HOLY BIBLE: Habakkuk 2 (original) (raw)

5 ὁ δὲ κατοινωμένος καὶ καταφρονητὴς ἀνὴρ ἀλαζών οὐδὲν μὴ περάνῃ ὃς ἐπλάτυνεν καθὼς ὁ ᾅδης τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ οὗτος ὡς θάνατος οὐκ ἐμπιπλάμενος καὶ ἐπισυνάξει ἐ{P'} αὐτὸν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη καὶ εἰσδέξεται πρὸς αὐτὸν πάντας τοὺς λαούς 6 οὐχὶ ταῦτα πάντα παραβολὴν κα{T'} αὐτοῦ λήμψονται καὶ πρόβλημα εἰς διήγησιν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐροῦσιν οὐαὶ ὁ πληθύνων ἑαυτῷ τὰ οὐκ ὄντα αὐτοῦ ἕως τίνος καὶ βαρύνων τὸν κλοιὸν αὐτοῦ στιβαρῶς 7 ὅτι ἐξαίφνης ἀναστήσονται δάκνοντες αὐτόν καὶ ἐκνήψουσιν οἱ ἐπίβουλοί σου καὶ ἔσῃ εἰς διαρπαγὴν αὐτοῖς 8 διότι σὺ ἐσκύλευσας ἔθνη πολλά σκυλεύσουσίν σε πάντες οἱ ὑπολελειμμένοι λαοὶ δ{I'} αἵματα ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀσεβείας γῆς καὶ πόλεως καὶ πάντων τῶν κατοικούντων αὐτήν

5 Tyrant, like drunkard, is mocked by false dreams of glory.[1] See him whet his appetite, not death itself nor the grave more insatiable; gather up a tribe here, a nation there, heap his plate with them! 6 One day, what a by-word they will make of him! What riddling taunts shall be hurled at him! As here follows:

So thou wouldst hoard up the possessions that are none of thine, load thyself with base dross,[2] and it should go on for ever? 7 All unawares the foe shall spring, worry thee, harry thee, make a helpless prey of thee. 8 So many lands thou hast plundered, plundered thyself shalt be; enough nations are left for that; for men’s blood shed, and for fields ravaged, plundered the city shall be, and all that dwell there.[3]

5
Et quomodo vinum potantem decipit,
sic erit vir superbus, et non decorabitur:
qui dilatavit quasi infernus animam suam,
et ipse quasi mors, et non adimpletur:
et congregabit ad se omnes gentes,
et coacervabit ad se omnes populos. 6
Numquid non omnes isti super eum parabolam sument,
et loquelam ænigmatum ejus, et dicetur:
Væ ei qui multiplicat non sua?
usquequo et aggravat contra se densum lutum? 7
Numquid non repente consurgent qui mordeant te,
et suscitabuntur lacerantes te,
et eris in rapinam eis? 8
Quia tu spoliasti gentes multas,
spoliabunt te omnes qui reliqui fuerint de populis,
propter sanguinem hominis,
et iniquitatem terræ, civitatis, et omnium habitantium in ea.

[1] Literally, ‘Behold, the breath (or life) of him who is incredulous will not be straight within him, but the just man will have life in his faith. And as wine deceives the drinker, so shall a proud man be, and he will not be adorned’. The Latin here is evidently trying to restore sense to a passage unintelligible in the Hebrew text. The word ‘faith’ in the Old Testament usually means faithfulness (to one’s word); here the context suggests that it means confidence.

[2] ‘Base dross’; literally, ‘thick mud’, a mistaken attempt to identify a Hebrew word which means ‘borrowers’ pledges’. In the next verse, the verb ‘worry’ or ‘bite’ is, in Hebrew, closely allied to a word meaning ‘usury’.

[3] Here and in verse 17 below the Latin version has probably misunderstood the Hebrew construction, referring ‘the city and all that dwell there’ not to Babylon but to her victims.

[4] Verses 12-14 seem to be a cento of quotations; cf. Mic. 3.10, Jer. 51.58, Is. 11.9.

[5] Literally, ‘it shall frighten them’; the last word is masculine in the Latin, feminine in the Hebrew. The Hebrew text of this verse is very obscure, and may well be corrupt.

[6] ‘Signify their will’; literally, ‘teach’. If the text is sound, the contrast must be with the true God as Lawgiver.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd