1 The burden concerning Nineveh. The sefer chazon (book of the vision) of Nachum of Elkosh.

² A jealous G-d and taking vengeance is Hashem; an avenger is Hashem, Ba’al Chemah (L-rd of Wrathful Fury); Hashem will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies.

³ Hashem is slow to anger, and great in ko’ach, and will not at all leave the guilty unpunished; Hashem hath His way in the whirlwind and in the tempest, and the anan (clouds) are the dust of His feet.

⁴ Hashem rebuketh the yam, and drieth it up, and maketh all the neharot (rivers) run dry; Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of the Levanon fadeth.

⁵ The mountains quake before Hashem, and the hills melt away, and ha’aretz heaveth at His presence, yea, tevel (the world), and all that dwell therein.

⁶ Who can stand before Hashem’s fury? And who can endure His charon af (burning anger, see Ro 1:18)? His chemah (wrath) is poured out like eish (fire) and the tzurim (rocks) are rent in pieces before Him.

⁷ Hashem is tov, a maoz (stronghold) in the Yom Tzarah; and Hashem knoweth them that take refuge in Him.

⁸ But with an overwhelming flood He will make an utter end of her [Nineveh’s] site, and Hashem shall pursue His enemies into choshech.

⁹ Whatever plot ye against Hashem, Hashem will make an utter end of anyone doing it; tzarah (affliction) will not arise a second time.

¹⁰ For while they be twisted together as sirim (thorns), and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

¹¹ There is one come out of thee [see 1:1], that imagineth evil against Hashem, a yo’etz Beliya’al (a counselor of Beliya’al [i.e., Sennacherib]).

¹² Thus saith Hashem: Though they are strong, and likewise rabbim, yet shall they thus be cut down, and he [the Assyrian] shall pass away. Though I have afflicted thee [O Yehudah], I will afflict thee no more.

¹³ For now will I break his motah (yoke) from off thee, and will break thy fetters in pieces.

¹⁴ And Hashem hath given a command concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown [i.e., to perpetuate his name]; out of the bais of thy g-ds will I cut off the pesel (graven image) and the molten image; I prepare thy kever (grave); for thou art vile.

^15 (2:1) Hinei, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth Besorah (Good News), that publisheth Shalom! O Yehudah, keep thy chagim, fulfill thy nedarim; for the Beliya’al shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

3 Hoy (woe) to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city [i.e.,Jerusalem]!

² She obeyed not the voice; she received not musar (correction); her bitachon (trust) was not in Hashem; she drew not near to her G-d.

³ Her sarim (princes) within her are roaring arayot; her shofetim are evening wolves; they leave nothing for the boker (morning).

⁴ Her nevi’im are arrogant, anshei bogedot (treacherous persons); her kohanim have profaned the kodesh, they have done violence to the torah [T.N. which they were ordained to faithfully observe and teach].

⁵ Hashem Tzaddik is in the midst thereof; He will do no injustice; boker by boker doth Hashem dispense mishpat; He faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no boshet (shame).

⁶ I have cut off the Goyim; their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no ish (man), that there is no inhabitant.

⁷ I said, Surely thou wilt fear Me, thou wilt accept musar (correction, instruction); so that her dwelling place should not be cut off, despite everything for which I punished her; but they rose early [i.e., eagerly], and corrupted all their doings.

⁸ Therefore wait ye upon Me, saith Hashem, until the Yom that I rise up for a witness; for My determination is to gather the Goyim, that I may assemble the mamlachot, to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My charon af; for kol ha’aretz (all the earth) shall be devoured with the eish of My kina (jealousy).

⁹ For then will I restore to the people a safah berurah (pure language, purified lip), that they may all call upon the Shem Hashem, to serve Him with shekhem echad (one shoulder, one accord).

¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My suppliants, even the daughter of My dispersed, shall bring Mine minchah.

