Ulangan 8:17

8:17 Be careful ¹  not to say, “My own ability and skill ²  have gotten me this wealth.”

Yesaya 10:13-14

10:13 For he says:

“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,

by my strategy that I devised.

I invaded the territory of nations, ³ 

and looted their storehouses.

Like a mighty conqueror, ⁴  I brought down rulers. ⁵ 

10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,

as one gathers up abandoned eggs,

I gathered up the whole earth.

There was no wing flapping,

or open mouth chirping.” ⁶ 

Habakuk 1:16

1:16 Because of his success ⁷  he offers sacrifices to his throw net

and burns incense to his dragnet; ⁸ 

for because of them he has plenty of food, ⁹ 

and more than enough to eat. ¹⁰ 

Habakuk 2:5-6

2:5 Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! ¹¹ 

His appetite ¹²  is as big as Sheol’s; ¹³ 

like death, he is never satisfied.

He gathers ¹⁴  all the nations;

he seizes ¹⁵  all peoples.

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ¹⁶ 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ¹⁷ 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ¹⁸ 

(How long will this go on?) ¹⁹  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ²⁰ 

[8:17]  ¹ tn For stylistic reasons a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 17 in the translation and the words “be careful” supplied to indicate the connection.

[8:17]  ² tn Heb “my strength and the might of my hand.”

[10:13]  ³ tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”

[10:13]  ⁴ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).

[10:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.

[10:14]  ⁶ sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.

[1:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “therefore.”

[1:16]  ⁸ sn The fishing implements (throw net and dragnet) represent Babylonian military might. The prophet depicts the Babylonians as arrogantly worshiping their own power (sacrifices…burns incense, see also v. 11b).

[1:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “for by them his portion is full [or, “fat”].”

[1:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his food is plentiful [or, “fat”].”

[2:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Indeed wine betrays a proud man and he does not dwell.” The meaning of the last verb, “dwell,” is uncertain. Many take it as a denominative of the noun נָוָה (navah, “dwelling place”). In this case it would carry the idea, “he does not settle down,” and would picture the drunkard as restless (cf. NIV “never at rest”; NASB “does not stay at home”). Some relate the verb to an Arabic cognate and translate the phrase as “he will not succeed, reach his goal.”

[2:5]  sn The Babylonian tyrant is the proud, restless man described in this line as the last line of the verse, with its reference to the conquest of the nations, makes clear. Wine is probably a metaphor for imperialistic success. The more success the Babylonians experience, the more greedy they become just as a drunkard wants more and more wine to satisfy his thirst. But eventually this greed will lead to their downfall, for God will not tolerate such imperialism and will judge the Babylonians appropriately (vv. 6-20).

[2:5]  ¹² tn Heb “who opens wide like Sheol his throat.” Here נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is understood in a physical sense, meaning “throat,” which in turn is figurative for the appetite. See H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 11-12.

[2:5]  ¹³ sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead. In ancient Canaanite thought Death was a powerful god whose appetite was never satisfied. In the OT Sheol/Death, though not deified, is personified as greedy and as having a voracious appetite. See Prov 30:15-16; Isa 5:14; also see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 168.

[2:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he gathers for himself.”

[2:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he collects for himself.”

[2:6]  ¹⁶ 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.

[2:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

[2:6]  ¹⁸ 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.

[2:6]  ¹⁹ tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.

[2:6]  ²⁰ 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.