Habakkuk 1

1The pronouncement # 1:1 Is 13:1; 30:6; Jr 18:18; Ezk 12:10; Hab 1:1; Zch 9:1; 12:1; Mal 1:1 that the prophet Habakkuk saw. # 1:1 Nm 24:4; Jb 19:26; Is 13:1

Habakkuk’s First Prayer

2How long, # 1:2 Ps 4:2; 6:3; 13:1 Lord, must I call for help # 1:2 Jb 19:7; Ps 5:2; Lm 3:8

and you do not listen

or cry out to you about violence # 1:2 Jr 6:7; Ezk 7:11,23; 8:17; 12:19; 45:9; Mc 6:12; Hab 1:9; 2:8,17

and you do not save?

3Why do you force me to look at injustice? # 1:3 Jb 4:8; Ps 5:5; Is 5:7

Why do you tolerate # 1:3 Lit observe, also in v. 13 wrongdoing?

Oppression and violence are right in front of me.

Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.

4This is why the law is ineffective

and justice never emerges.

For the wicked restrict # 1:4 Jdg 20:43; Ps 22:12 the righteous;

therefore, justice # 1:4 Ex 23:6 comes out perverted.

God’s First Answer

5Look at the nations # 1:5 DSS, LXX, Syr read Look, you treacherous people,# 1:5 Ps 2:1 and observe # 1:5 Gn 15:5 —

be utterly astounded! # 1:5 Gn 43:33; Ps 48:5; Ec 5:8

For I am doing something in your days

that you will not believe # 1:5 Gn 15:6

when you hear about it. # 1:5 Ac 13:41

6Look! I am raising up # 1:6 Ru 4:5 the Chaldeans, # 1:6 = the Babylonians

that bitter, # 1:6 Jdg 18:25 impetuous nation

that marches across the earth’s open spaces

to seize territories not its own.

7They are fierce # 1:7 Sg 6:4,10 and terrifying;

their views of justice and sovereignty

stem from themselves.

8Their horses are swifter # 1:8 2Sm 1:23 than leopards # 1:8 Is 11:6; Jr 5:6; 13:23; Hs 13:7

and more fierce # 1:8 Or and quicker than wolves of the night.

Their horsemen charge ahead;

their horsemen come from distant lands.

They fly like eagles, swooping to devour. # 1:8 Dt 28:49

9All of them come to do violence;

their faces # 1:9 Gn 48:11 are set in determination. # 1:9 Hb obscure

They gather # 1:9 Dt 11:14 prisoners like sand. # 1:9 Jos 11:4

10They mock # 1:10 2Kg 2:23 kings,

and rulers are a joke to them.

They laugh # 1:10 2Ch 30:10 at every fortress

and build siege ramps to capture # 1:10 Nm 21:32 it.

11Then they sweep # 1:11 Is 8:8 by like the wind

and pass through.

They are guilty; # 1:11 Or wind, and transgress and incur guilt their strength is their god.

Habakkuk’s Second Prayer

12Are you not from eternity, Lord my God? # 1:12 1Ch 29:10; Ps 90:2; 93:2; 103:17; Mc 5:2

My Holy One, # 1:12 Is 1:4 you # 1:12 Alt Hb tradition reads we will not die.

Lord, you appointed them to execute judgment;

my Rock, # 1:12 Dt 32:4; Ps 18:2 you destined them to punish us.

13Your eyes # 1:13 2Ch 6:20; 16:9 are too pure # 1:13 Ex 25:11; Ps 12:6; 19:9; 51:10; Pr 22:11; Ezk 36:25 to look on evil,

and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.

So why do you tolerate those who are treacherous? # 1:13 Jdg 9:23

Why are you silent

while one # 1:13 = Babylon who is wicked swallows up

one # 1:13 = Judah who is more righteous than himself?

14You have made mankind

like the fish of the sea, # 1:14 Ec 9:12

like marine creatures that have no ruler.

15The Chaldeans pull them all up with a hook,

catch them in their dragnet, # 1:15 2Kg 19:28; 2Ch 33:11; Is 37:29; Jr 16:16; Ezk 19:4,9; 29:4; 38:4; Am 4:2

and gather them in their fishing net;

that is why they are glad and rejoice.

16That is why they sacrifice to their dragnet

and burn incense to their fishing net,

for by these things their portion is rich

and their food plentiful. # 1:16 Dt 8:17; Is 10:13; 37:24–25

17Will they therefore empty their net

and continually slaughter nations without mercy?

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Chabakuk 1

1The burden which Chabakuk HaNavi did see.

2Until when, Hashem, must I cry for help,

and Thou wilt not hear?

Even cry out unto Thee: Chamas (violence!),

and Thou wilt not save?

3Why dost Thou show me iniquity,

and cause me to behold trouble?

For plundering and chamas are before me;

and there are those that raise up strife and contention.

4Therefore the torah is slacked,

and mishpat (judgment) doth never prevail;

for the rasha doth hem in the tzadik;

therefore mishpat (justice) proceedeth perverted.

5[Hashem says]: Behold ye the Goyim, and regard,

and wonder marvelously;

for I will work a work in your yamim which,

though it be told you, of it ye will have no emunah (faith).

6For, hineni, I raise up the Kasdim (Chaldeans),

that Goy bitter and impetuous,

which shall march far and wide over the earth,

to confiscate the mishkanot (dwelling places) that are not their own.

7They are terrible and dreadful;

their mishpat and their dignity shall proceed from themselves.

8Their susim also are swifter than the leopards,

keener than the evening wolves;

and their parash (cavalry) shall charge ahead,

and their parash shall come from afar;

they shall fly as the nesher (eagle), swooping to devour.

9They shall come all for chamas;

the swarm of their faces is directed forward,

and they shall gather captives as the sand.

10And they shall scoff at the melachim,

and the roznim (dignitaries) shall be a scorn unto them;

they shall laugh at every stronghold;

for they shall heap dirt (earthen ramps), and take it.

11Then they sweep on like the ruach (wind),

guilty men whose g-d is his own koach.

12Art thou not mikedem (from everlasting),#1:12 T.N. Also said of Moshiach, indicating Moshiachʼs coeternal divine nature: see Mic 5:1 [2]; see Dan 7:13-14; 3:12

Hashem Elohai (my G-d), Kedoshi (my Holy One)?

We shall not die.

Hashem, Thou hast appointed them for mishpat;

O Tzur, Thou hast ordained them for reproof.

13Thou art of eyes of tehor (pureness), not to behold rah,

and canst not look on wickedness;

why lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously,

and holdest Thy tongue when the rasha devoureth the tzaddik,

the man that is more righteous than he?

14And makest adam as the dagim of the yam,

as the creeping things, that have no moshel over them?

15They take up all of them with a khakkah (hook),

they catch them in their net,

and gather them in their dragnet;

therefore they have simcha (joy) and are glad.

16Therefore they make zevakhim (sacrifices) unto their net,

and burn incense unto their dragnet;

because by them their portion is sumptuous,

and their food plenteous.

17Shall they therefore empty their net,

and without mercy continually slay the Goyim?

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