¹¹ In that Yom shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against Me; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy ga’avah (pride), and thou shalt no more be haughty because of My Har Hakodesh.

¹² I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall take refuge in the Shem Hashem.

¹³ The she’erit Yisroel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a leshon tarmit (tongue of deceitfulness) be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

¹⁴ Sing, O Bat Tziyon; shout, O Yisroel; be glad and rejoice with all the lev, O Bat Yerushalayim.

¹⁵ Hashem hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy. The Melech Yisroel, even Hashem, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more.

¹⁶ In that Yom it shall be said to Yerushalayim, Fear thou not; and to Tziyon, Let not thine hands hang limp.

¹⁷ Hashem thy G-d in the midst of thee is gibbor; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with simchah; He will quiet [you] in His ahavah (love), He will joy over thee with singing.

¹⁸ They that mourn I will gather for the mo’ed (time of the feast), who are of thee [O Tziyon], to whom the cherpah (reproach of the Golus) presses upon them [see 2C 7:10].

¹⁹ Hinei, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee; and I will save her that is lame, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land of their boshet (shame).

²⁰ At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you; for I will make you a shem and a tehillah among Kol Amei Ha’aretz (all the peoples of the earth), when I turn back your captivity and restore your fortunes before your eyes, saith Hashem.

1 Divrei Yirmeyah ben Chilkiyah, of the kohanim that were in Anatot in Eretz Binyamin;

² To whom the Devar Hashem came in the days of Yoshiyah ben Amon Melech Yehudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign [i.e., 627.B.C.E.).

³ And in the days of Y’hoyakim ben Yoshiyah Melech Yehudah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Tzidkiyah ben Yoshiyah Melech Yehudah, that is, until the Golus Yerushalayim captive in the fifth month [i.e., 587 B.C.E.].

⁴ Then the Devar Hashem came unto me, saying,

⁵ Before I formed thee in the beten I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the rechem I set thee apart as kodesh, and I ordained thee a navi unto the Goyim.

⁶ Then said I, Ah, Adonoi Hashem! hinei, I have no da’as to speak; for I am a na’ar.

⁷ But Hashem said unto me, Say not, Na’ar anochi; for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.

⁸ Be not afraid of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith Hashem.

⁹ Then Hashem put forth His yad, and touched my mouth. And Hashem said unto me, Hinei, I put My words in thy mouth.

¹⁰ See, I have this yom set thee over the Goyim and over the mamlachot (kingdoms), to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy, and to demolish, to build, and to plant.

¹¹ Moreover the Devar Hashem came unto me, saying, Yirmeyah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a makel SHAQED (a branch of an almond tree).

¹² Then said Hashem unto me, Thou hast well seen: for SHOQED (WATCHING) I am over My Devar to carry it out.

¹³ And the Devar Hashem came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a SIYR NAFUACH (A BOILING CAULDRON) tipping over from the north.

¹⁴ Then Hashem said unto me, From the north hara’ah (the evil, disaster) TIPATACH (SHALL BE POURED OUT) upon all the inhabitants of HaAretz.

¹⁵ For, hineni, I am now summoning all the mishpekhot mamlechot of the north, saith Hashem; they shall come, they shall set every one his kisse at the petach Sha’arei Yerushalayim, and against all the surrounding chomot thereof, against all the towns of Yehudah.

¹⁶ And I will pronounce My mishpatim against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me, and have burned ketoret unto elohim acherim, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

¹⁷ Thou therefore tighten thy gartel of readiness, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee; be not fearful before them, lest I make thee fearful before them.

¹⁸ For, hinei, I have made thee today an ir mivtzar (a fortified city), and an ammud barzel, and a chomat nechoshet against kol HaAretz, against the melachim of Yehudah, against the sarim thereof, against the kohanim thereof, and against the am ha’aretz.

¹⁹ And they shall make war against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith Hashem, to deliver thee.

