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