Habakuk 2:1

2:1 I will stand at my watch post;

I will remain stationed on the city wall. ¹ 

I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to me

and can know ²  how I should answer

when he counters my argument. ³ 

Habakuk 3:9

3:9 Your bow is ready for action; ⁴ 

you commission your arrows. ⁵  Selah.

You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface. ⁶ 

Habakuk 2:6

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ⁷ 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ⁸ 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ⁹ 

(How long will this go on?) ¹⁰  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ¹¹ 

¹ sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.

² tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

³ tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”

⁴ tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”

⁵ tn Heb “sworn in are the arrow-shafts with a word.” The passive participle of שָׁבַע (shava’), “swear an oath,” also occurs in Ezek 21:23 ET (21:28 HT) referencing those who have sworn allegiance. Here the Lord’s arrows are personified and viewed as having received a commission which they have vowed to uphold. In Jer 47:6-7 the Lord’s sword is given such a charge. In the Ugaritic myths Baal’s weapons are formally assigned the task of killing the sea god Yam.

⁶ tn Heb “[with] rivers you split open the earth.” A literal rendering like “You split the earth with rivers” (so NIV, NRSV) suggests geological activity to the modern reader, but in the present context of a violent thunderstorm, the idea of streams swollen to torrents by downpours better fits the imagery.

sn As the Lord comes in a thunderstorm the downpour causes streams to swell to river-like proportions and spread over the surface of the ground, causing flash floods.

⁷ tn Heb “Will not these, all of them, take up a taunt against him…?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.

⁸ tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

⁹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who increases [what is] not his.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe,” “ah”) was used in funeral laments and carries the connotation of death.

¹⁰ tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.

¹¹ tn Heb “and the one who makes himself heavy [i.e., wealthy] [by] debts.” Though only appearing in the first line, the term הוֹי (hoy) is to be understood as elliptical in the second line.