THE BOOK OF

HABAK KUK.

THE

CHAP. I.

Prophecy which Habakkuk the prophet saw. How long, O Jehovah, have I cried, and thou hast not hearkened!

How long do I cry out unto thee, There is violence; and thou hast not saved!

Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold wickedness?

And why are spoiling and violence before me;

* Or, exclaim.

1. Habakkuk] It seems probable that Habakkuk lived after the taking of Nineveh; as he prophesies of the Chaldeans, and is silent on the subject of the Assyrians. We have also reason to conclude that he prophesied not long before the Jewish captivity. See c. i. 5. ii. 3. iii. 2, 16-19. He may therefore be placed in the reign of Jehoiakim, between the years 606 and 598 before Christ.

The prophet Habbakkuk stands high in the class of the Hebrew poets. The beautiful connection between the parts of his prophecy, its diction, imagery, spirit, and sublimity, cannot be too much admired. See Bishop Lowth's Hebrew prelections, xxi. xxviii: and the learned Mr. Green on c. iii. 3—10.

"Vaticinia quæ edidit Habacucus ex afflatu divino. Grammatici Hebræi explicant per aut in. Symm. Theod. ut ó appa, sermo a Deo acceptus." Bahrdt.

2. How long-] In the opening of this prophecy there is an indignant spirit against vice, like that so much admired in Juvenal.

-There is violence] Or, because of violence. Syr. and Chald. supply. "and violence lifteth up her voice. For so N' Isai. xlii. 2, 11." Secker.

"And why do I behold" &c.

-wickedness] Labour, sorrow, distress, caused by wicked

ness.

4

5

And why is there contention, and why do men

raise strife?

Therefore the law faileth,

And judgment never goeth forth:

For the wicked compasseth about the righteous:
Therefore perverted judgment goeth forth.

See, ye transgressors, and behold, and wonder,
and perish:

For I work a work in your days,

Which ye will not believe though it be told you.

נשא

-raise] Hebr. excitat quis. See on Jonah iii. 7. See N Ex. xxiii. 1. Ps. xv. 3. But 6. Ar. Syr. and at first one MS. read "And why doth the Judge receive a reward? MS. Copt. adds" faciem after N." Mr. Woide. "And the judge accepteth persons."

ומדין

4. never goeth forth] Or, goeth not forth unto victory, or purity, or truth, or perfection. See Isai. xlii. 3.

"And judgment proceedeth not to victory." Dr. Wheeler. -compasseth about] So circumvenire is to oppress, to deceive. Multitudine superat. Arab. Cast. lex.

"Because the wicked circumventeth the righteous."

5. Ye transgressors] For

Dr. Wheeler. among the nations, read,

καταφρονηται.

as Capellus and Houbigant have suggested, 2: which, as Houbigant observes, 6. elsewhere also translate xarapova. See Prov. xiii. 15. Hos. vi. 7. Zeph. iii. 4. v. 13 of this c. and c. ii. 5. Ar. and Syr. agree with 6. See also Acts xiii. 41. -and behold] In Acts xiii. 41, nine MSS. and three editions have a after rappa, agreeably to the Hebrew.

-and perish] One MS. reads: with V. Syr. But the reading of 6. and of Acts xiii. 41, wu qanon, supposes 12m, or, in the text. See Capellus. There is a double rendering in ó. The former is, και θαυμάσατε θαυμασία, according to which the reading may have been ' that is, an, cum admiratione.

--in your days] Hence it follows that the Chaldeans invaded Judea while those were living whom the prophet addressed. Which ye will not believe] In Acts xiii. 41, the common editions have a work which ye will not believe." there is very good authority for omitting this word. St. Paul plainly accommodates this passage to his own purpose.

έργον,

M m

But

6

7

8

For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans,
That bitter and swift nation;

Who † go over the breadth of the earth
To possesss dwelling-places which belong § not un-
to them,

They are terrible and dreadful:

Their judgment and their excellency proceed

from themselves.

Their horses also are swifter than leopards:

And they are | fiercer than evening wolves.

+ Hebr. which goeth.

breadths.

number, to the end of v. 11, except their faces.

to it and onwards in the singular || sharper.

6. the Chaldeans] See Gen. xi. 28, 31. xv. 7. Job i. 17. Isai. xxiii. 13, and Bishop Lowth's note. They are supposed to have been so called from Chesed the son of Nahor. Gen. xxii. 22. Eustathius, in his notes on Dionysius's annis, Says that they derived their name from Chaldeus, the fourteenth king after Ninus, and the founder of Babylon: 1. 765, p. 101. ed. H. Steph. Xenophon mentions the Chaldeans as a warlike nation of Armenia. Cyropod. 1. iii. p. 148. 8vo. ed. Hutchinson. These were anciently called Chalybes. See Hutchinson's note. -bitter] Arabice radix 2 ad robur et virtutem usitatissime transfertur. Schultens, anim. phil. p. 517.

