Chabakuk 1

1. The burden which Chabakuk HaNavi did see.

2. Until when, Hashem, must I cry for help, and Thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto Thee, Chamas (violence!), and Thou wilt not save?

3. Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold trouble? For plundering and chamas are before me; and there are those that raise up strife and contention.

4. Therefore the torah is slacked, and mishpat (judgment) doth never prevail; for the rasha doth hem in the tzadik; therefore mishpat (justice) proceedeth perverted.

5. [Hashem says:] Behold ye the Goyim, and regard, and wonder marvelously; for I will work a work in your yamim which, though it be told you, of it ye will have no emunah (faith).

6. For, hineni, I raise up the Kasdim (Chaldeans), that Goy bitter and impetuous, which shall march far and wide over the earth, to confiscate the mishkanot (dwelling places) that are not their own.

7. They are terrible and dreadful; their mishpat and their dignity shall proceed from themselves.

8. Their susim also are swifter than the leopards, keener than the evening wolves; and their parash (cavalry) shall charge ahead, and their parash shall come from afar; they shall fly as the nesher (eagle), swooping to devour.

9. They shall come all for chamas; the swarm of their faces is directed forward, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

10. And they shall scoff at the melachim, and the roznim (dignitaries) shall be a scorn unto them; they shall laugh at every stronghold; for they shall heap dirt (earthen ramps), and take it.

11. Then they sweep on like the ruach (wind), guilty men whose g-d is his own koach.

12. Art thou not mikedem (from everlasting, [T.N. Also said of Moshiach, indicating Moshiach’s coeternal divine nature: see Michoh 5:1[2]; see Dan 7:13-14; 3:12), Hashem Elohai (my G-d) Kedoshi (my Holy One)? We shall not die. Hashem, Thou hast appointed them for mishpat; O Tzur, Thou hast ordained them for reproof.

13. Thou art of eyes of tehor (pureness), not to behold rah, and canst not look on wickedness; why lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the rasha devoureth the tzaddik, the man that is more righteous than he?

14. And makest adam as the dagim of the yam, as the creeping things, that have no moshel over them?

15. They take up all of them with a khakkah (hook), they catch them in their net, and gather them in their dragnet; therefore they have simcha (joy) and are glad.

16. Therefore they make zevakhim (sacrifices) unto their net, and burn incense unto their dragnet; because by them their portion is sumptuous, and their food plenteous.

17. Shall they therefore empty their net, and without mercy continually slay the Goyim?