2 Moreover the Devar Hashem came to me, saying,

² Go and cry, shouting in the ears of Yerushalayim, saying, Thus saith Hashem; I remember thee, the chesed of thy ne’urim, the ahavas of thy days as a kallah, when thou wentest after Me in midbar, in an eretz that was not sown.

³ Yisroel was Kodesh unto Hashem, and the reshit (firstfruit) of his tevu’ah (crop): all that devour him are held guilty; ra’ah shall overtake them, saith Hashem.

⁴ Hear ye the Devar Hashem, O Beis Ya’akov, and all the mishpekhot of Bais Yisroel:

⁵ Thus saith Hashem, What avel (wrong, fault) have avoteichem found in Me, that they are strayed far from Me, and have walked after hevel (vain, empty delusion), and are become deluded?

⁶ Neither did they ask, Where is Hashem that brought us up out of Eretz Mitzrayim, that led us through the midbar, through an eretz of deserts and pits, through an eretz tziyyah (land of drought) and tzalmavet, through eretz that no ish passed through, where no adam dwelt?

⁷ And I brought you into an eretz hacarmel, to eat the pri thereof and the tovah thereof; but when ye entered, ye made My land tameh, and made My nachalah a to’evah.

⁸ The Kohanim asked not, Where is Hashem? And they that handle the Torah had no da’as of Me; the ro’im also rebelled against Me, and the nevi’im prophesied by Ba’al, and walked after worthless things.

⁹ Therefore I will yet bring lawsuit against you, saith Hashem, and against bnei beneichem will I bring lawsuit.

¹⁰ For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and look; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has ever been anything like this.

¹¹ Hath ever a nation changed elohim, and these no elohim at all? But My people have exchanged their kavod for that which is worthless.

¹² Be appalled, O ye Shomayim, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith Hashem.

¹³ For Ami have committed shtayim ra’ot (two evils); they have forsaken Me, the fountain of Mayim Chayim, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no mayim.

¹⁴ Is Yisroel an eved? Is he a homeborn slave? Why has he become plunder?

¹⁵ The young lions roared upon him, and growled, and they made his [Israel’s] Eretz waste; his towns are burned without inhabitant.

¹⁶ Also the Bnei Noph and Tachpanhes have broken the crown of thy head.

¹⁷ Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Hashem Eloheicha, when He led thee by the derech?

¹⁸ And now what hast thou to do in the derech Mitzrayim, to drink the waters of the Shichor [[Nile] River]? Or what hast thou to do in the derech Ashur (Assyria), to drink the waters of the Euphrates [River]?

¹⁹ Thine own ra’ah shall correct thee, and thy meshuvot (backslidings) shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and mar (bitter), that thou hast forsaken Hashem Eloheicha, and that My pachad is not in thee, saith Adonoi Hashem Tzva’os.

²⁰ For long ago I have broken thy ol (yoke), and tore off thy bonds; and thou saidst, I will not serve; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou hast sprawled, playing the zonah.

²¹ Yet I had planted thee a choice vine, wholly a zera emes. How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a gefen nochriyah unto Me?

²² For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine avon (iniquity) is marked before Me, saith Adonoi Hashem.

²³ How canst thou say, I am not tameh, I have not gone after Ba’alim? See thy derech in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift camel traversing her ways;

²⁴ A pereh used to the midbar, that sniffs up the ruach in the craving of her nefesh; in her occasion [of heat] who can turn her away? All they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

²⁵ Withhold thy regel from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst; but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved zarim, and after them will I go.

²⁶ As the ganav is ashamed when he is caught, so is the Bais Yisroel ashamed; they, their melachim, their sarim, and their kohanim, and their nevi’im.

²⁷ Saying to Etz (wood), Thou art Avi; and to Even (stone), Thou hast brought me forth; for they have turned their back unto Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and hoshi’einu (save us).

²⁸ But where are thy elohim that thou hast made for thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble; for as many as are the mispar (number) of thy towns are thy elohim, O Yehudah.

