COMMENTARY ON HABAKKUK (1QpHab = Pesher on Habakkuk) Translated by G. Vermes and revised by R.A.Kraft ["Behold the nations and see, marvel and be astonished; for I accomplish a deed in your days, but you will not believe it when] 1. told" [[Hab 1.5]]. {blank} [Interpreted, this concerns] those who were unfaithful together with the 2/ Liar, in that they [did] not [listen to the word received by] the teacher of Righteousness from the mouth of God. 3/ And it concerns the unfaithful of the New [Covenant] in that they have not 4/ believed in the Covenant of God [and have profaned] his holy name. And 5/ likewise, {blank} this saying is to be interpreted [as concerning those who] will be unfaithful at the end of 6/ days. They, the men of violence and the breakers of the Covenant, will not believe when 7/ they hear all that [is to happen to] the final generation from the 8/ Priest [in whose heart] God set [understanding] that he might interpret all the 9/ words of his servants the prophets, through whom he foretold 10/ all that would happen to his people and [his land]. "For behold, I rouse the 11/ Chaldeans, that [bitter and hasty] nation" [[Hab 1.6a]]. {blank} 12/ Interpreted, this concerns the Kittim [who are] quick and valiant 13/ in war, causing many to perish. [All the world shall fall] under the dominion of the 14/ Kittim, and the [wicked . . .] they shall not believe in the 15/ laws of [God . . .] 16/ and [...] ["who march through the breadth of the earth to take possession of dwellings which are not their own"] [[Hab 1.6b]]. ... 1/ and they shall march across the plain, smiting and plundering the cities of the earth. 2/ For it is as He said, "to take possession of dwellings which are not their own. They are fearsome 3/ and terrible; their justice and grandeur proceed from themselves" [[Hab 1.7]]. {blank} 4/ Interpreted, this concerns the Kittim who inspire all the nations with fear [and dread]. 5/ All their evil plotting is done with intention and 6/ they deal with all the nations in cunning and guile. "Their horses are swifter than leopards and fleeter 7/ than evening wolves" [[Hab 1.8]] {blank}. Their horses step forward proudly and spread their wings; 8/ They fly from afar like an eagle avid to devour. "All of them come for violence; the look on 9/ their faces is like the east wind" [[Hab 1.8-9a]]. {blank} [Interpreted, this] concerns the Kittim who 10/ trample the earth with their horses and beasts. 11/ They come from afar, from the islands of the sea, to devour all the peoples like an eagle which 12/ cannot be satisfied, and they address [all the peoples] with 13/ anger and [wrath and fury] and indignation. For it is as 14/ he said, "the look on their faces is like the east wind.[they heap up] captives [like sand]" [[Hab 1.9b]]. ... 1/ "They scoff [at kings], and princes are their laughing-stock [[Hab 1.10a]]. {blank} Interpreted, this means 2/ that they mock the great and despise the venerable; they ridicule kings and 3/ princes and scoff at the mighty host. 4/ "They laugh at every fortress; they pile up earth and take it [[Hab 1.10b]]. 5/ Interpreted, this concerns the commanders of the Kittim who despise the 6/ fortresses of the peoples and laugh at them in derision. 7/ To capture them, they encircle them with a mighty host, and out of fear and terror they deliver 8/ themselves into their hands. They destroy them because of the sins of their inhabitants. 9/ "The wind then sweeps on and passes; and they make of their strength 10/ their god [[Hab 1.11]]. {blank} Interpreted, [this concerns] the commanders of the Kittim who, 11/ on the counsel of [the] House of Guilt, pass one in 12/ front of the other; one after another [their] commanders come to 13/ lay waste the earth. ["And they make] of their strength their God" [[Hab 1.llb]]: 14/ Interpreted, this concerns [ . . . all] the peoples . . . ["Are you not from everlasting, YHWH, my God, my holy One? We shall not die.] You have ordained them, [YHWH], 1/ for judgement; you have established them, O Rock, for chastisement. their eyes are too pure 2/ to behold evil; and you can not look on distress" [[Hab 1.12-13a]]. {blank} 3/ Interpreted, this saying means that God will not destroy his people 4/ by the hand of the nations; God will execute the judgement of the nations by the hand of his elect. 5/ And through their chastisement all the wicked of his people shall expiate their guilt who keep his commandments 6/ in their distress. For it is as he said, "too pure of eyes to behold 7/ evil" [[Hab 1.13a]] {blank}: Interpreted, this means that they have not lusted after their eyes during the age of 8/ wickedness. "O traitors, why do you stare and stay silent when the wicked swallows 9/ Up one more righteous than he?" [[Hab 1.13b]]. {blank} Interpreted, this concerns the House of Absalom and 10/ the members of its council who were silent at the time of the chastisement of the Teacher of Righteousness 11/ and gave him no help against the Liar {blank} who flouted the 12/ Law in the midst of their whole [congregation]. "Thou dealest with men like the fish of the sea, 13/ Like creeping things, to rule over them. 14/ They draw [them all up with a fish-hook], and drag them out with their net, and gather them in [their seine. Therefore they sacrifice] to their net. Therefore they rejoice [and exult and burn incense to their seine; for by them] their portion is fat [and their sustenance rich"] [[Hab 1.14-16]].... 