Habakuk 2:7-8

2:7 Your creditors will suddenly attack; ¹ 

those who terrify you will spring into action, ² 

and they will rob you. ³ 

2:8 Because you robbed many countries, ⁴ 

all who are left among the nations ⁵  will rob you.

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, ⁶  and those who live in them.

[2:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Will not your creditors suddenly rise up?” 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.

[2:7]  sn Your creditors will suddenly attack. The Babylonians are addressed directly here. They have robbed and terrorized others, but now the situation will be reversed as their creditors suddenly attack them.

[2:7]  ² tn Heb “[Will not] the ones who make you tremble awake?”

[2:7]  ³ tn Heb “and you will become their plunder.”

[2:8]  ⁴ tn Or “nations.”

[2:8]  ⁵ tn Or “peoples.”

[2:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “because of the shed blood of humankind and violence against land, city.” The singular forms אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) and קִרְיָה (qiryah, “city”) are collective, referring to all the lands and cities terrorized by the Babylonians.