²⁹ Why will ye bring lawsuit against Me? Ye all have rebelled against Me, saith Hashem.

³⁰ In vain have I struck your banim; they received no musar [cf Isa 53:5]; your own cherev hath devoured your nevi’im, like a destroying lion.

³¹ O HaDor (Generation), heed ye the Devar Hashem. Have I been a midbar unto Yisroel? An eretz of great darkness? Madu’a (why) say Ami, We are free; we will come no more unto Thee?

³² Can a betulah forget her jewelry, or a kallah her adornments? Yet My people have forgotten Me yamim ein mispar (days without number).

³³ How well thou direct thy derech to seek ahavah? Therefore hast thou also taught hara’ot (the worst women) the darkhei (ways) of thee.

³⁴ Also in thy skirts is found the dahm of the nefashot of the innocent poor; although you never caught them breaking in. Yet concerning all these

³⁵ Thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me. Hineni, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, Loh chatati (I have not sinned).

³⁶ Why doest thou gad about so much to change the course of thy derech? Thou also shalt be ashamed of Mitzrayim, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.

³⁷ Yea, thou shalt go forth from this [dependence on religiously entangling and compromising foreign allies], and thine hands upon thine head; for Hashem hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

3 They say, If an ish put away [in divorce] his isha, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? Shall not that eretz be defiled and forbidden? But thou hast played the zonah with re’im rabbim (many lovers); yet shuv (turn) to Me, saith Hashem.

² Lift up thine eyes unto the hilltops, and see! Where hast thou not been lain with? In the drakhim (ways, roads) hast thou sat [waiting] for them, as the nomad in the midbar; and thou hast defiled the eretz with thy zenut (whoredom, prostitution) and with thy ra’ah (wickedness).

³ Therefore the revivim (showers) have been withheld, and there hath been no malkosh (latter rain, spring rain); and thou hadst a metzach isha zonah (whore’s forehead), and thou refusedst to blush with shame.

⁴ Wilt thou not from this time cry unto Me, Avi, Thou art the Alluf (Guide, Friend) of my neurim (youth)?

⁵ Will He reserve His anger l’olam? Will He keep it lanetzach? Hinei, this is what you preach, but you practice all hara’ot (the evils) you can.

⁶ Hashem said also unto me in the days of Yoshiyah HaMelech, Hast thou seen that which meshuvah Yisroel (backsliding Yisroel) hath done? She is gone up upon every high hill and under every green tree, and there hath played the zonah.

⁷ And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto Me. But she returned not. And her treacherous achot Yehudah saw it [i.e., saw Israel’s refusal to renounce fertility cult idolatry].

⁸ And I saw, when for all the causes whereby meshuvah Yisroel (backsliding Yisroel) committed adultery, I had put her away, and given her a sefer keritut (bill of divorce); yet her treacherous achot Yehudah feared not, but went and played the zonah also.

⁹ And it came to pass through the lightness with which she [Yisroel] took her zenut (whoredom), that she defiled HaAretz, and committed adultery with HaEven (the Stone [of the fertility cult of Ba’al worship]) and with HaEtz (the Wood [of the fertility cult of Ba’al worship]).

¹⁰ And yet for all this her treacherous achot Yehudah hath not returned unto Me with her kol lev, but in sheker (falsity, pretense, an insincere religious spirit), saith Hashem.

¹¹ And Hashem said unto me, Meshuvah Yisroel hath come nearer to justifying herself than treacherous Yehudah.

¹² Go and proclaim these devarim toward the north, and say, Return, thou meshuvah Yisroel, saith Hashem; and I will not cast down Mine anger to fall upon you; for I am chasid (displaying chesed, mercy), saith Hashem, and I will not keep anger l’olam.

¹³ Only acknowledge thine avon (iniquity, guilt of wrongdoing), that thou hast rebelled against Hashem your G-d, and hast scattered thy favors to the zarim under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed My voice, saith Hashem.

