The {Or, oracle}burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save.
Why dost thou show me iniquity, and {Or, cause me to look}look upon perverseness? for destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up.
Therefore the law is slacked, and justice {Or, goeth not forth unto victory}doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore justice goeth forth perverted.
Behold ye among the nations, and look, and wonder marvellously; for {Or, one worketh}I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.
For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.
{Hebrew: He, and so in verse 8, 9.}They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen {Or, spread themselves}press proudly on: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour.
They come all of them for violence; {Hebrew: the eagerness (or, assembling) of their faces is &c.}the set of their faces is {Or, towards the east}forwards; and they gather captives as the sand.
{Or, And they scoff &c.}Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him; he derideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it.
{Or, Then shall the wind sweep by, and he shall pass away}Then shall he sweep by as a wind, and shall {Or, transgress}pass over, and be guilty, even he whose might is his god.
Art not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? we shall not die. O Jehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast established him for correction.
Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he;
and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad.
Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food {Hebrew: fat.}plenteous.
Shall he therefore empty his net, and spare not to slay the nations continually?
Querverweise zu Habakuk 1,12 Hab 1,12
The eternal God is thy dwelling-place,And underneath are the everlasting arms.And he thrust out the enemy from before thee,And said, Destroy.
I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.
O Jehovah, I have heard {Or, thy fame}the report of thee, and {Or, was}am afraid:O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years;In the midst of the years make it known;In wrath remember mercy.
Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? now have I brought it to pass, that it should be thine to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
The Rock, his work is perfect;For all his ways are justice:A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,Just and right is he.
Therefore by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be {Or, expiated}forgiven, and this is all the fruit {Or, to take away}of taking away his sin: that he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, so that the Asherim and the sun-images shall rise no more.
Before the mountains were brought forth,Or ever thou {Hebrew: gavest birth to.}hadst formed the earth and the world,Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Thus saith Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of Jehovah that is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.
I shall not die, but live,And declare the works of {Hebrew: Jah.}Jehovah.
Arise, O Jehovah, {Or, Forestall}Confront him, cast him down:Deliver my soul from {Or, the wicked, who is thy sword}the wicked by thy sword;
How should one chase a thousand,And two put ten thousand to flight,Except their Rock had sold them,And Jehovah had delivered them up?
For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
Thy throne is established of old:Thou art from everlasting.
But ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you,
{Or, In the generations that come}In days to come shall Jacob take root; Israel shall blossom and bud; and they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.
Hath he smitten them as he smote those that smote them? or are they slain according to the slaughter {Or, of their slain}of them that were slain by them?
{The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain.}In measure, {Or, by sending them away}when thou sendest them away, thou dost contend with them; he hath removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.
Therefore by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be {Or, expiated}forgiven, and this is all the fruit {Or, to take away}of taking away his sin: that he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, so that the Asherim and the sun-images shall rise no more.
{Or, Woe to Asshur}Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation!
I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and {Hebrew: to make them a treading down.}to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.
For their rock is not as our Rock,Even our enemies themselves being judges.
For I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to save thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in {Hebrew: judgement.}measure, and will in no wise {Or, hold thee guiltless}leave thee unpunished.
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? {Or, Jehovah is an everylasting God, the Creator…he fainteth not &c.}The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding.
For thus saith Jehovah, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end.
Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? now have I brought it to pass, that it should be thine to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
There is none holy as Jehovah;For there is none besides thee,Neither is there any rock like our God.
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art Jehovah my God.
Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart {Hebrew: soundeth.}yearneth for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah.
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
But even in those days, saith Jehovah, I will not make a full end with you.
behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith Jehovah, and I will send unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about; and I will {Hebrew: devote.}utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Moreover I will {Hebrew: cause to perish from them.}take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Jehovah, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it {Hebrew: everlasting desolations.}desolate for ever.
And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
For many nations and great kings {Or, have made}shall make bondmen of them, even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of Jehovah, {See 2 Samuel 22:1-51.}who spake unto Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: and he said,I love thee, O Jehovah, my strength.
Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah; for I am with thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in {Hebrew: judgement.}measure, and will in no wise {Or, hold these guiltless}leave thee unpunished.
Thou, O Jehovah, {Or, sittest as King}abidest for ever;Thy throne is from generation to generation.
For I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to save thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in {Hebrew: judgement.}measure, and will in no wise {Or, hold thee guiltless}leave thee unpunished.
And I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon; and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.
and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons, {Proverbs 3:11 f.}My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord,Nor faint when thou art reproved of him;
{[Chapter 5:1 in Hebrew.]}But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the {Or, families See Judges 6:15.}thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, {Or, from ancient days}from everlasting.
Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which Jehovah did choose, he hath cast them off? thus do they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
Thus saith Jehovah: If my covenant of day and night stand not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will {Or, return to their captivity}cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Now unto the King {Greek: of the ages. Compare Hebrews 1:2; Revelation 15:3.}eternal, {Greek: incorruptible.}immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory {Greek: unto the ages of the ages.}for ever and ever. Amen.
Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah; for I am with thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in {Hebrew: judgement.}measure, and will in no wise {Or, hold these guiltless}leave thee unpunished.
who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power eternal. Amen.
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.
Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.
And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O my people.
And I will put my {Or, breath}Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it and performed it, saith Jehovah.
And, {Psalm 102:25 ff.}Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth,And the heavens are the works of thy hands:
They shall perish; but thou continuest:And they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
And as a mantle shalt thou roll them up,As a garment, and they shall be changed:But thou art the same,And thy years shall not fail.
Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; save that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, (yea) and {Greek: unto the ages.}for ever.
For, lo, I will command, and I will {Hebrew: cause to move to and fro.}sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, {Or, he who}who is and who was and {Or, he who}who is to come, the Almighty.
saying, What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.