Habacuc 1
1 Sentence dont Habacuc, le prophète, eut la vision.
The word which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 Jusques à quand, Yahweh, t'implorerai-je, sans que tu m'entendes, crierai-je vers toi à la violence, sans que tu me délivres?
How long, O Lord, will your ears be shut to my voice? I make an outcry to you about violent behaviour, but you do not send salvation.
3 Pourquoi me fais-tu voir l'iniquité, et contemples-tu la souffrance? La dévastation et la violence sont devant moi, il y a des querelles et la discorde s'élève;
Why do you make me see evil-doing, and why are my eyes fixed on wrong? for wasting and violent acts are before me: and there is fighting and bitter argument.
4 à cause de cela la loi se meurt, et la justice ne voit plus le jour; car le méchant circonvient le juste; c'est pourquoi le droit sort faussé.
For this reason the law is feeble and decisions are not effected: for the upright man is circled round by evil-doers; because of which right is twisted.
5 Jetez les yeux sur les nations et regardez; soyez étonnés, stupéfaits. Car je vais faire en vos jours une œuvre, que vous ne croiriez pas si on vous la racontait.
See among the nations, and take note, and be full of wonder: for in your days I am doing a work in which you will have no belief, even if news of it is given to you.
6 Car voici que je suscite les Chaldéens, peuple féroce et impétueux, qui s'avance vers les larges espaces de la terre, pour s'emparer de demeures qui ne sont pas à lui.
For see, I am sending the Chaldaeans, that bitter and quick-moving nation; who go through the wide spaces of the earth to get for themselves living-places which are not theirs.
7 Il est terrible et formidable, et c'est de lui-même que vient son droit et sa grandeur.
They are greatly to be feared: their right comes from themselves.
8 Ses chevaux sont plus légers que les léopards, plus ardents que les loups du soir. Ses cavaliers s'élancent, ses cavaliers viennent de loin, ils volent comme l'aigle pressé de dévorer.
And their horses are quicker than leopards and their horsemen more cruel than evening wolves; they come from far away, like an eagle in flight rushing on its food.
9 Tout ce peuple vient pour exercer la violence; leurs regards avides se portent en avant; il amasse les captifs comme du sable.
They are coming all of them with force; the direction of their faces is forward, the number of their prisoners is like the sands of the sea.
10 Lui, il se moque des rois, et les princes sont sa risée; il se rit de toutes les forteresses, il entasse de la poussière et les prend.
He makes little of kings, rulers are a sport to him; all the strong places are to be laughed at; for he makes earthworks and takes them.
11 Puis l'ouragan s'avance et passe; et il se rend coupable; sa force à lui, voilà son Dieu!
Then his purpose will be changed, over-stepping the limit; he will make his strength his god.
12 N'es-tu pas dès le commencement, Yahweh, mon Dieu, mon saint? Nous ne mourrons pas. Yahweh, tu as établi ce peuple pour le droit, ô mon Rocher, tu l'as affermi pour châtier.
Are you not eternal, O Lord my God, my Holy One? for you there is no death. O Lord, he has been ordered by you for our punishment; and by you, O Rock, he has been marked out to put us right.
13 Tes yeux sont trop purs pour voir le mal, et tu ne peux contempler la souffrance. Pourquoi regarderais-tu les perfides, et te tairais-tu, quand le méchant dévore un plus juste que lui?
Before your holy eyes sin may not be seen, and you are unable to put up with wrong; why, then, are your eyes on the false? why do you say nothing when the evil-doer puts an end to one who is more upright than himself?
14 Tu traiterais donc les hommes comme les poissons de la mer, comme les reptiles qui n'ont point de chef!...
He has made men like the fishes of the sea, like the worms which have no ruler over them.
15 Il prend le tout à l'hameçon, il le tire avec son filet, le rassemble dans ses rets; et c'est pourquoi il est dans la joie, il jubile.
He takes them all up with his hook, he takes them in his net, getting them together in his fishing-net: for which cause he is glad and full of joy.
16 C'est pourquoi il sacrifie à son filet, et il offre de l'encens à ses rets; car par eux sa portion est grasse, et sa nourriture succulente.
For this reason he makes an offering to his net, burning perfume to his fishing-net; because by them he gets much food and his meat is fat.
17 Continuera-t-il donc de vider son filet, et toujours égorgera-t-il sans pitié les nations!
For this cause his net is ever open, and there is no end to his destruction of the nations.