¹⁴ Shuvu (Turn), O banim shovaviv (backsliding children), saith Hashem; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one from a town, and two from a mishpakhah, and I will bring you to Tziyon:

¹⁵ And I will give you ro’im according to Mine lev, which shall feed you with da’as and seichel.

¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in HaAretz, in those days, saith Hashem, they shall say no more, The Aron Brit Hashem: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they ask for it; neither shall another be fashioned.

¹⁷ At that time they shall call Yerushalayim the Kisse Hashem; and all the Goyim shall be gathered unto it, to the Shem Hashem, to Yerushalayim; neither shall they walk any more after the sherirut libam harah (the stubbornness of their evil heart).

¹⁸ In those days Bais Yehudah shall walk with Bais Yisroel, and they shall come together out of the eretz tzafon to HaAretz that I have given for a nachalah unto Avoteichem.

¹⁹ But I said, How shall I set thee among the banim, and give thee an eretz chemdah (a land of desire), the most beautiful nachalah of the Goyim? And I said, Thou shalt call Me, Avi; and shalt not turn back from following Me.

²⁰ Surely as an isha treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O Bais Yisroel, saith Hashem.

²¹ A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and tachanunei Bnei Yisroel (supplications of the Children of Israel); for they have perverted their derech, and they have forgotten Hashem Eloheihem.

²² Shuvu (return), ye banim shovavim (backsliding children), and I will heal your meshuvot (backslidings). Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art Hashem Eloheinu.

²³ Truly in sheker is Salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly in Hashem Eloheinu is the Teshu’at Yisroel (Salvation of Israel).

²⁴ For HaBoshet (the Shame, i.e., the Ba’al fertility cult false religion) hath devoured the labor of Avoteinu from ne’ureinu (our youth): their tzon and their bakar, their banim and their banot.

²⁵ We lie down in our Boshet (Shame), and kelimateinu (our humiliation) covereth us; for we have sinned against Hashem Eloheinu, we and Avoteinu, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of Hashem Eloheinu.

4 If thou wilt make teshuvah, O Yisroel, saith Hashem, return unto Me; and if thou wilt put away thine shikkutzim (abominations) out of My sight, then shalt thou not be moved [to wander].

² And thou shalt swear, Chai Hashem, in emes, in mishpat, and in tzedakah; and the Goyim shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory.

³ For thus saith Hashem to Ish Yehudah and Yerushalayim, Break up your unplowed ground, and sow not among kotzim (thorns).

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to Hashem, and take the mohel knife to the arelot of your levav, ye Ish Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim: lest My fury break out like eish, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.

⁵ Declare ye in Yehudah, and publish in Yerushalayim; and say, Blow ye the shofar in HaAretz. Cry out, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.

⁶ Raise up a nes (a banner, a flag pointing to the place of refuge) over Tziyon; take refuge, delay not; for I will bring ra’ah (evil, disaster) from the tzafon (north), and shever gadol (great destruction).

⁷ The aryeh (lion) is come up from his thicket, and the Mashkhit Goyim (Destroyer of the Nations, i.e., Babylon) is on his way, he is gone forth from his place to make thy eretz desolate; and thy cities shall be made to lie in ruins, without an inhabitant.

⁸ For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the charon af Hashem is not turned away from us.

⁹ And it shall come to pass at that day, saith Hashem, that the lev HaMelech shall be disheartened, and the lev hasarim; and the kohanim shall be horror-struck, and the nevi’im dumbfounded.

¹⁰ Then said I, Adonoi Hashem! Surely Thou hast greatly misled HaAm HaZeh and Yerushalayim, saying, Shalom yeheyeh lachem (Ye shall have shalom); whereas the cherev is near unto the nefesh.

¹¹ At that time shall it be told HaAm HaZeh and Yerushalayim, A ruach tzach (a dry wind, sirocco) from the high places in the midbar toward the Bat Ami [i.e., Yisroel], not to winnow, nor to cleanse,

¹² Even a ruach maleh (strong wind) from those places shall come from Me; now also I will pronounce mishpatim against them.

