Habakkuk 1 | » |
1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
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 show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For despoiling and violence are before me, and there are those 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.
5 "Behold ye among the heathen and regard, and wonder marvelously; for I will work a work in your days which ye 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 land 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 shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from afar; they shall fly as the vulture that hasteneth to eat.
9 They shall come all for violence; their faces shall consume as the east wind, and they shall gather the 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 dirt and take it.
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, 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.
13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
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 hook; 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?
About: The 21st Century King James Version (KJ21)
The 21st Century King James Version (KJ21) is an updated version of the King James Version Bible published in 1994 that remains aligned to the Textus Receptus, and does not exclude biblical passages based on Alexandrian Greek manuscripts. Unlike the New King James Version, it does not change the language significantly from the 1611 King James Version, keeping Jacobean grammar (including thee and thou), but it tries to substitute some of the vocabulary that may not be understood by the modern reader.
The alterations in words are based on the second edition of the Webster New International Dictionary. There were no changes related to gender or theology. Recently, it has the capitalization of pronouns much like New King James Version, addressing Deity while keeping the archaic pronouns.
The reader should notice almost no difference from reading the King James Version except that certain archaic words have been replaced with words that are more understandable in modern English. The translation is directed towards readers who are looking for a very conservative King James update, but reduce the use of obsolete words.