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(10) At kings it scoffs, and lordlings are a derision unto it. This refers to the fact that they scorn the
great and mock the noble, make sport of kings and princes, and scoff at any numerous people.
It derides every stronghold: piles up an earthmound and takes it. This refers to the rulers of the
Kittaeans who scorn the strongholds of the peoples and tauntingly deride them, surrounding them with
a great host in order to capture them. (9) Through alarm and terror the latter are surrendered into their
hands; and they overthrow them through the iniquity of those who dwell in them.
(11) Then the wind sweeps by and passes: and another, (10) whose might is his God, proceeds to
wreak devastation. (11) This refers to the rulers of the Kittaeans. In their guilt-ridden Council House
(12) they keep replacing those rulers one after another, and each comes in turn to destroy the earth.
(13)
Another whose might is his God. This refers to [ ] all the peoples.
(12b-13) Him hast thou appointed, O Lord, to wreak the judgment: and him hast thou established, O
Rock, to proffer the charge—him who has kept his vision pure, that it could not look upon
perverseness. (14) This refers to the fact that God will not exterminate His people by the hand of the
heathen, but will place the execution of judgment on all the heathen in the hands of His elect.
Moreover, it is through charges proffered by the latter that the wicked among His own people will
stand condemned—that is, the people who kept His commandments only when they were in trouble.
This is what the Scripture means by the words, him who has kept his vision pure that it could not look
upon evil. The reference is to the fact that [God's elect] did not go a-whoring after (the lust of) their
eyes during the Era of Wickedness.
(13) Why dost thou look (idly) upon traitors, and keep silent when the wicked confounds (15) him that
is more righteous than he? This refers to the 'house of Absalom' (16) and their cronies who kept silent
when charges were levelled against the teacher who was expounding the Law aright, and who did not
come to his aid against the man of lies when the latter rejected the Torah in the midst of their entire
congregation. (17)
(14-16) Thou hast made men like fishes of the sea, like crawling things, that he may have dominion
over them. (18) He takes up all of them with the angle and hauls them in his net, and gathers them in
his drag. Therefore he sacrifices to his net: therefore he rejoices and makes merry; therefore, too, he
burns incense to his net: because thereby his portion is rich ... This again refers to the Kittaeans. What
with all their plunder, they keep increasing their wealth like a shoal of fish. And as for the statement,
therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his drag, this refers to the fact that they offer
sacrifice to their ensigns and that their weapons are objects of veneration to them. (19)
For thereby is their portion fat and their food rich.
This refers to the fact that they apportion among all the peoples annual assignments of forced labor (†)
and tribute designed to provide them with food, thereby devastating many lands. (20)
(17) Therefore does he bare his sword, (21) and never spares to slay nations. This refers to the
Kittaeans who destroy many by the sword—youths, adults (?) (22) and old men, women and children
alike—and have not pity even on the fruit of the womb.
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[†] Literally, 'their yoke'.
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~~ Chapter Two ~~
(1, 2) I will take my stand on my watch and post myself on my tower, and scan the scene to see
whereof He will denounce me and what answer I might give when He arraigns me. And the Lord took
up word with me and said: Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets that he who runs may read.
God told Habakkuk to write down the things that were to come upon the latter age, but He did not
inform him when that moment would come to fulfilment. As to the phrase, that he who runs may read,
this refers to the teacher who expounds the Law aright, for God has made him au courant (23) with all
the deeper implications of the words of His servants the prophets.
(3) For the vision is yet for the appointed time. Though it lags (24) toward the moment, it will not be
belied. This refers to the fact that the final moment may be protracted beyond anything which the
prophets have foretold, for 'God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform'. (25)
Though it tarry, yet await it; for it will surely come, it will not delay. This is addressed (‡) to the men
of truth, the men who carry out the Law [Torah], who do not relax from serving the Truth even though
the final moment be long drawn out. Assuredly, all the times appointed by God will come in due
course, even as He has determined in His inscrutable wisdom.
(4) Behold, his soul shall be swollen, not reduced therein (§) (26) This refers to the fact that they will
pile up for themselves a double requital (27) for their sins, and shall not be quit of judgment for them.
But the righteous through his faithfulness shall live.
This refers to all in Jewry (28) who carry out the Law [Torah]. On account of their labor and of their
faith in him who expounded the Law aright, God will deliver them from the house of judgment.
(5, 6) Moreover, because wealth (29) betrays, a man grows prurient (30) and behaves unseemly, (31)
in that he grows greedy like Sheol (32) and insatiable as death. All the nations are gathered unto him,
and all the peoples are amassed unto him. Shall not they all take up a parable against him and heap on
him jesting satire and say: 'Woe unto him who amasses what is not his! How long shall it last! He is
merely heaping pledges (which must someday be returned)!' (33)
This refers to the wicked priest who, when first he came to office, enjoyed a reputation for truth, (34)
but who, when he came to rule in Israel, grew arrogant and abandoned God, betraying His statutes for
the sake of wealth, plundering and amassing for himself the kind of wealth usually acquired by
criminals who have rebelled against God. He also took public property, thereby merely heaping upon
himself the penalty of guilt Furthermore, he practised abomination, involving every kind of impurity
and filth. (35)
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[‡] Literally, 'this refers'.
[§] Literally, 'Behold, his soul is swollen, not levelled therein'. In the Hebrew, the contrast is between
a protuberance and level ground. But it is virtually impossible to reproduce this effect in English.
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(7, 8a) Will not they suddenly rise who will 'put their bite' (36) on thee, and will they not (suddenly)
'sting' (37) who shall rudely disturb thee? ... Because thou hast plundered nations aplenty, all the rest
of the peoples (will) plunder thee? This refers to the priest who rebelled [and violated] the statutes of
God, thereby causing himself to be smitten with the judgments of wickedness. The horrors of evil
diseases acted upon him and he paid the price of his misdeeds in the body of his flesh. (38)
And as for the phrase, because thou hast plundered nations aplenty, all the rest of the peoples will
plunder thee, this refers to the final priests of Jerusalem who will amass for themselves wealth and
gain by plundering the people, but whose wealth and plunder will ultimately be delivered into the
hands of the army of the Kittaeans, i.e. 'the rest of the peoples'.
(8b) Because of human bloodshed and the violence done to land and city and to all that dwell therein.
This refers to the wicked priest. Because of the mischief which he had done to him who taught the
Law aright and to the men associated with him, God delivered him into the hands of his enemies, that
they might torture him with scourging and wear him out with bitterness of spirit for acting
unrighteously against His elect.
(9-11) Woe unto him who gets evil gain for his house, setting his nest on high, to be safe from the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]