¹³ Hinei, he [the approaching foe] shall come up like ananim (clouds), and his merkavot shall be like the whirlwind; his susim are swifter than nesharim (eagles). Oy lanu! (Woe unto us!) For we are ruined.

¹⁴ O Yerushalayim, wash thine lev from rah, that thou mayest be saved. Ad mosai (how long, how much longer) shall thy sinful machsh’vot lodge within thee?

¹⁵ For a kol (voice) declareth from Dan, and publisheth evil tidings from Mt Ephrayim.

¹⁶ Tell the Goyim; hinei, spread the news to Yerushalayim, that notzrim (besiegers) come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Yehudah.

¹⁷ As shomrim of a sadeh, they are against her all around; because she hath been rebellious against Me, saith Hashem.

¹⁸ Thy derech and thy deeds have brought these things upon thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is mar (bitter), for it hath touched upon thine lev.

¹⁹ My innards, my innards! I am pained at my very lev; my lev is pounding in me; I cannot keep silent, because thou hast heard, O my nefesh, the kol shofar (sound of the shofar), the teru’at milchamah (battle alarm of war).

²⁰ Shever (destruction) follows after shever; for the whole land lies in ruins; suddenly are my ohalim destroyed, and my canopies rega.

²¹ Ad mosai (how long) shall I see the nes (banner), and hear the kol shofar?

²² For Ami is foolish, they have not known Me; they are stupid banim, and they have no understanding; they are chachamim to do evil, but to do good they have no da’as.

²³ I beheld ha’aretz, and, hinei, it was tohu vavohu [Genesis 1:2]; and HaShomayim—there was no ohr.

²⁴ I beheld the mountains, and, hinei, they quaked, and all the hills had crumbled.

²⁵ I beheld, and, hinei, there was no adam, and kol oph HaShomayim fled away.

²⁶ I beheld, and, hinei, the carmel was a midbar, and all the cities thereof lay in ruins before Hashem, before the charon af Hashem.

²⁷ For thus hath Hashem said, A wasteland shall be kol HaAretz; yet I will not make a complete end of it.

²⁸ For this reason HaAretz shall mourn, and HaShomayim above turn black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not relent, neither will I turn back from it.

²⁹ Kol HaIr shall flee at the noise of the parash and the romeh keshet (the archer); they shall run into thickets, and climb up among the kefim (rocks); every city shall be deserted, and not an ish dwell therein.

³⁰ And thou, O plundered one [Jerusalem], what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with jewelry of zahav, though thou paintest thy eyes with cosmetics, in vain thou adornest thyself; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy nefesh.

³¹ For I have heard a kol (outcry) like that of a woman in travail, and in labor pain like that of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of Bat Tziyon, that waileth, that stretcheth out her hands, saying, Oy nah li (Woe is me now)! for my nefesh is weary because of murderers.

5 Run ye to and fro through the chutzot Yerushalayim (streets of Jerusalem), and see now, and know, and seek in the rechovot thereof, if ye can find an ish, if there be any that dispenseth mishpat (justice), that seeketh the emunah (faith); and I will forgive her [Jerusalem].

² And though they say, Chai Hashem; surely they swear lasheker (falsely).

³ Hashem, are not Thine eyes upon emunah? Thou hast struck them, but they felt no anguish; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to accept musar [cf Isa 53:5]; they have made their faces harder than stone; they have refused to make teshuvah.

⁴ Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the Derech Hashem, nor the Mishpat Eloheihem.

⁵ I will get me unto the Gedolim, and will speak unto them; for they have known the Derech Hashem, and the Mishpat Eloheihem; but these have altogether broken off the ol (yoke), and burst the bonds.

