HABAKKUK
1 The oracle of which Habakkuk the prophet had vision:
2 How long, O Yahweh, have I called out And thou wouldst not hear me? Have I kept crying unto thee of violence And thou wouldst not save?
3 Wherefore Shouldst thou let me see iniquity And wrong shouldst let me behold, And force and violence be straight before me,—And there should have ever been someone who contention and strife would uphold?
4 For which cause benumbed is the law, And there is never any going forth of justice,—For the lawless doth circumvent the righteous, For which cause justice doth go forth perverted?
5 Behold ye among the nations and look around, Yea stand stock still—stare,—For a work is being wrought in your days, Ye will not believe when it is recounted.
6 For behold me! raising up the Chaldeans, The bitter and headlong nation,—That marcheth to the breadths of the earth, To take possession of habitations not his.
7 Awful and fearful is he,—From himself his decision and his uprising proceed.
8 Then swifter than leopards are his horses And more sharply they attack than evening wolves, And forward have leapt his chargers,—Yea his chargers from afar will come in, They will fly as an eagle hath hastened to devour.
9 Solely for violence will he come, The intent of their faces is—To the east! And he hath gathered as the sand a captive host;
10 And he over kings will make merry, And nobles will be a scorn to him: He at any fortress will laugh, Once he hath heaped up dust he hath captured it!
11 Then hath he become arrogant in spirit And hath committed excess And so is guilty,—This his violence is due to his god.
12 Art not thou from of old, O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One? Thou diest not! O Yahweh, to judgment hast thou appointed him, And, O Rock, to correction hast thou devoted him:
13 [Thou] whose eyes are too pure to look with approval on wrong, To respect oppression canst not endure,—Wherefore Shouldst thou respect the treacherous? Be silent when the lawless swalloweth up one more righteous than he?
14 So wouldst thou have made Men Like the fishes of the sea,—Like the creeping thing that hath no ruler over it:
15 All of which with a hook one bringeth up, Raketh together with his drag And hath gathered with his net,—
16 On which account he is glad and exulteth: On which account He sacrificeth to his Net, And burneth incense to his Drag; Because thereby rich is his portion, and his food—fatness!
17 Shall he on this account empty his net? And the continual slaying of nations deem to be no pity?
2 Upon my watch-tower will I stand, And will station myself upon the bulwark,—So will I keep outlook to see—What he will speak with me and What I shall reply, when I am reproved.
2 Then Yahweh answered me and said, Write the vision, Yea make it plain on tablets, That one may swiftly read it;
3 For yet is the vision for an appointed time, Still it presseth towards an end, And will not deceive,—If it tarry wait thou for it, For it surely cometh,—Will not be too late.
4 Lo! as for the conceited one crooked is his soul within him,—But one who is righteous by his faithfulness shall live.
5 Moreover also when wine betrayeth A man is arrogant And findeth no rest,—Because he hath enlarged like hades his desire, Yea he is like death and cannot be satisfied,—But hath gathered unto himself all the nations, And assembled unto himself all the peoples.
6 Shall not these all of them against him take up—A taunt, A mocking poem, Enigmatical sentences—concerning him? And say—Alas! for him who maketh abundance in what is not his own, How long? that he should be burdening himself with heavy debts?
7 Will not thy creditors suddenly rise up? And they who shall violently shake thee all at once become active? Then shalt thou serve for booties unto them!
8 Because thou hast plundered many nations All the residue of the peoples shall plunder thee,—For shedding Human blood And doing violence To the earth, To the city And to all who dwell therein.
9 Alas! for him who extorteth an extortion of wrong for his own house,—That he may set on high his nest, That he may be delivered from the grasp of calamity.
10 Thou hast counselled shame to thy house—Making an end of many peoples And endangering thine own life.
11 Surely the stone out of the wall will make outcry,—And the tie out of the timber will answer it.
12 Alas! for him who buildeth a city with deeds of blood,—And establisheth a town with perversity.
13 Lo! is it not from Yahweh of hosts—That peoples labour for fire, And populations for emptiness weary themselves?
14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,—As the waters cover the sea.
15 Alas! for him who causeth his neighbour to drink, From the goblet of thy fury and also making him drunk,—To the end thou mayest gloat over their parts of shame.
16 Thou art sated with contempt more than glory, Drink thou too and expose thy person,—The cup of the right hand of Yahweh shall come round unto thee, And ignominious filth be upon thy glory;
17 For the violence [done] to Lebanon shall cover thee, And wasting by wild beasts shall cause them terror,—For shedding Human blood And doing violence To the earth, To the city And to all who dwell therein.
18 What hath a carved image profited, Though the fashioner thereof carved it? A molten image and a teacher of falsehood,—Though the fashioner of his fashioned thing trusted therein? That men should make Dumb Nonentities!
19 Alas! for him who saith to Wood, Awake Bestir thee! to a Silent Stone He shall teach! Though he is overlaid with gold and silver Yet no spirit whatsoever is in him!
20 Howbeit Yahweh is in his holy temple,—Hush before him, all the earth.
3 A prayer by Habakkuk the prophet,—in the manner of an Ode.
2 O Yahweh, I have heard tidings of thee, I am afraid. O Yahweh! Thy work—in the midst of the years O revive it, In the midst of the years wilt thou make known? In trouble wilt thou remember compassion?
3 God from Teman cometh in, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. [Selah. His splendour hath covered the heavens, And his praise hath filled the earth:
4 And a brightness as light appeareth, Rays out of his hand hath he,—And there is the hiding of his power.
5 Before him marcheth pestilence,—And fever goeth forth at his feet:
6 He hath stood and measured the earth, He hath looked and caused nations to tremble, And scattered as dust are the perpetual mountains And sunk are the age-abiding hills,—Forthgoings age-abiding are his.
7 Under distress saw I the tents of Ethiopia,—Tremble do the curtains of the land of Midian.
8 Against the rivers is Yahweh wroth? Against the rivers is thine anger? Against the sea is thine indignation? For thou wilt ride on Thy horses, Thy chariots [shall be] salvation!
9 To nakedness is bared thy bow, Oaths of chastisement—song! [Selah. With rivers thou dost cleave open the land.
10 The mountains have seen thee—they tremble, A downpour of waters hath passed along,—The roaring deep hath given forth his voice, On high—his hand hath he uplifted.
11 Sun, moon have stood still on high,—Like light thine arrows speed along, Like brightness is the flash of thy spear.
12 In wrath dost thou stride through the land,—In anger dost thou thresh the nations.
13 Thou hast come forth To the salvation of thy people, To salvation with thine Anointed One,—Thou hast crushed the Head out of the house of the lawless one, Baring the foundation up to the neck, [Selah.
14 Thou hast pierced with his own staves the head of his chiefs, They storm along to scatter me,—Their exultant thought is in very deed to devour the oppressed one in a secret place!
15 Thou hast driven into the sea thy chariot-horses. Foaming are the mighty waters!
16 I heard and I trembled within me At the voice my lips quivered, Decay entered my bones And in my limbs I trembled,—Though I am to find rest in the day of distress, When their invader cometh up against the people
17 Though the fig-tree should not blossom And there be no sprouting in the vines, The yield of the olive should have deceived And the fields not have brought forth food,—The flock have been consumed out of the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls
18 Yet I in Yahweh will rejoice,—I will exult in the God of my salvation.
19 Yahweh My Lord is my strength, Therefore hath he made my feet like hinds And upon my high places will he cause me to march along. To the chief musician on my double harp.