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The Habakkuk Pesher — Column 12

The Qumran Community · a new plain-English translation from the original language

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shall terrify you - for the blood of man and violence to the land, the city, and all who dwell in it [...]

Its interpretation concerns the Wicked Priest, to repay him

his recompense which he dealt out against the poor, for Lebanon is

the council of the Community, and the beasts are the simple ones of Judah, the doer of

the Law [...] whom God will judge for destruction

just as he plotted to destroy the poor [...] and as for what it says, 'for the blood of'

the city and violence to the land' - its interpretation: the city is Jerusalem

in which the Wicked Priest committed abominable deeds and defiled

the sanctuary of God [...] and 'violence to the land' - these are the cities of Judah where

he plundered the wealth of the poor [...] What use is an idol, that its maker shaped it

[a molten image], a teacher of lies, for the one who fashioned it trusts in his own creations

to make mute idols [...] Its interpretation concerns all

the idols of the nations, which they made to serve them and to bow down

to them, but they will not save them on the day of judgment [...] Woe

to the one [who says] [to] wood, 'Awake!' [Arise!] [to] [the] silent [stone] [...]

[Can it] [teach]? [...] [Behold] [it] [is] [covered with] [gold] [and] [silver]

[and] [there] [is] [no] [breath] [at all] [within] [it] [...] [but] [the LORD] [is] [in] [his] [holy] [temple] [...]

An original translation made in 2026 by Scriptorium Press, working directly from the original language text (never from another English translation), in one consistent modern voice. Free to read, download, and listen — no accounts, no ads, nothing for sale.

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