⁶ Therefore an aryeh (lion) out of the forest shall slay them, and a ze’ev (wolf) of the deserts shall destroy them, a namer (leopard) shall prowl near their towns; every one that ventureth out from there shall be torn to pieces; because their peysha’im (rebellions) are many, and their meshuvot (backslidings) are increased.

⁷ How shall I forgive thee for this? Thy banim have forsaken Me, and sworn by them that are no elohim; when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and trooped to the bais zonah.

⁸ They were like well-fed, lusty susim: every one neighed after the isha of his neighbor.

⁹ Shall I not visit [to punish] for these things? saith Hashem; and shall not My Nefesh be avenged on such a Goy as this?

¹⁰ Go ye up through her rows of vines, and cut down; but make not a full end; take away her branches; for they are not Hashem’s.

¹¹ For Bais Yisroel and Bais Yehudah have dealt very treacherously against Me, saith Hashem.

¹² They have spoken lies about Hashem, and said, Lo hu (not He); neither shall ra’ah come upon us; neither shall we see cherev nor ra’av (famine);

¹³ And the nevi’im shall become ru’ach, and the Devar is not in them; thus shall it be done unto them.

¹⁴ Therefore thus saith Hashem Elohei Tzva’os, Because ye speak this devar, hinei, I will make My Devarim in thy mouth an eish, and HaAm HaZeh etzim (wood), and it shall consume them.

¹⁵ Hineni, I will bring a Goy (Nation) upon you from afar, O Bais Yisroel, saith Hashem; it is a powerful nation, a goy me’olam (an ancient nation), a nation whose leshon thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

¹⁶ Their quiver is as an open kever (grave), they are all gibborim.

¹⁷ And they shall devour thine katzir (harvest), and thy lechem, which thy banim and thy banot should eat; they shall devour thy tzon and thine bakar; they shall eat up thy gefen and thy te’enah (fig tree); they shall impoverish thy fortified cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the cherev.

¹⁸ Nevertheless in those days, saith Hashem, I will not make a full end with you.

¹⁹ And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth Hashem Eloheinu all these things unto us? Then shalt thou answer them, As ye have forsaken Me, and served elohei nechar (foreign g-ds, strange g-ds) in your land, so shall ye serve zarim in an eretz not your own.

²⁰ Declare this in Bais Ya’akov, and publish it in Yehudah, saying,

²¹ Hear now this, O Am Sakhal (foolish people) without understanding; which have eynayim (eyes), and see not; which have oznayim (ears), and hear not;

²² Fear ye not Me? saith Hashem; will ye not tremble at My Presence, Who hath placed the chol (sand) as the boundary of the yam by a chok olam, that it cannot transgress; and though the waves thereof toss, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

²³ But HaAm Hazeh hath a lev sorer (stubborn heart) and moreh (rebellious); they have revolted and departed.

²⁴ Neither say they in their lev, Let us now fear Hashem Eloheinu, that giveth geshem, both the yoreh (former rain, autumn rain) and the malkosh (latter rain, spring rain) in season; He secureth unto us shavu’ot chukkot katzir (the appointed weeks of the harvest).

²⁵ Your avonot (iniquities) have turned away these things, and your chatta’ot (sins) have deprived hatov from you.

²⁶ For among Ami are found resha’im; they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a mashkhit (trap), they catch anashim.

²⁷ As a cage is full of oph, so are their batim (houses) full of mirmah; therefore they are become powerful and oshir (rich, wealthy).

²⁸ They have grown fat and sleek; yea, their wicked deeds are without limit; the cause of the yatom they do not plead, yet they prosper; and the mishpat evyonim (right of the poor people) they do not defend.

²⁹ Shall I not visit [to punish] for these things? saith Hashem; shall not My nefesh be avenged on such a Goy (Nation) as this?

³⁰ An astonishing and horrible thing is committed in HaAretz;

³¹ The nevi’im prophesy falsely, and the kohanim rule at their direction; and My people love to have it this way; but what will ye do in the end?

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?