1The pronouncement made by the prophet Habakkuk.
2How long, O ETERNAL One, shall I cry outAnd You not listen,Shall I shout to You, “Violence!”And You not save?
3Why do You make me see iniquity[Why] do You looka[Why] do You look Targum and Syriac “So that I look.” upon wrong?—Raiding and violence are before me,Strife continues and contention goes on.bgoes on Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
4That is why decision failsAnd justice never emerges;For villains hedge in those whose cause is just—Therefore judgment emerges deformed.
5“Look among the nations,Observe well and be utterly astounded;For a work is being wrought in your daysThat you would not believe if it were told.
6For lo, I am raising up the Chaldeans,That fierce, impetuous nation,Who cross the earth’s wide spacesTo seize homes not their own.
7They are terrible, dreadful;They make their own laws and rules.cThey make their own laws and rules Lit. “Their law and majesty proceed from themselves.”
8Their horses are swifter than leopards,Fleeter than wolves of the steppe.dsteppe Understanding ʻereb as synonymous with ʻarabah; cf. Jer. 5.6. Their steeds gallop—their steedsetheir steeds The Qumran Habakkuk commentary (hereafter 1QpHab) reads “and spread [wings].” Come flying from afar.Like vultures rushing toward food,
9They all come, bent on rapine.The thrustfthrust Meaning of Heb. uncertain. of their van is forward,And they amass captives like sand.
10Kings they hold in derision,And princes are a joke to them;They laugh at every fortress,They pile up earth and capture it.
11gMeaning of verse uncertain. Then they pass on like the wind,They transgress and incur guilt,For they ascribe their might to their god.”
12You, O ETERNAL One, are from everlasting;My holy God, YouhYou Heb. “we,” a change made by a pious scribe. never die.O ETERNAL One, You have made them a subject of contention;O Rock, You have made them a cause for complaint.
13You whose eyes are too pure to look upon evil,Who cannot countenance wrongdoing,Why do You countenance treachery,And stand by idleWhile the one in the wrong devoursThe one in the right?
14You have made humankind like the fish of the sea,Like creeping things that have no ruler.ithat have no ruler 1QpHab “[for him] to rule over”; cf. Gen. 1.28; Ps. 8.7–9.
15He has fished them all up with a line,Pulled them up in his trawl,And gathered them in his net.That is why he rejoices and is glad.
16That is why he sacrifices to his trawlAnd makes offerings to his net;For through them his portionjportion Emendation yields “bread”; cf. Gen. 49.20. is richAnd his nourishment fat.
17Shall he then keep emptying his trawl,kemptying his trawl 1QpHab “drawing his sword.” And slaying nations without pity?