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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?
2 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the matzor (rampart), and will watch to see what Hashem will speak in me, and what He shall answer to my tokhakhah (complaint).
2 And Hashem answered me, and said, Write the chazon, and make it plain upon tablets, so that a herald may run with it.
3 For the chazon is yet for a mo’ed (an appointed time); it speaks of HaKetz (the End), and does not lie; though it tarry, wait for him [Moshiach— see Sanhedrin 97b]; because he will surely come, and will not tarry.
4 Hinei, his nashamah which is puffed up is not upright in him; but the tzaddik shall live by his emunah. [Bereshis 15:6]
5 Yea also, yayin is a boged (betrayer, treacherous); he is a proud man, never at rest, who enlargeth his appetite as Sheol; like Mavet, it cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto it kol HaGoyim, and collecteth unto it kol HaAmim;
6 Shall not all these take up a mashal against such, with mocking poem riddles against him, and say, Hoy (Woe) to him that increaseth that which is not his! For how long? And to him that loadeth himself by the weight of pledges (i.e., heaps up by borrowing)!
7 Shall not thy biters (charging neshekh) arise suddenly and awake that shall oppress thee, and thou shalt be for plunder unto them?
8 Because thou hast plundered many Goyim, all the remnant of the Amim shall plunder thee; because of [shefach] dahm, and for the chamas eretz, the city, and of all that dwell therein.
9 Hoy (Woe) to him that coveteth an evil gain for his bais, that he may set his ken (nest) on high, that he may be delivered from the power of ruin!
10 Thy counsel hast brought shame to thy bais by cutting off amim rabbim and hast sinned against thy nashamah.
11 For the even (stone) shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
12 Hoy (Woe) to him that buildeth a town with [shefach] dahm, and foundeth a city by iniquity!
13 Hinei, is it not from Hashem Tzva’os that the people shall labor only to feed the eish, and the people shall weary themselves in vain?
14 For the earth shall be filled with the da’as of the kavod Hashem, as the waters cover the yam.
15 Hoy (Woe) unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, pressing thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
16 Thou art filled with shame instead of kavod; drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered; the kos of Hashem’s right hand shall be turned against thee, and utter shame shall be on thy kavod.
17 For the chamas of the Levanon shall cover thee, and the decimation of animals, by which you terrorized them, because of [shefach] dahm, and for the chamas eretz, and to the city, and all that dwell therein.
18 What profiteth the pesel (graven image) that the maker thereof hath shaped it; the molten image, and moreh sheker, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb elilim (idols)?
19 Hoy (woe) unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb even (stone), Arise, it shall teach! Hinei, it is laid over with zahav and kesef, and there is no ruach at all in it.
20 But Hashem is in His Heikhal Kodesh; let kol ha’aretz keep silence before Him.
3 A tefillah of Chabakuk HaNavi. On Shigionoth.
2 Hashem, I have heard Thy speech, and was afraid; Hashem, revive Thy work in the midst of the shanim, in the midst of the shanim make known; in wrath remember mercy.
3 G-d came from Teman, and HaKadosh from Mt Paran. Selah. His hod (glory) covered HaShomayim, and ha’aretz was full of His tehillah (praise).
4 And His brightness was like the ohr; He had rays of light flashing from His yad; and there was His power hidden.
5 Before Him went the dever (plague), and pestilence went forth at His feet.
6 He stood, and measured ha’aretz; He beheld, and made the Goyim tremble; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow; His ways are olam (everlasting).
7 I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction; and the dwellings of Eretz Midyan did tremble.
8 Was Hashem displeased against the rivers? Was Thine anger against the rivers? Was Thy wrath against the yam, that Thou didst ride upon Thine susim and Thy merkavot of yeshuah (salvation)?
9 Thy keshet (bow) was made bare. Oathes were sworn over mattot (rods, arrows). Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
10 The harim (mountains) saw Thee, and they trembled; the overflowing of the water passed by; the tehom (deep) uttered its voice, and lifted up its hands on high.
11 The shemesh and yarei’ach stood still in their habitation; at the ohr of Thine arrows they went, and at the lightning of Thy glittering spear.
12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, Thou didst thresh the Goyim in anger.
13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, even for deliverance of Thy Moshiach; Thou crushed the rosh of the bais of the wicked, Thou stripped him thigh to neck. Selah.
14 Thou didst pierce with his spears the head of his horde; they came out like a whirlwind to scatter me; their rejoicing was like unto devouring the aniyim (the poor) in secret.
15 Thou didst walk through the yam with Thine susim, through the heap of mayim rabbim.
16 When I heard, my heart trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might wait patiently for the Yom Tzarah to come on the nation invading us.
17 Although the etz te’enah shall not blossom, neither shall grape be on the gefen; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no okhel; the tzon shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls;
18 Yet I will rejoice in Hashem, I will joy in the G-d of my salvation.
19 Hashem Adonoi is my strength, and He will make my feet like the feet of a deer, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
9 And the malach hachamishi (fifth angel) sounded his shofar; and I saw a kokhav (star) having fallen out of Shomayim to ha’aretz. And was given to it the mafte’ach (key) of the shaft of the Tehom (Abyss).