1/ the Kittim. And they shall gather in their riches, together with all their booty, 2/ "like the fish of the sea." And as for that which he said, "therefore they sacrifice to their net and 3/ Burn incense to their seine": Interpreted, this means that they 4/ sacrifice to their standards and worship their weapons of war. "For through them 5/ Their portion is fat and their sustenance rich": 6/ Interpreted, this means that they divide their yoke and their tribute -- their sustenance -- 7/ over all the peoples year by year, 8/ ravaging many lands. "Therefore their sword is ever drawn to 9/ massacre nations mercilessly [[Hab 1.17]]. {blank} 10/ Interpreted, this concerns the Kittim who cause many to perish by the sword -- 11/ youths, grown men, the aged, women and children -- and who even take no pity on the fruit of the 12/ womb. "I will take my stand to watch 13/ and will station myself upon my fortress. I will watch to see what he will say 14/ to me and how [he will answer] my complaint. And YHWH answered [and said to me, 'write down the vision and make it plain] 15/ upon the tablets, that [he who reads] may read it speedily'" [[Hab 2.1-2]]. ... 1/ and God told Habakkuk to write down that which would happen to the 2/ final generation, but He did not make known to him when time would come to an end. 3/ {blank} And as for that which He said, "that he who reads may read it speedily": 4/ Interpreted this concerns the Teacher of Righteousness, to whom God made known all the 5/ mysteries of the words of His servants the prophets. "For there shall be yet another vision concerning the appointed time. 6/ It shall tell of the end and shall not lie [[Hab 2.3a]]. {blank} 7/ Interpreted, this means that the final age shall be prolonged, and shall exceed 8/ all that the prophets have said; for the mysteries of God are astounding. 9/ "If it tarries, wait for it, for it shall surely come and shall not 10/ be late" [[Hab 2.3b]]. {blank} Interpreted, this concerns the men of truth 11/ who keep the Law, whose hands shall not slacken in the service of 12/ truth when the final age is prolonged. 13/ For all the ages of God reach their appointed end as he determines for them 14/ in the mysteries of His wisdom. "Behold, [his soul] is puffed up and is not upright" [[Hab 2.4a]]. {blank} 15/ Interpreted, this means that [the wicked] shall double their guilt upon themselves [and it shall not be forgiven] when they are judged. {blank} ["But the righteous shall live by his faith"] [[Hab 2.4b]]. 1/ Interpreted, this concerns all those who observe the Law in the House of Judah, whom God will 2/ deliver from the House of Judgement because of their suffering and because of their faith 3/ in the Teacher of Righteousness. "Moreover, the arrogant man seizes wealth without 4/ halting. He widens his gullet like hell and like death he has never enough. 5/ All the nations are gathered to him and all the peoples 6/ are assembled to him. Will they not all of them taunt him and jeer at 7/ him saying, 'Woe to him who amasses that which is not his! How long will he load himself up 8/ with pledges?'" [[Hab 2.5-6]]. {blank} Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked Priest who 9/ was called by the name of truth when he first arose. But when he ruled 10/ over Israel his heart became proud, and he forsook God and betrayed the precepts for the sake 11/ of riches. He robbed and amassed the riches of the men of violence who rebelled against God, and he took 12/ the wealth of the peoples, heaping sinful iniquity upon himself. And he lived in the ways 13/ of abominations amidst every unclean defilement. "Shall not your oppressors suddenly arise 14/ and your torturers awaken; and shall you not become their prey? 15/ Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples 16/ shall plunder you" [[Hab 2.7-8a]]. {blank} [Interpreted, this concerns] 17/ the Priest who rebelled [and violated] precepts [of God . . . to command] ... 1/ his chastisement by means of the judgements of wickedness. And they inflicted horrors of evil 2/ diseases and took vengeance upon his body of flesh. And as for that which 3/ He said, "because you have plundered many nations, all the 4/ remnant of the peoples shall plunder you": {blank} Interpreted this concerns the last Priests of Jerusalem, 5/ who shall amass money and wealth by plundering the peoples. But in the 6/ last days, their riches and booty shall be delivered into the hands of the 7/ army of the Kittim, {blank} For it is they who shall be "the remnant of the peoples." 