Historical

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.

2 ^(2:2) A shatterer [Nineveh’s overpowering enemy] is come up before thy face, [O Nineveh]; guard thy fortress, watch the derech, fortify thy loins, marshal all thy koach (power).

^2 (2:3) For Hashem is about to restore the eminence of Ya’akov, like the eminence of Yisroel; for plunderers have plundered them, and made their vine branches as shachat.

^3 (2:4) The mogen (shield) of his gibborim is made red, the anshei chayil (valiant men) are in scarlet; the chariot shall flash like fire in the day of its array, and the spears shall be brandished.

^4 (2:5) The chariot shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the rechovot, they shall seem like flaming torches, they shall dart about like the lightnings.

^5 (2:6) He [the Assyrian king] shall remember his mighty ones; they stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the chomah (wall) of it [Nineveh], and the defense shall be prepared.

^6 (2:7) The sha’arei haneharot (the gates of the rivers) shall be thrown open, and the heikhal (palace) reels.

^7 (2:8) Her [Nineveh’s] golus (exile) is decreed, she shall be carried away, her slave girls moaning like the kol yonim (voice of doves), beating their breasts.

^8 (2:9) But Nineveh is like a pool of mayim; and her mayim is draining away. Stop, stop, shall they cry; but no one turns back.

^9 (2:10) Take ye the plunder of kesef, take the plunder of zahav; for there is no end of the treasures, heaps of kol keli chemdah (every delightful vessel).

^10 (2:11) She is empty, and void, and stripped; and the lev melteth, and the knees give way, bodies tremble, and the faces of them all grow pale.

^11 (2:12) Where is the ma’on arayot (den of lions), and the feeding place of the young lions, where the aryeh, even the lioness, walked with their cubs, and none made them afraid?

^12 (2:13) The aryeh did tear in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his lairs with prey, and his dens with torn flesh.

^13 (2:14) Hineni, I am against thee [O Nineveh], saith Hashem Tzva’os, and I will burn your chariots in the smoke, and the cherev shall devour thy young lions; and I will cut off thy prey from ha’aretz, and the voice of thy malachim (messengers) shall no more be heard.

3 Hoy (woe) to the ir damim (bloody city)! It is all full of lies and booty; no end to the plunder;

² The crack of the shot (whip), and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing susim, and of the jolting merkavah (chariot);

³ The parash (horsemen, cavalry) charging, the flash of the cherev and the glittering spear; and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of dead bodies; and there is no end of their geviyot (corpses); they stumble over their geviyot;

⁴ Because of the multitude of the harlotries of the alluring zonah, the ba’alat keshafim (the mistress of sorceries), that enslaveth Goyim through her prostitutions, and mishpochot through her keshafim;

⁵ Hineni, I am against thee, saith Hashem Tzva’os; and I will lift thy skirts over thy faces, and I will show the Goyim thy nakedness, and the mamlachot thy shame.

⁶ And I (Hashem) will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee contemptibly vile, and will make thee a spectacle.

⁷ And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is in ruins; who will bemoan her? From where shall I seek menachamim (comforters) for thee?

⁸ Art thou better than No Amon (Thebes), that was situated on the Nile, that had the mayim round about it, whose rampart was the yam, and her waters were her chomah?

⁹ Ethiopia and Mitzrayim were her strength, and it was boundless; Put and Luvim (Libya) were her allies.

¹⁰ Yet she went into golus, she went into captivity; her olalim also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast goral (lots) for her honorable men, and all her gedolim were bound in chains.

¹¹ Thou also shalt be drunken, thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek maoz from the enemy.

¹² All thy strongholds shall be like te’enim (fig trees) with the first ripe figs; if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the peh (mouth) of the ochel (eater).

¹³ Hinei, thy troops in the midst of thee are nashim (women); the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies; the eish shall devour thy (gate) bars.

¹⁴ Draw thee water for the matzor (siege), fortify thy strongholds, go unto clay, and tread the mortar, repair the brickwork.

¹⁵ There shall the eish devour thee, the cherev shall consume thee, it shall eat thee up like the grasshopper. Make thyself many as the grasshopper, make thyself many as the arbeh (locust).

¹⁶ Thou hast multiplied thy merchants more than the kokhavim of HaShomayim; but, like the locust, they strip the land, then fly away.

¹⁷ Thy commanders are as the swarming locusts, and thy officials as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges on a cold day, but when the shemesh ariseth they flee away, and their place is whereabouts unknown.

¹⁸ Thy ro’im (shepherds) slumber, O melech of Asshur (Assyria); thy nobles shall dwell in the dust; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

¹⁹ There is no healing of thy shever (fracture, injury); thy wound is grievous; all that hear the news of thee shall clap their hands over thy fall; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed tamid (continually)?

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.