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Habakkuk 1

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1 τὸ λῆμμα ὃ εἶδεν Αμβακουμ ὁ προφήτης

1 This burden following was revealed to the prophet Habacuc.

1 Onus quod vidit Habacuc propheta.

2 ἕως τίνος κύριε κεκράξομαι καὶ οὐ μὴ εἰσακούσῃς βοήσομαι πρὸς σὲ ἀδικούμενος καὶ οὐ σώσεις 3 ἵνα τί μοι ἔδειξας κόπους καὶ πόνους ἐπιβλέπειν ταλαιπωρίαν καὶ ἀσέβειαν ἐξ ἐναντίας μου γέγονεν κρίσις καὶ ὁ κριτὴς λαμβάνει 4 διὰ τοῦτο διεσκέδασται νόμος καὶ οὐ διεξάγεται εἰς τέλος κρίμα ὅτι ὁ ἀσεβὴς καταδυναστεύει τὸν δίκαιον ἕνεκεν τούτου ἐξελεύσεται τὸ κρίμα διεστραμμένον

2 Lord, must I ever cry out to thee, and gain hearing never? Plead against tyranny, and no deliverance be granted me? 3 Must I nothing see but wrong and affliction; turn where I will, nothing but robbery and oppression; pleading at law everywhere, everywhere contention raising its head? 4 What marvel if the old teachings are torn up,[1] and redress is never to be found? Innocence by knavery circumvented still, and false award given!

2

Usquequo, Domine, clamabo,
et non exaudies?
vociferabor ad te, vim patiens,
et non salvabis? 3
Quare ostendisti mihi iniquitatem et laborem,
videre prædam et injustitiam contra me?
Et factum est judicium, et contradictio potentior. 4
Propter hoc lacerata est lex,
et non pervenit usque ad finem judicium;
quia impius prævalet adversus justum,
propterea egreditur judicium perversum.

5 ἴδετε οἱ καταφρονηταί καὶ ἐπιβλέψατε καὶ θαυμάσατε θαυμάσια καὶ ἀφανίσθητε διότι ἔργον ἐγὼ ἐργάζομαι ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ὑμῶν ὃ οὐ μὴ πιστεύσητε ἐάν τις ἐκδιηγῆται 6 διότι ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐξεγείρω ἐ{F'} ὑμᾶς τοὺς Χαλδαίους τοὺς μαχητάς τὸ ἔθνος τὸ πικρὸν καὶ τὸ ταχινὸν τὸ πορευόμενον ἐπὶ τὰ πλάτη τῆς γῆς τοῦ κατακληρονομῆσαι σκηνώματα οὐκ αὐτοῦ 7 φοβερὸς καὶ ἐπιφανής ἐστιν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸ κρίμα αὐτοῦ ἔσται καὶ τὸ λῆμμα αὐτοῦ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐξελεύσεται 8 καὶ ἐξαλοῦνται ὑπὲρ παρδάλεις οἱ ἵπποι αὐτοῦ καὶ ὀξύτεροι ὑπὲρ τοὺς λύκους τῆς Ἀραβίας καὶ ἐξιππάσονται οἱ ἱππεῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁρμήσουσιν μακρόθεν καὶ πετασθήσονται ὡς ἀετὸς πρόθυμος εἰς τὸ φαγεῖν 9 συντέλεια εἰς ἀσεβεῖς ἥξει ἀνθεστηκότας προσώποις αὐτῶν ἐξ ἐναντίας καὶ συνάξει ὡς ἄμμον αἰχμαλωσίαν 10 καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν βασιλεῦσιν ἐντρυφήσει καὶ τύραννοι παίγνια αὐτοῦ καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς πᾶν ὀχύρωμα ἐμπαίξεται καὶ βαλεῖ χῶμα καὶ κρατήσει αὐτοῦ 11 τότε μεταβαλεῖ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ διελεύσεται καὶ ἐξιλάσεται αὕτη ἡ ἰσχὺς τῷ θεῷ μου

5 Have you no eyes for the world about you? Look upon it with wonder and awe; in your own days here be strange deeds a-doing, so strange, a man would scarce credit them if they were told in story.[2] 6 What a nation is this I am spurring on to battle, the Chaldaean folk, so implacable, so swift! Ready to march the wide world over, so there be lands, not theirs, to covet! 7 A grim nation and a terrible; no right they acknowledge, no title, but what themselves bestow. 8 Not leopard so lithe as horse of theirs, not wolf at evening so fast; wide the sweep of their horsemen, that close in, close in from afar, flying like vultures hungry for their prey. 9 Plunderers all; eager as the sirocco their onset, whirling away, like sand-storm, their captives.[3] 10 Here be men that hold kings in contempt, make princes their sport; no fortress but is a child’s game to such as these; let them but make a heap of dust, it is theirs. 11 Veers wind, and he is gone; see him fall down and ascribe the victory to his god![4]

5
Aspicite in gentibus, et videte;
admiramini, et obstupescite:
quia opus factum est in diebus vestris,
quod nemo credet cum narrabitur. 6
Quia ecce ego suscitabo Chaldæos,
gentem amaram et velocem,
ambulantem super latitudinem terræ,
ut possideat tabernacula non sua. 7
Horribilis et terribilis est:
ex semetipsa judicium et onus ejus egredietur. 8
Leviores pardis equi ejus,
et velociores lupis vespertinis:
et diffundentur equites ejus:
equites namque ejus de longe venient;
volabunt quasi aquila festinans ad comedendum. 9
Omnes ad prædam venient,
facies eorum ventus urens;
et congregabit quasi arenam captivitatem. 10
Et ipse de regibus triumphabit,
et tyranni ridiculi ejus erunt;
ipse super omnem munitionem ridebit,
et comportabit aggerem, et capiet eam. 11
Tunc mutabitur spiritus, et pertransibit, et corruet:
hæc est fortitudo ejus dei sui.

