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?

Wherefore wilt thou cause me to see vanity and cause me to look at labor? and oppression and violence before me, and there will be contention, and strife will be raised up.

For this, the law will be slack, and judgment will not go forth forever: for the unjust surrounds the just; for this perverted judgment will go forth.

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.

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.

Then, swifter than leopards, are his horses, and, more sharply they attack, than evening wolves, and forward have leapt his chargers, - Yea, his chargers, from afar, will come in, they will fly as an eagle hath hastened to devour.

Solely for violence, will he come, the intent of their faces, is - To the east! And he hath gathered, as the sand, a captive host;

And, he, over kings, will make merry, and, nobles, will be a scorn to him: he, at any fortress, will laugh, once he hath heaped up dust, he hath captured it!

Then his purpose will be changed, over-stepping the limit; he will make his strength his god.

Are You not from eternity, Yahweh my God?
My Holy One, You will not die.
Lord, You appointed them to execute judgment;
my Rock, You destined them to punish us.

You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look upon vexation. Why do You look upon those who deal deceitfully? Will you be silent when the wicked swallows one more righteous than he?

And wilt thou make man as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping thing no ruler over him?

And he brought up a completion with the book, he will drag him in his net, and he will gather him in his fishnet: for this he will rejoice and be glad.

For this he will sacrifice to his net and burn incense to his fish-net; for by them his portion fat and his food. growing fat

Will they therefore empty their net
and continually slaughter nations without mercy?

I will stand upon my watch, and set myself upon the tower, and will look forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I shall answer concerning my complaint.

And Jehovah will answer me and say, Write the vision, and grave upon the tablets, so that he shall run reading in it

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.

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

{How much less} the defiant; [the] arrogant, treacherous man? He who broadens his throat like Sheol, and who, like death, is not satisfied, and who gathers to himself all the nations, and harvested for himself all the peoples, will not succeed.

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?"

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.

Because you have taken their goods from great nations, all the rest of the peoples will take your goods from you; because of men's blood and violent acts against the land and the town and all who are living in it.

Your schemes will bring shame to your house. Because you destroyed many nations, you will self-destruct.

Surely, the stone out of the wall, will make outcry, - and, the tie out of the timber, will answer it.

Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed: The nations' efforts will go up in smoke; their exhausting work will be for nothing.

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the sea is covered by the waters.

You are full of shame in place of glory: take your part in the drinking, and let your shame be uncovered: the cup of the Lord's right hand will come round to you and your glory will be covered with shame.

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.

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?

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to wild and enthusiastic music.

O Yahweh, I have heard tidings of thee, I am afraid. O Yahweh! Thy work - in the midst of the years, O revive it, in the midst of the years, wilt thou make known? In trouble, wilt thou remember, compassion?

God will come from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran Silence. His majesty covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.

And the brightness will be as the light; horns to him from his hand; and he set the hiding of his strength.

Before his face shall go the word, and a flame will go forth at his feet.

He stood, and he will measure the earth: he saw, and he will cause the nations to tremble, and the mountains of eternity will be dispersed, the perpetual hills bowed down: the goings everlasting to him.

Against the rivers, is Yahweh wroth? Against the rivers, is thine anger? Against the sea, is thine indignation? For thou wilt ride on Thy horses, Thy chariots, shall be salvation!

In nakedness thou shalt raise thy bow, the oaths of the tribes, he said. Silence. Thou wilt divide the earth with rivers.

The sun, the moon stood in her habitation: at the light of thine arrows they will go, at the shining of the lightning of thy spear.

In wrath thou wilt march through the land in anger, thou wilt thresh the nations

Thou didst pierce with rods the head of the leader: they will rush on as a tempest to scatter me their exultation as to devour the poor in secret

When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

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

LORD, the Lord, is my strength. And he makes my feet like hinds' [feet], and will make me to walk upon my high places.