Column 1
1 [The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. How long, O LORD,] have I cried for help, and you do not 2 [hear? I cry out to you, “Violence!” and you do not save. Its interpretation concerns the] expectation of the 3 [last] generation [… all the things that are] coming upon them 4 [I cry out to you, “Violence!” and you do not save. … Its interpretation: that] they cry out about 5 [violence. Why do you make me see iniquity, and] look upon [trouble?] 6 [Its interpretation concerns … whom] God [looked upon] with oppression and unfaithfulness. 7 [Robbery and violence are before me.] 8 [Its interpretation …] they rob [wealth. And] there is strife, 9 [and contention arises. The interpretation:] quarrel and … it is 10 […] Therefore the Torah grows numb. 11 [Its interpretation concerns the Spouter of the Lie and the men of his congregation,] who rejected the Torah of God. 12 [And judgment never goes forth, for the wicked] surrounds the righteous. 13 [Its interpretation: the wicked is the Wicked Priest, and the righteous] is the Teacher of Righteousness 14 [who … Therefore] judgment goes forth 15 [twisted. Its interpretation … and] not … 16 [… Look among the nations and see,] 17 [and be utterly astounded, for I am doing a deed in your days; you would not believe it if]
Column 2
1 it were told. [The interpretation of the matter concerns] the traitors with the Man of 2 the Lie, for they did not [believe the words of] the Teacher of Righteousness from the mouth of 3 God. And it concerns the traitors [to the] new [covenant], for they did not 4 believe in the covenant of God, [and they profaned] his holy name. 5 And likewise, the interpretation of the matter [concerns the] traitors in the last 6 days. They are the ruthless ones [of the covenant], who will not believe 7 when they hear all that is coming upon the last generation from the mouth of 8 the priest in [whose heart] God put [understanding] to interpret all 9 the words of his servants the prophets, [by] whose hand God recounted 10 all that is coming upon his people and [his congregation.] For behold, I am raising up 11 the Chaldeans, that bitter [and hasty] nation. 12 [1]Its interpretation concerns the Kittim, [who are] swift and mighty 13 in battle, to destroy many. [And the land will be] under the dominion of 14 the Kittim. They will take possession of [many lands] and will not believe 15 in the statutes of God. [Who marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not] 16 his own. [Its interpretation concerns the Kittim, who …] 17 […]
Column 3
1 and through the plain they will go, to strike and to plunder the cities of the land, 2 for that is what it says: “to seize dwellings not his own.” Dreadful 3 and fearsome is he; from himself his judgment and his dignity go forth. 4 Its interpretation concerns the Kittim, the fear and dread of whom are upon all 5 the nations. By design, all their planning is to do evil, and with cunning and deceit 6 they deal with all the peoples. Swifter than leopards are his horses, and keener 7 than wolves of the evening. His horsemen paw the ground and spread out; from far away 8 they fly like an eagle hurrying to devour. All of them come for violence; the mass of 9 their faces is an east wind. Its interpretation concerns the Kittim, who 10 trample the land with their horses and with their beasts. And from afar 11 they come, from the islands of the sea, to devour all the peoples like an eagle, 12 and there is no satisfying them. With wrath and [rage and] burning anger and a furious 13 face they speak with all [the peoples, for] that is what 14 it says: “the [mass of their faces is an east wind. And he gathers] captives like sand.” 15 Its interpretation [concerns the Kittim, who …] 16 […] 17 [… And he, at kings]
Column 4
1 he scoffs, and rulers are a joke to him. Its interpretation: that 2 they mock the great and despise the honored; kings 3 and princes they ridicule, and they scoff at a great people. And he 4 laughs at every fortress; he heaps up earth and captures it. 5 Its interpretation concerns the rulers of the Kittim, who despise 6 the fortresses of the peoples and with mockery laugh at them, 7 and with a great people they surround them to seize them. And in terror and dread 8 they are given into their hand, and they tear them down because of the iniquity of those who dwell 9 in them. Then the wind sweeps on and passes by, and this one makes his strength 10 his god. Its interpretation concerns the rulers of the Kittim, 11 who by the counsel of the house of their guilt pass on, each 12 before his fellow. Their rulers come one after another 13 to ruin the [land. And] this one [makes] his strength his god. 14 Its interpretation: [that all] the peoples [make …] 15 … […] … 16 [… Are you not from of old,] 17 [O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD,]
Column 5
