1. The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
2. O LORD, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear! even cry out unto you of violence, and you will not save!
3. Why do you show me iniquity, and cause me to behold trouble? for plundering and violence are before me: and there are those that raise up strife and contention.
4. Therefore the law is slacked, and justice does never go forth: for the wicked does surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds.
5. Behold you among the nations, and regard, and wonder and be astonished: for I will work a work in your days, which you will not believe, though it be told you.
6. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.
7. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed from themselves.
8. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen press proudly on, their horsemen shall come from afar; they shall fly as the eagle that hastens to eat.
9. They shall all come for violence: their faces are set like the east wind, and they shall gather captives as the sand.
10. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every stronghold; for they shall heap up earth, and take it.