8/ "Because of the blood of men and the violence done to the land, to the city, and to all its inhabitants" [[Hab 2.8b]]. {blank} 9/ Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked Priest whom God delivered into the hands of his enemies because of the iniquity committed against the Teacher 10/ of Righteousness and the men of his Council, that he might be humbled by means of 11/ a destroying scourge, in bitterness of soul, because he had done wickedly 12/ to His elect. "Woe to him who gets evil profit for his house; who perches his nest 13/ high to be safe from the hand of evil! You have devised shame 14/ to your house: by cutting off many peoples you have forfeited your own soul. For the [stone] 15/ cries out [from] the wall [and] the beam from the woodwork replies [[Hab 2.9-11]]. 16/ [Interpreted, this] concerns the {Priest] who . ... 1/ that its stones might be laid in oppression and the beam of its woodwork in robbery. And as for that which 2/ he said, "by cutting off many peoples you have forfeited your own soul": {blank} 3/ Interpreted this concerns the condemned House whose 4/ judgement God will pronounce in the midst of many peoples. He will bring him thence for judgement and will 5/ declare him guilty in the midst of them, and will chastise him with fire of brimstone. "Woe to him who 6/ builds a city with blood and founds a town upon falsehood! Behold, is it not 7/ from YHWH of hosts that the peoples shall labour for fire 8/ and the nations shall strive for naught? [[Hab 2.12-13]]. {blank} 9/ Interpreted, this concerns the Spouter of Lies who led many astray that he 10/ might build his city of vanity with blood and raise a congregation on deceit, 11/ causing many thereby to perform a service of vanity for the sake of its glory, and to be pregnant 12/ with [works] of deceit, that their labour might be for nothing and that they might be 13/ punished with fire who vilified and outraged the elect of God. 14/ "For as the waters cover the sea, so shall the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of YHWH" [[Hab 2.14]]. {blank} 15/ Interpreted, [this means that] when they return . ... 1/ the lies. And afterwards, knowledge shall be revealed to them abundantly, like the waters of 2/ the sea. "Woe to him who causes his neighbours to drink; who pours out his venom 3/ to make them drunk that he may gaze on their feasts!" [[Hab 2.15]]. 4/ {blank} Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked Priest who 5/ pursued the Teacher of Righteousness to the house of his exile that he might confuse him with his venomous fury. And at the time appointed 6/ for rest, for the Day of Atonement, he appeared before them to confuse them, and to cause them 7/ to stumble on the Day of Fasting, their Sabbath of repose. "You have filled yourself with 8/ ignominy more than with glory. Drink also, and 9/ stagger! The cup of YHWH's right hand shall come round to you and shame shall come 10/ on your glory [[Hab 2.16]]. {blank} 11/ Interpreted, this concerns the Priest whose ignominy was greater than his glory. 12/ For he did not circumcise the foreskin of his heart, and he walked in the ways 13/ of drunkenness that he might quench his thirst. But the cup of the wrath 14/ of God shall confuse him, multiplying his . . . and the pain of . . . ... ["For the violence done to Lebanon shall overwhelm you, and the destruction of the beasts] 1/ Shall terrify you, because of the blood of men and the violence done to the land, the city, and all its inhabitants [[Hab 2.17]]. 2/ Interpreted, this saying concerns the Wicked Priest, inasmuch as he shall be paid the 3/ reward which he himself tendered to the poor. For Lebanon is the 4/ Council of the Community; and the beasts are the simple of Judah 5/ who keep the Law. God will condemn him to destruction {blank} 6/ just as he himself plotted the destruction of the poor, And as for that which he said, "because of the blood 7/ of the city and the violence done to the land": Interpreted, the city is Jerusalem where the 8/ Wicked Priest committed abominable deeds and defiled the 9/ Temple of God. The violence done to the land: these are the cities of Judah 10/ where he robbed the poor of their possessions. "Of what use is an idol that its maker should shape it, a molten 11/ image, a fatling of lies? For the craftsman puts his trust in his own creation when he 12/ makes dumb idols" [[Hab 2.18]]. Interpreted, this saying concerns all the 13/ idols of the nations which they make so that they may serve and worship them. But 14/ they shall not deliver them on the Day of Judgement. 15/ "Woe [to him who says] to wood, 'awake', and to dumb stone, 'arise'! [Can such a thing give guidance? Behold, it is covered with gold and silver but there is no spirit within it. But YHWH is in his holy temple]: 1/ Let all the earth be silent before him!" [[Hab 2.19-20 (end of chapter)]]. Interpreted, this concerns all the nations 2/ which serve stone and wood. But on the Day of 3/ Judgement, God will destroy from the earth 4/ all idolatrous and wicked men. {blank} 5-end {Blank} . . .