1 for judgment you have appointed him; O Rock, you have established him to reprove him. Eyes too pure 2 to look on evil, and you cannot gaze on trouble. 3 The interpretation of the matter: that God will not destroy his people by the hand of the nations, 4 but into the hand of his chosen ones God will give the judgment of all the nations, and by their reproof 5 all the wicked of his people will be found guilty, by those who kept his commandments 6 in their distress. For that is what it says: “Eyes too pure to look 7 on evil.” Its interpretation: that they did not go whoring after their eyes in the age of 8 wickedness. Why do you look on, traitors, and keep silent when 9 the wicked swallows one more righteous than he? Its interpretation concerns the house of Absalom 10 and the men of their counsel, [2]who kept silent at the reproof of the Teacher of Righteousness 11 and did not help him against the Man of the Lie, who rejected 12 the Torah in the midst of their whole congregation. And you make humankind like the fish of the sea, 13 like creeping things, to rule over them. He brings all of them up with a hook and drags them in his net 14 and gathers them in his [dragnet. Therefore he sacrifices] to his net; therefore he rejoices 15 [and is glad and burns incense to his dragnet, for by them] his portion is fat 16 [and his food is rich … Its interpretation concerns]
Column 6
1 the Kittim, and they add to their wealth with all their plunder 2 like the fish of the sea. And as for what it says, “Therefore he sacrifices to his net 3 and burns incense to his dragnet,” its interpretation: that they 4 sacrifice to their standards, and their weapons of war are 5 what they revere. “For by them his portion is fat and his food is rich.” 6 Its interpretation: that they apportion their yoke and 7 their tribute, their food, upon all the peoples year by year, 8 to lay waste many lands. Therefore he always unsheathes his sword 9 to kill nations, and he shows no pity. 10 Its interpretation concerns the Kittim, who destroy many by the sword, 11 youths, grown men, and the old, women and children, and on the fruit of 12 the womb they have no mercy. I will stand at my post 13 and station myself on my watchtower, and I will look out to see what he will say 14 to me, and what [I will answer to] my reproof. And the LORD answered me 15 [and said, “Write the vision and make it] plain on the tablets, so that he may run, 16 [the one who reads it.” … The interpretation of the matter: that]
Column 7
1 [3]And God told Habakkuk to write down the things that are coming upon 2 the last generation, but the completion of the age he did not make known to him. 3 [4]And as for what it says, “so that the one who reads it may run,” 4 its interpretation concerns the Teacher of Righteousness, to whom God made known 5 all the mysteries of the words of his servants the prophets. “For there is yet a vision 6 for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie.” 7 Its interpretation: that the last age will be prolonged, and it will go beyond all 8 that the prophets have spoken, for the mysteries of God are wondrous. 9 “If it delays, wait for it, for it will surely come and will not 10 be late.” Its interpretation concerns the men of truth, 11 those who observe the Torah, whose hands do not slacken from the service of 12 the truth when the last age is drawn out over them, for 13 all the ages of God come in their order, as he decreed 14 for them in the mysteries of his prudence. “Behold, puffed up, not upright, 15 [is his soul within him.”] Its interpretation: that they will double upon themselves 16 [their sins, and they will not] be accepted at their judgment […] … […] 17 [… “But the righteous will live by his faithfulness.”]
Column 8
1 Its interpretation concerns all who observe the Torah in the house of Judah, whom 2 God will deliver from the house of judgment because of their toil and their faithfulness 3 [5]to the Teacher of Righteousness. “And moreover, wealth betrays an arrogant man, and he does not 4 stay at home, who widens his throat like Sheol, and he, like death, is never satisfied. 5 All the nations are gathered to him, and all the peoples are assembled to him. 6 Will they not all take up a taunt against him, and mocking riddles about him, 7 and say, ‘Woe to him who multiplies what is not his own! How long will he weigh himself down with 8 pledges?’” Its interpretation concerns the Wicked Priest, who 9 was called by the name of truth at the beginning of his standing. But when he ruled 10 in Israel his heart grew proud, and he abandoned God and betrayed the statutes for the sake of 11 wealth. He robbed and gathered the wealth of men of violence who had rebelled against God, 12 and he took the wealth of peoples, to add to himself guilty iniquity. And ways of 13 abomination he practiced, in every kind of unclean impurity. “Will they not suddenly rise up, 14 those who bite you, and awake, those who make you tremble? And you will become plunder for them. 15 Because you plundered many nations, all the rest of the peoples will plunder you.” 16 The [interpretation of the matter] concerns the priest who rebelled 17 … the statutes of [God …] … him …
Column 9
