yet they say they do well when they do evil. As the prince will, so sayeth the judge: that he may do him a pleasure again. The great man speaketh what his heart desireth; and the hearers allow him.

The best of them [is] like a brier; [the most] upright [worse] than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman, your punishment, has come; now their confusion will come.

Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, Jehovah will be a light unto me.

I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.

Then my enemy [all the pagan nations] shall see it,
And shame [for despising the Lord] will cover her who said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will look on her [with satisfaction at her judgment];
Now she (unbelievers) will be trampled down
Like mud of the streets.

A day for building your walls; [on] that day he will extend [your] boundary.

It shall be a day when the Gentiles will come to you
From Assyria and from the cities of Egypt,
And from Egypt even to the river Euphrates,
From sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.

But the earth will be a desolation because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds.

According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.

The nations will see and be ashamed because of all their might. They will lay [the] hand on [the] mouth; their ears will be deaf.

They will lick the dust like the serpent, like the crawling things of the earth. They will come trembling from their strongholds to Yahweh our God. Let them fear and be afraid of you.

He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Rebuking upon the sea, and he will dry it up, and all the rivers he laid waste, and Bashan languished, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languished.

The mountains shook from him, and the hills melted, and the earth will lift up from his face, and the habitable globe and all dwelling in it

Before the face of his wrath who shall stand? and who will rise up in the burning of his anger? his wrath was poured out as fire, and the rocks were torn down from him.

But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

For like entangled thorns, and like their drink which is drunk, they will be consumed like fully dry chaff.

Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

Look! On the mountains! The feet of the one who brings good tidings, the one who proclaims peace! "Celebrate [a festival], O Judah, Fulfill your vows! For he will not invade you again; the wicked one is cut off completely!"

The watchmen of Nineveh shout: "An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!" "Guard the rampart! Watch the road! Prepare yourselves for battle! Muster your mighty strength!"

For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob like the majesty of Israel; for ravagers have ravaged them and ruined [their] branches.

The shields deployed by Israel's elite forces are scarlet, their valiant men are clothed in crimson. When they are prepared, the polished armament on their chariots will shine, and lances will be brandished about ferociously.

The chariots race madly in the streets;
They rush wildly in the broad plazas.
Their appearance is like torches;
They rush in various directions like forked lightning.

He will remember to summon his finest troops. They will stumble on their way, hurrying over to Nineveh's wall. Their defensive shield is in place.

The river gates will be opened, and the palace will collapse.

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

Woe to that bloodthirsty city, which is all full of lies and robbery, and will not leave off from ravishing.

The chariot drivers will crack their whips; the chariot wheels will shake the ground; the chariot horses will gallop; the war chariots will bolt forward!

The charioteers will charge ahead; their swords will flash and their spears will glimmer! There will be many people slain; there will be piles of the dead, and countless casualties -- so many that people will stumble over the corpses.

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

Wilt thou be good above No, the builder dwelling among the rivers, the waters round about to her, whose strength the sea, from the sea her wall?

You too [Nineveh] will become drunk [with the cup of God’s wrath];
You will be hidden.
You too [Nineveh] will search [in vain] for a refuge from the enemy.

All your fortresses are [nothing but] fig trees with ripe figs—
When shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.

Look! Your troops [are like] women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars [of your gates].

But there [in the very midst of these preparations] the fire will devour you;
The sword will cut you down;
It will devour you as the locust does.
Multiply yourself like the creeping locusts;
Multiply yourself like the swarming locusts.

You have increased your merchants more than the stars of heaven; [like] the locust they will shed [their skin] and fly away.

Thy shepherds slumbered, O king of Assur: thy chiefs will lie down: thy people breathed upon the mountains, and none gathering.

There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you will clap [their] hands [for joy] concerning you, {For who has not suffered at the hands of your endless cruelty}?

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

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 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.

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 will his mind change, and he will pass on, and become guilty: this his power is become 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 he therefore empty his fishnet and continually kill nations without showing mercy?

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

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 for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Look, his ego is inflated;
he is without integrity.
But the righteous one will 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.

“Will all these [victims of his greed] not take up a taunting song against him,
And in mocking derision against him
Say, ‘Woe (judgment is coming) to him who increases that which is not his—
How long [will he possess it]?
And [woe to him who] makes himself wealthy with loans.’

“Will your creditors not rise up suddenly,
And those who collect from you awaken?
Then you will become plunder for them.

Because you plundered many nations, all the remaining nations will plunder you on account of the blood of humanity and violence [against the] land, [and against] cities and all who live in them.

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

“For the stone will cry out from the wall [to accuse you—built in sin!]
And the rafter will answer it out of the woodwork.

“Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts
That peoples labor [only] for the fire [that will destroy their work],
And nations grow weary for nothing [that is, things which have no lasting value]?

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, like the waters covering the sea.

“You will be filled with disgrace instead of honor.
Now drink and expose your own nakedness!
The cup [of wrath] in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you [O destroyer],
And utter disgrace will be on your own glory.

“For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you;
The destruction of the animals will terrify you
On account of human bloodshed and the violence done to the land,
To the city and all its inhabitants.

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.

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.

I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.

I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;

I will remove those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, those who swear allegiance to the Lord while taking oaths in the name of their 'king,'

And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.

In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

On that day—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
there will be an outcry from the Fish Gate,
a wailing from the Second District,
and a loud crashing from the hills.

“Wail [in anguish], you inhabitants of the Mortar (Valley of Siloam),
For all the merchants of Canaan will be silenced and destroyed;
All who weigh out silver will be cut off.

And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.