7. Their Judgment-] Their authority to execute judgment, and their dignity and elevation among the kingdoms of the earth, arise from their own valour in revolting from the Assyrians.

8.swifter than leopards] "Leopards tamed, and taught to hunt, are, it is said, made use of [in Palestine] for hunting; and seize the prey with surprising agility. When he leaps, he throws himself seventeen or eighteen feet at a time." Harmer ii. 438.

rem.

Non segnior extulit illum

Saltus, et in medias jecit super arma catervas,

Quam per summa rapit celerem venabula pardum. Lucant. vi.
Ωκυταλον θείει, και τ' αλκιμον ιθυς ορκεί.

Φαίης, οπποί' εξοιο, διατρίην φορτεσφαι. Opp. Cyn. 1. iii.

"V. et Syr. legerunt p sine vau, quod ego quidem præfer

aquilis מנשרים legit מגברים Et posterior praeterea pro

velociores: quam lectionem non minus nostræ præferrem." Arab. also omits the vau; and MS. 4 originally read D700. "Alterum omnino delendum," Bahrdt.

-fiercer] Bochart refers the word to the spirit of horses and wolves.

9

10

And their horsemen shall spread themselves; they

shall come from far;

They shall fly, as an eagle hastening to devour.
All of them shall come for violence:

The supping up of their faces shall be as an east
wind:

And they shall gather* captives as the sand.
They shall also scoff at kings,

And princes shall be a laughing-stock unto them.
They shall laugh at every stronghold:

* Hebr. captivity.

Genus acre luporum. Virg.

Ascanius mediis in vallibus acri

Gaudet equo. Virg.

See Hieroz. iii. x. 826.

-shall spread themselves] See Chald. and Syr. on the word, Nahum iii. 18: where they explain it by 7 dispersit. Here Chald. has multiplicabuntur, and V. diffundentur.

-they shall come from far] The word ", which stands before this clause in the Hebrew, is omitted by ó. Ar. Syr. and by three MSS.

Mr. Green's note on this passage is, "The Hebrew word rendered by our translators, and they shall spread themselves, is a faulty writing of the word foregoing, which the transcriber would not put out for fear of blotting his copy. The Syr. has it not, and the lxx knew not what to make of it." His translation is: And their horsemen sharper than evening wolves. Their horsemen shall come from afar, &c.

Poetical Parts of the O. T. p. 23, -from far] So 2 Kings xx. 14. Jer. v. 15. See on Joel in. 8. -to devour] Thirty MSS. and three ed. read : which may be rendered ad cibum, to the prey. See Syr. Chald. They shall fly, as an eagle hasteth to the prey."

Dr. Wheeler.

9. All of them] Two MSS. read, and three read so originally. This is regular, and agrees with v. 6. Houbigant reads, as Syr. Vulg. Chald.

The supping up-] This is our marginal rendering, and that of Peters on Job, 8vo. 2d. ed. p. 137. Their enemies shall be absorbed, or rapidly destroyed, by them; as the blasting pestilential east wind spreads destruction. See on Jonah iv. 8.

11

12

And they shall heap † earth and take it.

Then shall their spirit be changed, and they shall pass away, and shall be § treated as guilty. This is their strength with their god.

Art thou not from everlasting?

O Jehovah, my God, mine Holy One, we shall not die.

O Jehovah, thou hast appointed them for judgment,

Houbigant reads

Before.

10. -earth] See Gen. xxvi. 15. Isai. ii. 10, 19. V. 6 Chald. understand the word of mounds heaped up, according to the usual way of taking fortresses. Others render the word dust, and think the meaning to be, They shall take every hold with ease, and as it were in sport.

strong

11. be changed] Præteribit. This may be spoken of the Chaldee nation at large; whose disposition should degenerate, and who were to be punished by Cyrus. An ironical epiphonema follows: Such is their boasted strength derived from their idols. . Two MSS. originally. See v. 7-10. 15-17.

-pass away,] "pass over. Transgress." Secker. Hebræis spiritus transire sive transgredi dicitur, quoties intra modestia fines se non tenet." Bahrdt.

66

12. Art thou not-] There is great beauty in this sudden address to Jehovah, as opposed to the false god of the Chaldeans. "O God of mine holiness. Sic videtur legendum." Secker. --we shall not die] We shall not utterly perish by the Chaldeans though we shall suffer severely from them. But this seems a cold sense, and unworthy of so animated a poem. Houbigant conjectures N O God of truth: which is interwoven in the Chaldee paraphrase: and, I think, ought to be admitted into the text. "Let us not." Secker.

"Art not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah, my God, mine Holy One?

"O Jehovah, God of truth, thou hast appointed them for judgment."

Another conjectural reading is, nu, "for faithfulness, or, truth, in thy denunciations of punishment."

"For faithfulness, O Jehovah, for judgment thou hast appointed them,