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The Mercy of God

18 Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth the iniquity,

And passeth by the transgression of the
remnant of His heritage?

He retaineth not His anger for ever,
Because He delighteth in mercy.

19 He will again have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities;

And Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

20 Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham,

As Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

NAHUM

Divine Retribution

2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God,

The LORD avengeth and is full of wrath; The LORD taketh vengeance on His adversaries,

And He reserveth wrath for His enemies. 3 The LORD is long-suffering, and great in power,

And will by no means clear the guilty;

The LORD, in the whirlwind and in the storm

is His way,

And the clouds are the dust of His feet. 4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, And drieth up all the rivers;

Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, And the flower of Lebanon languisheth. 5 The mountains quake at Him,

And the hills melt;

And the earth is upheaved 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 broken asunder before
Him.

7 The LORD is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble;

And He knoweth them that take refuge in
Him.

8 But with an overrunning flood

He will make a full end of the place thereof,

And darkness shall pursue His enemies. 9 What do ye devise against the LORD?

He will make a full end;

Trouble shall not rise up the second time. 10 For though they be like tangled thorns, And be drunken according to their drink, They shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. 11 Out of thee came he forth,

That deviseth evil against the LORD,

That counselleth wickedness.

12 Thus saith the LORD:

Though they be in full strength, and likewise many,

Even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away;

And though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict

thee no more.

13 And now will I break his yoke from off thee, And will burst thy bonds in sunder.

1

HABAKKUK

The Problem of Evil

2 How long, O LORD, shall I cry,
And Thou wilt not hear?

I cry out unto Thee of violence,
And Thou wilt not save.

3 Why dost Thou show me iniquity,
And beholdest mischief?

And why are spoiling and violence before

me?

So that there is strife, and contention ariseth. 4 Therefore the law is slacked,

And right doth never go forth;

For the wicked doth beset the righteous;
Therefore right goeth forth perverted.

5 Look ye among the nations, and behold, And wonder marvellously;

For, behold, a work shall be wrought in your days,

Which ye will not believe though it be told

you.

6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans,

That bitter and impetuous nation,

That march through the breadth of the
earth,

To possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.
They are terrible and dreadful;

Their law and their majesty proceed from themselves.

8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, And are more fierce than the wolves of the desert;

And their horsemen spread themselves;

Yea, their horsemen come from far,

They fly as a vulture that hasteth to de

vour.

9 They come all of them for violence;

Their faces are set eagerly as the east wind;
And they gather captives as the sand.

10 And they scoff at kings,

And princes are a derision unto them;
They deride every stronghold,

For they heap up earth, and take it. 11 Then their spirit doth pass over and transgress,

And they become guilty:

Even they who impute their might unto their god.

12 Art not Thou from everlasting,

O LORD my God, my Holy One?

We shall not die.

O LORD, Thou hast ordained them for judg

ment,

And Thou, O Rock, hast established them for correction.

13 Thou that art of eyes too pure to behold evil,

And that canst not look on mischief,

Wherefore lookest Thou, when they deal treacherously,

And holdest Thy peace, when the wicked swalloweth up

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 angle, They catch them in their net,

And gather them in their drag;
Therefore they rejoice and exult.

16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net,
And offer unto their drag;

Because by them their portion is fat,
And their food plenteous.

17 Shall they therefore empty their net,
And not spare to slay the nations contin-
ually?

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I will stand upon my watch,

And set me upon the tower,

And will look out to see what He will speak by 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 a man may read it swiftly.

3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, And it declareth of the end, and doth not lie;

Though it tarry, wait for it;

Because it will surely come, it will not delay.'