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The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see (1:1) O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! [even] cry out unto thee [of] violence, and thou wilt not save! (1:2) Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause [me] to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence [are] before me: and there are [that] raise up strife and contention (1:3) Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth (1:4) 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] (1:5) 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 (1:6) They [are] terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves (1:7) 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 (1:8) They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up [as] the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand (1:9) 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 (1:10) Then shall [his] mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, [imputing] this his power unto his god (1:11) [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 (1:12) [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? (1:13) And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, [that have] no ruler over them? (1:14) 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 (1:15) Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion [is] fat, and their meat plenteous (1:16) Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
(1:17)
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