle, they catch it in their net, and gather it in their yarn: whereof they rejoice and are glad.

But shall not all these take up a proverb against him, and mock him with a byword, and say, "Woe unto him that heapeth up other men's goods: How long will he lade himself with thick clay?"

Therefore offer they unto their net, and do sacrifice unto their yarn: because that through it their portions is become so fat, and their meat so plenteous.

He standeth, and measureth the earth. He looketh, and the people consume away, the mountains of the world fall down to powder, and the hills are fain to bow themselves, for his goings are everlasting and sure.

I saw, that the pavilions of the Ethiopians and the tents of the land of Midian were vexed for weariness.

Seeing thou hast spoiled many Heathen, therefore shall the remnant of the people spoil thee: because of men's blood, and for the wrong done in the land, in the city and unto all them that dwell therein.

Wast thou not angry, O LORD, in the waters? Was not thy wrath in the floods, and thy displeasure in the sea? Yes, when thou sattest upon thine horse, and when thy chariots had the victory.

O how suddenly will they stand up, that shall bite thee, and awake, that shall tear thee in pieces? Yea, thou shalt be their prey.

Woe unto him, that covetously gathereth evil gotten goods into his house: that he may set his nest on high, to escape from the power of misfortune.

Thou hast devised the shame of thine own house, for thou hast slain too much people, and hast willfully offended:

Thou showedest thy bow openly, like as thou hadst promised with an oath unto the tribes. Selah. Thou didst divide the waters of the earth.

The mountains saw thee, and they tembled, the water stream went away: the deep made a noise at the lifting up of thine hand.

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, to get him wrathful displeasure for his drunkenness: that he may see his privities.

The Sun and Moon remained still in their habitation. Thine arrows went out glistering, and thy spears as the shine of the lightning.

The LORD God is my strength, he shall make my feet as the feet of harts: and he which giveth the victory, shall bring me to my high places, singing upon my psalms.

Woe unto him, that buildeth the town with blood, and maintaineth the city with unrighteousness.

But the LORD in his holy temple is he, whom all the world should fear.

so that the very stones of the wall shall cry out of it, and the timber that lieth betwixt the joints of the building shall answer.

God cometh from Teman, and the holy one from the mount of Paran. Selah.

{A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk for the ignorances} O LORD, I have heard thy voice, and was afraid.

Therefore with shame shalt thou be filled, instead of honour. Drink thou also, till thou slumber withal: for the cup of the LORD's righthand shall compass thee about, and shameful spewing instead of thy worship.

When I hear this, my body is vexed, my lips tremble at the voice thereof, my bones corrupt, I am afraid where I stand. O that I might rest in the day of trouble, that I might go up unto our people, which are already prepared.

Thou troddest down the land in thine anger, and didst thrash the Heathen in thy displeasure.

Thou makest a way for thine horses in the sea, even in the mud of great waters.

O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; in thy wrath remember mercy.

Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for the salvation of thine anointed. Thou smotest down the head in the house of the ungodly, and discoveredest his foundations, even unto the neck of him. Selah.

Shall not the LORD of Hosts bring this to pass, that the laborers of the people shall be burnt with a great fire, and that the thing whereupon the people have wearied themselves, shall be lost?

What help then will the Image do, whom the workman hath fashioned? Or the vain cast Image, wherein because the craftsmen putteth his trust, therefore maketh he dumb Idols?

For the wrong that thou hast done in Lebanon shall overwhelm thee, and the wild beasts shall make thee afraid: because of men's blood, and for the wrong done in the land, in the city, and to all such as dwell therein.

Thou didst strike through with his scepter, the heads of his plan people: which come as a stormy wind to scatter me abroad, and are glad when they may eat up the poor secretly.

Woe unto him, that sayeth unto a piece of wood, "Arise," and to a dumb stone, "Stand up." For what instruction may such one give? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath in it.

But as for me, I will be glad in the LORD, and will rejoice in God my Saviour.

For the earth shall be full of knowledge of the LORD's honour, like as the waters that cover the sea.

for the vision is yet far off for a time, but at the last it shall come to pass, and not fail. And though he tarry, yet wait thou for him, for in very deed he will come, and not be slack.

For the fig trees shall not be green, and the vines shall bear no fruit. The labour of the olive shall be but lost, and the land shall bring no corn: the sheep shall be taken out of the fold, and there shall be no cattle in the stalls.

Thine eyes are clean, thou mayest not see evil, thou cannot behold the thing that is wicked. Wherefore then doest thou look upon the ungodly, and holdest thy tongue, when the wicked devoureth the man that is better than himself?

I stood upon my watch, and set me upon my bulwark, to look and see what he would say unto me, and what answer I should give him that reproveth me.

Behold among the Heathen, and look well: wonder at it, and be abashed: For I will do a thing in your time, which though it be told you, ye shall not believe.

This is the heavy burden, which the Prophet Habakkuk did see.