CHAP. I. God's controversy for injustice. wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? The church is comforted. 8¶ Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. 12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have 9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful because I have sinned against him, until in their mouth. he plead my cause, and execute judgment 13 Therefore also will I make thee sick for me: he will bring me forth to the light, in smiting thee, in making thee desolate and I shall behold his righteousness. because of thy sins. 10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see 14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; it, and shame shall cover her which said and thy casting down shall be in the midst unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she not deliver; and that which thou deliver- be trodden down as the mire of the streets. est will I give up to the sword. 11 In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far 15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou removed. shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. 16 ¶ For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people. Ο CHAP. VII. 12 In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. 13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the WO is me! for I am as when they have flock of thine heritage, which dwell soli gathered the summer fruits, as the tarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: grape-gleanings of the vintage: there is no let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in cluster to eat: my soul desired the first the days of old. ripe fruit. 15 According to the days of thy coming 2 The good man is perished out of the out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto earth: and there is none upright among him marvellous things. men: they all lie in wait for blood; they 16 The nations shall see and be conhunt every man his brother with a net. founded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. 3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. 4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. 17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee. 18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the trans5 T Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not gression of the remnant of his heritage? he confidence in a guide: keep the doors of retaineth not his anger for ever, because thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. he delighteth in mercy. 6 For the son dishonoureth the father, 19 He will turn again, he will have comthe daughter riseth up against her mother, passion upon us; he will subdue our inithe daughter-in-law against her mother-quities; and thou wilt cast all their sins in-law; a man's enemies are the men of into the depths of the sea. his own house. 20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, 7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast I will wait for the God of my salvation; sworn unto our fathers from the days of my God will hear me. CHAP. I. Told. 1 NAHUM. adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his shite. HE burden of Nineveh. The book enemies. Therein of of Nahum the Elko- 3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the 2 God is jealous, and the LORD re-wicked: the LORD hath his way in the vengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furi-whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds ous; the LORD will take vengeance on his are the dust of his feet. The armies of God against, NAHUM. and miserable ruin of Nineveh. 4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it 5 He shall recount his worthies: they dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan shall stumble in their walk; they shall languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of make haste to the wall thereof, and the Lebanon languisheth. defence shall be prepared. 5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. 6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. 6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. 7 And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts. 8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, 7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in stand, shall they cry; but none shall look the day of trouble; and he knoweth them back. that trust in him. 8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. 9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. 10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. 9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant fur niture. 10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. 11 Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them 11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked afraid? counsellor. 12 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. 12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin. 13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her cha13 For now will I break his yoke from riots in the smoke, and the sword shall deoff thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. vour thy young lions: and I will cut of 14 And the LORD hath given a com-thy prey from the earth, and the voice of mandment concerning thee, that no more thy messengers shall no more be heard. of thy name be sown out of the house of CHAP. III. to the bloody city! it is all full of thy gods will I cut off the graven image Wes and robbery; the prey de and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile. parteth not; 15 Behold upon the mountains the feet 2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of of him that bringeth good tidings, that the rattling of the wheels, and of the publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy so- prancing horses, and of the jumping cha lemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the riots. wicked shall no more pass through thee: he is utterly cut off. 3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword, and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a E that dasheth in pieces is come up great number of carcasses; and there is CHAP. II. watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. upon their corpses: 4 Because of the multitude of the whore2 For the LORD hath turned away the doms of the well-favoured harlot, the misexcellency of Jacob, as the excellency of tress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them through her whoredoms, and families out, and marred their vine branches. through her witchcrafts. 3 The shield of his mighty men is made 5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy chariots shall be with flaming torches in skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the the day of his preparation, and the fir- nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms trees shall be terribly shaken. thy shame. 4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. 6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. 7 And it shall come to pass, that all they The iniquity of the land. CHAP. I, II. Vengeance by the Chaldeans. that look upon thee shall flee from thee, mies: the fire shall devour thy bars. and say, Nineveh is laid waste who will 14 Draw thee waters for the siege, forbemoan her; whence shall I seek comfort-tify thy strong holds: go into clay, and ers for thee? tread the mortar, make strong the brick 8 Art thou better than populous No, that kiln. was situate among the rivers, that had the 15 There shall the fire devour thee; the waters round about it, whose rampart was sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee the sea, and her wall was from the sea? up like the canker-worm: make thyself 9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, many as the canker-worm, make thyself and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were many as the locusts. thy helpers. 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants 10 Yet was she carried away, she went above the stars of heaven: the cankerinto captivity: her young children also worm spoileth, and flieth away. were dashed in pieces at the top of all the 17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and streets and they cast lots for her honour- thy captains as the great grasshoppers able men, and all her great men were which camp in the hedges in the cold day, bound in chains. but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. 12 All thy strong holds shall be like figtrees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. 18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. 19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the 13 Behold, thy people in the midst of bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee are women: the gates of thy land thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickshall be set wide open unto thine ene-edness passed continually? THE CHAP. I. ¶HABAKKUK. 10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and HE burden which Habakkuk the pro-the princes shall be a scorn unto them: phet did see. they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. 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! 