THE POEM OF HABAKKUK

ARRAIGNING THE JUSTICE OF YAHWEH

(Ch. i, 2-4, 12a, 13; ii, 1-4; i, 5-12b, 14-17; ii, 5b-13, 15-17, 19, 18, 20)

How long, O Yahweh, shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear?
I cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save!
Why dost Thou make me look upon wickedness
And behold grievance?

Why are rapine and violence before us,
And strifes and contentions?

Therefore law is perverted and right judgment
Is never pronounced;

For the wicked beset the righteous,

And wrong judgment is wrested from them.

Art Thou not from everlasting, O Yahweh,
My God, my Holy One,

With eyes too pure to behold evil,
That canst not gaze on iniquity?
Wherefore, then, dost thou look favorably
On them that deal treacherously?

And art silent when the wicked devoureth
The man more righteous than he?

I will stand upon the watch, I will set me on my tower
To see what He will say to me,

And what I shall answer unto His reproof.

Then did Yahweh answer me and say:
Write down the vision and make it plain

That a man may read it readily when running swiftly.
For the vision is for a time appointed;

It declareth the end; it will not lie.

Though it tarry, wait thou for it,

Because it will surely come; it cannot delay.

Behold, the haughty of soul hath no uprightness in him;
But he that walketh righteously.

Shall live because of his faith.

Look around you among the nations, observe and ponder
And marvel!

For I will work a work in your days

Which ye will not believe for the telling.

For behold, I am raising the Chaldæans

Against that bitter, impetuous nation

That marcheth throughout the earth to possess
Dwelling-places not theirs.

Terrible, dreadful are they,-a law unto themselves.

Their horses are swifter than leopards,

More fierce than wolves of the desert.

Their horsemen spread them abroad, yea, they come from far; They fly like vultures hastening to devour.

All of them come to do violence,

Their faces sup up the east wind.

They gather up captives as the sand,

And they do scoff at kings.

To them princes are a derision, strongholds they deride.
For they heap up earthworks and take it.
Then their spirit swells to overflowing,
They impute their strength to their god.

Thou, O Yahweh, hast ordained them for judgment;
Thou, O Rock, hast established them for correction.
For they make men as fish of the sea,

As worms that have no ruler.

They take them all up with their hook,

They catch them in their net,

They gather them in with their drag-net.

Therefore they rejoice and are glad,

They sacrifice unto their net,

And burn incense unto their drag-net.

For through these their portion is fat, their meat plenteous.
Shall they, therefore, empty their net,
Nor cease to slay whole nations?

Woe to that proud and treacherous one
Who transgresseth by wine, nor stayeth at home,
But maketh his desire as large as Sheol,
And is as unsatisfied as Death!

Who gathereth unto himself all nations,

And heapeth unto himself all peoples.

Shall not all these take up a proverb against him?
And make against him a taunting song, and say:

Woe to him that heapeth up what is not his,

That loadeth himself with many pledges!
Shall not thy creditors suddenly arise?
Shall not they wake to vex thee, shall not they
Make thee their prey?

Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all they,
The remaining peoples, shall make thee their prey.
For thy shedding of blood, for violence done to the land,
To the city and to all that dwell therein.

Woe to him that covereth evil gains for his house,
That he may set his nest on high,

And be secured from the power of evil!
Thou hast devised shame for thy house
By cutting off many people.
Thou hast forfeited thy life.

For the stone shall cry out of the wall,
And the beam of timber shall answer it.

Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood,
And establisheth a city by iniquity!

So that the people labor even in the fire
And the nations weary themselves for naught!
Woe to him that giveth his neighbor to drink
From the cup of his wrath, till he be drunken,
That he may gaze on his nakedness!

Thou shalt be filled with shame instead of glory;
The cup of Yahweh's right hand shall be turned unto thee.
Drink thou also, and be uncovered!
Filthiness shall be upon thy glory.

For the violence done to Lebanon shall be on thee,
And the destruction of beasts which made them afraid,
For the shedding of man's blood,

For the violence done to the land,

To the city and to all that dwell therein.

Woe unto him that saith unto the wood: Awake!

To the dumb stone: Arise!

What profiteth it the graven image

That the maker thereof hath graven it?

Even the molten image, and the teacher of lies?

Doth the maker of his work trust therein

That maketh dumb idols? Can this teach?

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and with silver
And there is no breath in its midst;
But Yahweh is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silence before Him.1

1 The superb ode that follows in (Ch. iii, A. V.), known as the "Prayer of Habakkuk." belongs to a different age and different circumstances. It will be found in Part II in the Appendix to the Psalms.

TWO POEMS UPON THE MISSION OF ISRAEL

[Yahweh speaks]

THE SERVANT OF YAHWEH

(Isaiah xlii, 1-4; xlix, 1-6)

Behold My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One,
In whom My soul delighteth.

I have put My spirit upon him.

He will set forth the Law to the Nations.

He will not cry aloud nor roar as a lion,
Nor will he raise his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed will he not break;

A dim-burning wick will he not quench;
Faithfully will he set forth the law.

He will not burn dimly, nor be crushed in spirit
Till he have established the Law in the earth
And for his instruction the far countries wait.

[The Servant speaks]

Hearken, ye far countries to me, and listen,

Ye distant peoples!

Yahweh hath called me from the womb

From my mother's lap hath He honored my name.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

In the shadow of His hand He hid me;

He made me a polished shaft, in His quiver He stored me.

He said to me: Thou art My Servant in whom I will glorify Me.

I was honored in the sight of Yahweh; my God became my strength.

But I, I said: I have labored in vain;

For naught and vanity have I spent my strength.
Yet surely, my cause is before Yahweh,

And my recompense with my God.

And now saith Yahweh, He who from the womb
Formed me to be a servant to Him;

To bring back Jacob to life, to assemble Israel together:

IT IS TOO LIGHT A THING THAT THOU SHOUDST RAISE UP
THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL,

AND RESTORE THE PRESERVED OF ISRAEL;

THEREFORE I SET THEE TO BE A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS,

THAT MY DELIVERANCE MAY BE TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.

1 The unknown author of these two poems sees in the experiences of his nation a Divine preparation for a world-wide spiritual leadership. He may or may not be the great prophet of the "New Covenant" (Jer. xxxi, 31-34) which proclaims the essence of religion for the individual; but the same lofty idealism informs his view of permanent international relations. He is inspired by the same joy of unexpected return to Zion; possibly by recognition of the thinness of the veil that separates his faith from that of his new beneficent masters.

The other two poems usually grouped with these (Is. 1, 4-9 and lii, 13-liii, 12) show a very different background, and are now attributed to an author of the time of Artaxerxes III (B.C. 389-338), when the Jews were again subjected to very grievous persecution.