1 his affliction, with judgments of wickedness. And horrors of evil diseases 2 they inflicted on him, and acts of vengeance on the body of his flesh. And as for what 3 it says, “Because you plundered many nations, all the rest of the peoples 4 will plunder you,” [6]its interpretation concerns the last priests of Jerusalem, 5 who gather wealth and gain from the plunder of the peoples. 6 But in the last days their wealth with their plunder will be given into the hand of 7 the army of the Kittim, for they are “the rest of the peoples.” 8 “Because of human blood and violence to the land, the city, and all who dwell in it.” 9 Its interpretation concerns the Wicked Priest, whom, for the wrong done to the Teacher of 10 Righteousness and the men of his counsel, God gave into the hand of his enemies, to humble him 11 with a plague to destruction, in bitterness of soul, because he had acted wickedly 12 against his chosen one. “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set 13 his nest on high, to be delivered from the grasp of harm! You have planned shame 14 for your house, cutting off many peoples, and sinning against your own soul. For 15 a stone will cry out from the wall, and a beam from the woodwork will answer it.” 16 [The interpretation of the matter] concerns the [priest] who … […] … 17 […]
Column 10
1 so that its stones are laid in oppression and its wooden beam in robbery. And as for what 2 it says, “cutting off many peoples, and sinning against your own soul,” 3 its interpretation: it is the house of judgment, where God will give 4 his judgment in the midst of many peoples, and from there he will bring him up for judgment, 5 and in their midst he will declare him guilty and judge him with fire of brimstone. “Woe to 6 him who builds a city with blood and founds a town on iniquity! Is it not, 7 behold, from the LORD of hosts that peoples toil for fire 8 and nations grow weary for nothing?” 9 The interpretation of the matter concerns the Spouter of the Lie, who led many astray 10 to build a city of emptiness with blood and to establish a congregation with falsehood, 11 for the sake of its glory, making many toil in a service of emptiness and teaching them 12 works of falsehood, so that their labor is for nothing, so that they come 13 to the judgments of fire, they who reviled and taunted the chosen ones of God. 14 “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters 15 cover the sea.” [… The] interpretation of the matter: [that] 16 when they return … […] … […] 17 […]
Column 11
1 the Lie. And afterward knowledge will be revealed to them like the waters of 2 the sea, in abundance. “Woe to him who makes his neighbor drink, pouring out 3 his wrath, making them drunk, in order to gaze at their festivals!” 4 Its interpretation concerns the Wicked Priest, who 5 pursued the Teacher of Righteousness to swallow him up in the heat of 6 his wrath at the house of his exile. And at the time of the festival of the rest of 7 the Day of Atonement he appeared to them to swallow them up 8 and to make them stumble on the day of fasting, the sabbath of their rest. “You are sated with 9 disgrace instead of glory. Drink, you too, and stagger! 10 The cup of the right hand of the LORD will come around to you, and shame 11 upon your glory.” 12 Its interpretation concerns the priest whose disgrace was greater than his glory, 13 for he did not circumcise the foreskin of his heart, and he walked in the ways of 14 drunkenness to quench his thirst. But the cup of the wrath of 15 God will swallow him up, adding to [his disgrace], and pain 16 […] … […] … […] … […] 17 [… “For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, and the destruction of beasts]
Column 12
1 will terrify you, because of human blood and violence to the land, the city, and all who dwell in it.” 2 The interpretation of the matter concerns the Wicked Priest, to repay him 3 for what he did to the poor. For “Lebanon” is 4 the council of the community, and the “beasts” are the simple ones of Judah who do 5 the Torah. God will condemn him to destruction, 6 just as he plotted to destroy the poor. And as for what it says, “because of the blood of 7 the city and violence to the land,” its interpretation: the “city” is Jerusalem, 8 where the Wicked Priest did works of abomination and defiled 9 the sanctuary of God. And “violence to the land” is the cities of Judah, where 10 he robbed the wealth of the poor. “What use is an idol when its maker has carved it, 11 a cast image and a teacher of lies? For the maker trusts in what he has made, 12 making mute idols.” The interpretation of the matter concerns all 13 the idols of the nations, which they made in order to serve them and bow down 14 to them. But they will not deliver them on the day of judgment. “Woe 15 to him [who says] to wood, ‘Wake up!’ [‘Arise!’] to a silent stone. 16 [Can it teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,] 17 [and there is no breath at all within it. But the LORD is in his holy temple;]
Column 13
1 be silent before him, all the earth!” Its interpretation concerns all the nations 2 who served stone and wood. And on the day of 3 judgment God will destroy all who serve idols 4 and the wicked from the earth.