Study Desk

The burden which Habakkuk ye Prophet did see.

O Lord, howe long shall I crie, and thou wilt not heare! euen cry out vnto thee of violence, and thou wilt not saue?

Why doest thou shew me iniquity, & cause me to behold grieuance? for spoiling and violence are before me: & there are that raise vp strife and contention.

Therefore the Lawe is slacked, and iudgement doeth neuer goe foorth: for the wicked doeth compasse about the righteous: therfore wrong iudgement proceedeth.

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marueilously: for I wil worke a worke in your daies, which yee will not beleeue, though it be tolde you.

For loe, I raise vp the Caldeans, that bitter and hastie nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possesse the dwelling places that are not theirs.

They are terrible and dreadfull: their iudgement and their dignity shal proceed of themselues.

Their horses also are swifter then the leopards, and are more fierce then the euening wolues: & their horsemen shall spread themselues, and their horsemen shall come from farre, they shall flie as the Eagle that hasteth to eate.

They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup vp as the East winde, and they shall gather the captiuitie as the sand.

And they shal scoffe at the Kings, and the Princes shall bee a scorne vnto them: they shall deride euery strong holde, for they shall heape dust & take it.

Then shall his minde change, and he shall passe ouer, and offend, imputing this his power vnto his God.

Art thou not from euerlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy one? we shall not die: O Lord, thou hast ordained them for iudgement, and O mightie God, thou hast established them for correction.

Thou art of purer eyes then to beholde euill, and canst not looke on ininquitie: wherefore lookest thou vpon them that deale treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked deuoureth the man that is more righteous then hee?

And makest men as the fishes of the Sea, as the creeping things, that haue no ruler ouer them.

They take vp all of them with the angle: they catch them in their net, and gather them in their dragge; therefore they reioyce and are glad.

Therefore they sacrifice vnto their net, and burne incense vnto their drag: because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.

Shall they therefore emptie their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?