1

Or, as stubble fully dry

tangled thorns, and be drenched as it were in their drink, they shall be devoured 1utterly 11 as dry stubble. There is one gone forth out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, 12 'that counselleth wickedness. Thus saith the 2 Or, a wicked 3 Or,

LORD: Though they be in full strength, and counsellor
likewise many, even so shall they be cut
and he shall pass away.

4

Though I

down, worthlessness have Heb. Belial, And afflict thee, that I shall afflict

4 Or, So will I

and

&c.

13 afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. now will I break his yoke from off thee, 14 will burst thy bonds in sunder. And the LORD hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown : out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make thy grave; 15 for thou art vile. Behold, upon the mountains [Ch. ii. 1 in the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! Keep thy feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows: for the wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

2 I

Heb.]

5

6

Or. the worthlessness

man of

Heb. Belial.

He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. 2 For the LORD bringeth again the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred 3 their vine branches. The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots 'flash with steel in the day of Heb. are with fire of his preparation, and the 'spears are shaken steel. 4 terribly. The chariots rage in the streets, they? Heb. fir justle one against another in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches, they 5 run like the lightnings. He remembereth his worthies they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet 6 is prepared. The gates of the rivers are opened,

trees.

1 Or, And it

is decreed; she
is uncovered
&c.

2 Or, lead her

4 Or, from the days that she hath been

Or, causeth

them to turn

3

6

7

and the palace is dissolved. 1And Huzzab is uncovered, she is carried away, and her handmaids 'mourn as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their 'breasts. But Nineveh hath been 8 Heb. hearts. from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away; Stand, stand, they cry; but none 'looketh back. Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil 9 of gold: for there is none end of the store, the Or, wealth glory of all pleasant furniture. She is empty, 10 and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale. Where is the den of the lions, 11 and the feeding place of the young lions, where 7 Or, even the the lion 'and the lioness walked, the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid? The lion did tear 12 in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin. Behold, I am against 13 thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

old lion

Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies 1 3 and rapine; the prey departeth not. The noise 2 of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels; and pransing horses, and jumping • Or, charging chariots; the horseman mounting, and the 3 flashing sword, and the glittering spear; and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of carcases: and there is none end of the corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: because of the 4 multitude of the whoredoms of the well favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. Behold, I am against 5 thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will discover

9

2

See Ex. vii.

Nile.

4 Some

was the

thy skirts 'upon thy face; and I will shew the 1Or, before nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy 6 shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as 7 a gazingstock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters 8 for thee? Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate among the 'rivers, that had the Or, canals waters round about her; whose rampart was 19 'the sea, and her wall 'was of the sea? Ethiopia That is, the and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; 10 Put and Lubim were thy helpers. Yet was she ancient carried away, she went into captivity: her versions have, young children also were dashed in pieces at waters. the top of all the streets and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were I bound in chains. Thou also shalt be drunken, thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a "Or, a defence 12 strong hold because of the enemy. All thy All thy against fortresses shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs if they be shaken, they fall into the 13 mouth of the eater. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire 14 hath devoured thy bars. Draw thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortresses: go into the clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the Or. lay 15 brickkiln. There shall the fire devour thee; brickmould the sword shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the 16 locust. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm 7 Or, 17 'spoileth, and flieth away. Thy crowned are as spreadeth himself the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms 8 Or, scribes of grasshoppers, which camp in the 'hedges 9 Or, walls

6

hold of the

9

in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of 18 Assyria: thy worthies are at rest: thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them. There is no assuaging 19 of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee clap the hands over thee ; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

HABAKKUK.

1 I THE 'burden which Habakkuk the prophet 1Or, oracle

2

did see.

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and

3 thou wilt not save. Why dost thou shew

2

me to look

me iniquity, and 'look upon perverseness? for Or, cause spoiling and violence are before me: and there

Or, goeth not forth unto

4

victory

worketh

4 is strife, and contention riseth up. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgement 'doth never go forth for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore judgement goeth 5 forth perverted. Behold ye among the nations, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I Or, one work a work in your days, which ye will not 6 believe though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation; which march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. 7 'They are terrible and dreadful: their judgement and their dignity proceed from themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen 'spread themselves: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle 9 that hasteth to devour. They come all of them for violence; their faces are set eagerly as the east wind; and they gather captives as the sand.

Heb. He, and so in vv. 8, 9. themselves proudly eagerness (or assembling) of their faces is

6 Or, bear

7 Heb. the

dc.

Or, towards Or, forwards

the east