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. 4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. 11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. 12 Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. 13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: 5 T Behold ye among the heathen, and wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal regard, and wonder marvellously; for I treacherously, and holdest thy tongue will work a work in your days, which ye when the wicked devoureth the man that will not believe though it be told you. is more righteous than he? 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 dwelling-places that are not theirs. 7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. 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. 14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 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. 16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. 17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? CHAP. II. 9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and WILL stand upon my watch, and set they shall gather the captivity as the sand.me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. 2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3 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. The prayer of Habakkuk. 18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? 19 Wo unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up, is the midst of it. not upright in him: but the just shall live 20 But the LORD is in his holy temple : by his faith. let all the earth keep silence before him CHAP. III. 5T Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keep. A PRAYER of Habakkuk the prophet eth at home, who enlargeth his desire as upon Shigionoth. hell, and is as death, and cannot be satis- 2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech and fied, but gathereth unto him all nations, was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in and heapeth unto him all people: the midst of the years, in the midst of the 6 Shall not all these take up a parable years make known; in wrath remember against him, and a taunting proverb against mercy. him, and say, Wo to him that increaseth 3 God came from Teman, and the Holy that which is not his! how long? and to One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory him that ladeth himself with thick clay covered the heavens, and the earth was 7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that full of his praise. shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex 4 And his brightness was as the light; thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto he had horns coming out of his hand; and them? there was the hiding of his power. 5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. 8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and 6 He stood, and measured the earth: for the violence of the land, of the city, he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and of all that dwell therein. and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting. 9 Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil! 10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. 11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction : and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. 8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses, and thy chariots of salvation? 12 Wo to him that buildeth a town with 9 Thy bow was made quite naked, acblood,and establisheth a city by iniquity!cording to the oaths of the tribes, even thy 13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the that the people shall labour in the very earth with rivers. fire, and the people shall weary them- 10 The mountains saw thee, and they selves for very vanity? trembled: the overflowing of the water 14 For the earth shall be filled with the passed by: the deep uitered his voice, and knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as lifted up his hands on high. -11 The sun and moon stood still in their 15 Wo unto him that giveth his neigh- habitation: at the light of thine arrows bour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, they went, and at the shining of thy glitand makest him drunken also, that thou tering spear. mayest look on their nakedness! the waters cover the sea. 12 Thou didst march through the land 16 Thou art filled with shame for glory: in indignation, thou didst thresh the drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be heathen in anger. uncovered: the cup of the LORD's right 13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation hand shall be turned unto thee, and shame- of thy people, even for salvation with ful spewing shall be on thy glory. thine anointed; thou woundedst the head 17 For the violence of Lebanon shall out of the house of the wicked, by discover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which covering the foundation unto the neck. made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. Selah. 14 Thou didst strike through with bis staves the head of his villages: they came God's severe judgment against cretly. CHAP. I, II. 17 Judah for sundry sins. Although the fig-tree shall not out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor se-blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the 15 Thou didst walk through the sea fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall with thine horses, through the heap of great be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: waters. 16 When I heard, my belly trembled;; 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I my lips quivered at the voice: rotterness will joy in the God of my salvation. entered into my bones, and I trembled in 19 The LORD God is my strength, and myself, that I might rest in the day of he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and trouble: when he cometh up unto the he will make me to walk upon my high people, he will invade them with his places. To the chief singer on my stringed troops. instruments. CHAP. I. 1ZEPHANIAH. ¡tled on their lees: that say in their heart, Tunto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the he do evil. son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the 13 Therefore their goods shall become 2 I will utterly consume all things from bit them; and they shall plant vineyards, off the land, saith the LORD. but not drink the wine thereof. 3 I will consume man and beast; I will 14 The great day of the LORD is near, consume the fowls of the heaven, and the it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty with the wicked; and I will cut off man man shall cry there bitterly. from off the land, saith the LORD. 15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of 4 I will also stretch out mine hand upon trouble and distress, a day of wasteness Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jeru- and desolation, a day of darkness and salem; and I will cut off the remnant of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick Baal from this place, and the name of the darkness, Chemarims with the priests; 16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the 5 And them that worship the host of heaven upon the house-tops; and them high towers. that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham; 6 And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor inquired for him. 17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. 7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the 18 Neither their silver nor their gold Lord GoD: for the day of the LORD is at shall be able to deliver them in the day of hand for the LORD hath prepared a sa- the LORD's wrath; but the whole land crifice, he hath bid his guests. shall be devoured by the fire of his jeal 8 And it shall come to pass in the day of ousy: for he shall make even a speedy the LORD's sacrifice, that I will punish the riddance of all them that dwell in the princes, and the king's children, and all land. such as are clothed with strange apparel. CHAP. II. ATHER yourselves together, yea, 9 In the same day also will I punish all gather together, O nation not de those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' house with violence and sired; deceit. 2 Before the decree bring forth, before 10 And it shall come to pass in that the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce day, saith the LORD, that there shall be anger of the LORD come upon you, before the noise of a cry from the fish-gate, and the day of the LORD's anger come upon an howling from the second, and å great you. crashing from the hills. 3. Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the 11 Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh,jearth, which have wrought his judgment; for all the merchant people are cut down; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it all they that bear silver are cut off. may be ye shall be hid in the day of the 12 Ånd it shall come to pass at that LORD's anger. time, that I will search Jerusalem with 4T For Gaza shall be forsaken, and candles, and punish the men that are set-Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive |