1
The burden that Chavaqquq the prophet saw.
2
How long, Yahuah, shall I cry for help, and You do not hear? I cry out to You: “Violence!” and You do not save.
3
Why do You cause me to see crookedness and make me look upon trouble? Destruction and violence are before me. And there is strife, and contention rises.
4
Therefore Torah becomes weak, and Judgment never goes forth. For the wicked surrounds the righteous, therefore Judgment goes forth twisted.
5
“Look among the nations and see. Be astonished. Be exceedingly astonished. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if it were told.
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For see, I am raising up the Kasdim, that bitter and hasty nation, who marches through the breadth of the earth to possess dwellings that are not his.
7
He is dreadful and fearsome. From himself his Judgment and his dignity go forth.
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His horses are swifter than leopards and fiercer than wolves of evening. His horsemen spread themselves, and his horsemen come from far away. They fly like an eagle hurrying to devour.
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All of them come for violence. The direction of their faces is forward, and they gather captives like sand.
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And he mocks kings, and rulers are a laughing matter to him. At every fortress he laughs. He heaps up earth and takes it.
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Then his ruach changes, and he passes over and becomes guilty— this power of his becoming his elohim.”
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Are You not from ancient days, Yahuah my Elohim, my Holy One? We shall not die. Yahuah, for Judgment You appointed him, and Rock, for correction You established him.
13
Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You are not able to look upon trouble. Why do You look upon those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallows up one more righteous than himself?
14
And You make Adam like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them.
15
He brings all of them up with a hook. He drags them with his net and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.
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Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his portion is fat and his food is rich.
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Shall he therefore empty his net continually and keep killing nations without compassion?