2 And he opened the shaft of the Tehom (Abyss), and smoke came up out of the shaft as smoke of a great furnace, and the shemesh (sun) was darkened and the air was darkened by the smoke of the shaft. [BERESHIS 19:28; SHEMOT 19:18; YOEL 2:2,10]
3 And out of the smoke came forth arbeh (locusts) to ha’aretz (the earth), and samchut (authority) was given to them like the samchut of the akrabei ha’aretz (scorpions of the earth). [SHEMOT 10:12-15]
4 And it was told them that they should not harm the grass of ha’aretz (the earth) nor any greenery nor any etz (tree), except the Bnei Adam, all who do not have the chotam (seal) of Hashem on their metsakhim (foreheads) (YECHEZKEL 9:4).
5 And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they will be tormented chamishah chodashim (five months). Their torment is as the torment of an akrav when it stings a man.
6 And in those days Bnei Adam will seek Mavet (Death) and by no means will find it. And they will desire to die and Mavet flees from them. [IYOV 3:21; 7:15; YIRMEYAH 8:3]
7 And the appearances of the arbeh (locusts) were like susim (horses) having been prepared for milchamah (war), and on the heads of them what looked like atarot (diadems) of zahav (gold) and the faces were like the faces of Bnei Adam. [YOEL 2:4;DANIEL 7:8]
8 And they had hair that looked like the hair of an isha (a woman), and they had teeth that looked like the teeth of an aryeh (lion), [YOEL 1:6]
9 and they had breastplates like iron breastplates and the sound of the wings of them was as the sound of many merkavot (chariots) with susim (horses) racing into the sadeh krav (battlefield), [YOEL 2:5]
10 And they have tails like akrabim (scorpions), with stingers, and the ko’ach (power) of them is in their tails to harm Bnei Adam chamishah chodashim (five months).
11 They have over them a melech (king), the malach (angel) of the Tehom (Abyss), the name for him in Ivrit, "Abaddon," (that is, Destruction) and in Elliniki he has the name Apollyon (that is, "Destroyer"). [IYOV 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; TEHILLIM 88:11]
12 The Oy Echad (the First Woe) has passed. Hinei, yet comes two more woes after these things.
13 And the malach hashishi (the sixth angel) sounded his shofar. And I heard kol echad (one voice) from the four horns of the golden Mizbe’ach (altar) before Hashem, [SHEMOT 30:1-3]
14 saying to the malach hashishi, the one having the shofar, Release the arba’at hamalachim (the four angels) having been bound at the great river, Euphrates. [BERESHIS 15:18; DEVARIM 1:7; YEHOSHUA 1:4; YESHAYAH 11:15]
15 And the arba’at hamalachim (four angels) were released, having been prepared for the sha’ah (hour) and the yom (day) and chodesh (month) and shanah (year), that they should kill a third of Bnei Adam.
16 And the mispar (number) of tziveot haparashim (troops of cavalrymen) were twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard the mispar of them.
17 And thus I saw the susim (horses) in my chazon (vision, revelation, prophecy) and the riders on them, having breastplates fiery red and hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow, and the heads of the susim like heads of arayot (lions), and from the mouths of them goes forth eish (fire) and smoke and gofrit (sulfur). [TEHILLIM 11:6; YESHAYAH 30:33; YECHEZKEL 38:22]
18 From these shlosh hamakkot (three plagues T.N. this word makkah, makkot [pl.] comes from the Pesach Haggadah `eser makkot’ or ten plagues, and is a key word from here on in the book of Revelation, showing the endtime plagues of the Brit Chadasha Exodus of the Geulah Redemption) were killed a third of Bnei Adam, by the eish (fire) and the smoke and the gofrit (sulfur) coming out of the mouth of them.
19 For the ko’ach (power) of the susim (horses) is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like nechashim (serpents), having heads, and with them they inflict harm.
20 And the rest of the Bnei Adam, the ones not killed by these makkot (plagues), did not make teshuva and turn from the ma’asim (deeds) of their hands or forsake worship of shedim (demons) and the itztzavim (idols, images, tzelamim), those of gold and of silver and of bronze and of stone and of wood, which neither are able to see nor to hear nor to walk. [DEVARIM 4:28; 31:29; YIRMEYAH 1:16; MICHOH 5:13]
21 And they did not make teshuva (repentance, turning from sin to G-d) of the retzichot (murders) of them nor of the kishufim (sorceries) of them nor of the zenunim (fornication) of them nor of the gneyvot (thefts) of them. [YESHAYAH 47:9,12]
137 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yes, we wept, when we remembered Tziyon.
2 We hung up our kinnorot (lyres) upon the willows in the midst thereof.
3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a shir (song); and they that tormented us required of us simchah, saying, Sing us one of the Shir Tziyon.
4 How shall we sing Shir Hashem in an admat nekhar (foreign land).
5 If I forget thee, O Yerushalayim, let my yamin (right hand) forget [i.e., have paralysis].
6 If I do not remember thee, let my leshon cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Yerushalayim above my rosh simchah (chief joy).
7 Remember, Hashem, the Bnei Edom in the Yom Yerushalayim; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the yesod (foundation) thereof.
8 O Bat Bavel, who art to be destroyed, ashrei shall he be, that repayeth thee the gemul thou hast done to us.
9 Ashrei shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy olalim against the sela.
10 Do not slander an eved unto his adon, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.
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