12 οὐχὶ σὺ ἀ{P'} ἀρχῆς κύριε ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἅγιός μου καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνωμεν κύριε εἰς κρίμα τέταχας αὐτόν καὶ ἔπλασέν με τοῦ ἐλέγχειν παιδείαν αὐτοῦ 13 καθαρὸς ὀφθαλμὸς τοῦ μὴ ὁρᾶν πονηρά καὶ ἐπιβλέπειν ἐπὶ πόνους οὐ δυνήσῃ ἵνα τί ἐπιβλέπεις ἐπὶ καταφρονοῦντας παρασιωπήσῃ ἐν τῷ καταπίνειν ἀσεβῆ τὸν δίκαιον 14 καὶ ποιήσεις τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ὡς τοὺς ἰχθύας τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ ὡς τὰ ἑρπετὰ τὰ οὐκ ἔχοντα ἡγούμενον 15 συντέλειαν ἐν ἀγκίστρῳ ἀνέσπασεν καὶ εἵλκυσεν αὐτὸν ἐν ἀμφιβλήστρῳ καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτὸν ἐν ταῖς σαγήναις αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν τούτου εὐφρανθήσεται καὶ χαρήσεται ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ 16 ἕνεκεν τούτου θύσει τῇ σαγήνῃ αὐτοῦ καὶ θυμιάσει τῷ ἀμφιβλήστρῳ αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐλίπανεν μερίδα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ βρώματα αὐτοῦ ἐκλεκτά 17 διὰ τοῦτο ἀμφιβαλεῖ τὸ ἀμφίβληστρον αὐτοῦ καὶ διὰ παντὸς ἀποκτέννειν ἔθνη οὐ φείσεται

12 But thou, Lord, my God and all my worship, thou art from eternity! And wilt thou see us perish? Warrant of thine they hold, take their strength from thee, only to make known thy justice, thy chastening power![5] 13 So pure those eyes, shall they feast on wrong-doing? Wilt thou brook the sight of oppression, look on while treason is done? Innocence the prey of malice, and no word from thee? 14 As well had men been fishes in the sea, or creeping things, that ruler have none! 15 And indeed it nothing spares, hook of yonder Chaldaean; seine and drag he spreads for all, and great joy has he of his sport. 16 Nay, seine must have its victims, incense be offered to drag; whom else thanks he for the rich fare on his plate, viands most dainty? 17 Trust me, wider still yonder net shall be flung; sword of his will never have done with massacre.

12

Numquid non tu a principio,
Domine, Deus meus, sancte meus,
et non moriemur?
Domine, in judicium posuisti eum,
et fortem, ut corriperes, fundasti eum. 13
Mundi sunt oculi tui, ne videas malum,
et respicere ad iniquitatem non poteris.
Quare respicis super iniqua agentes,
et taces devorante impio justiorem se? 14
Et facies homines quasi pisces maris,
et quasi reptile non habens principem. 15
Totum in hamo sublevavit,
traxit illud in sagena sua,
et congregavit in rete suum.
Super hoc lætabitur, et exsultabit. 16
Propterea immolabit sagenæ suæ,
et sacrificabit reti suo,
quia in ipsis incrassata est pars ejus,
et cibus ejus electus. 17
Propter hoc ergo expandit sagenam suam,
et semper interficere gentes non parcet.

[1] ‘Are torn up’; according to the Hebrew text, ‘have lost their vigour’. The reference to teaching (that is, of the Law) shews that these verses refer to misdoings among God’s own people. But the prophet only cites these as an instance of man’s inhumanity to man in general.

[2] These verses, 5-11, put into the mouth of Almighty God, are a preface to Habacuc’s own protest against the barbarity of the Chaldaeans. Probably, although they are cast into the prophetic form, they represent facts which had already taken place at the time when this prophecy was made; Habacuc seems to have lived under the captivity (Dan. 14.32).

[3] The Hebrew text here is obscure; some think it means the Chaldaeans had their faces set towards the east, or perhaps simply ‘forward’.

[4] Literally, ‘Then a wind (or spirit) will be changed, and he (or it) will pass by, and he will fall down; this is the strength of his god’. The Hebrew text, which is slightly different, gives a doubtful sense and is perhaps corrupt.

[5] It is not clear whether this means God has raised up the Chaldaeans in order to punish the Jews, or in order to exhibit his justice by punishing, later, the Chaldaeans themselves.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd