Habakkuk חֲבַקּוּק

Habakkuk (Chavakuk) alone among the prophets turns the argument toward Heaven: not 'Thus says Hashem' to Israel, but 'How long, O Hashem?' to God. He cries against violence and a paralyzed law — and is answered with a work he would not believe though it were told him: the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, raised up as the rod. The answer sharpens the question: how can He that is of eyes too pure to behold evil hold His peace while the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? Habakkuk takes his stand upon the watch-tower, and the reply comes down to be written plain upon tables: the vision is for the appointed time; though it tarry, wait for it — 'the righteous shall live by his faith.' Five woes pronounce the doom of the plunderer, 'for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Hashem, as the waters cover the sea... Hashem is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.' The book closes in a prayer upon Shigionoth — the Divine march from Teman relived in trembling — and in the summit of trust: though the fig-tree blossom not, 'yet I will rejoice in Hashem, I will exult in the God of my salvation.' This volume presents the complete Hebrew text with English translation, a word-by-word interlinear layer with transliteration, roots, and gematria, and the classic commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Radak, Metzudat David, Metzudat Zion, Malbim, and Abarbanel, newly translated into English.