Habakuk 1:3

1:3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? ¹ 

Why do you put up with wrongdoing? ² 

Destruction and violence confront ³  me;

conflict is present and one must endure strife. ⁴ 

Habakuk 2:16

2:16 But you will become drunk ⁵  with shame, not majesty. ⁶ 

Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! ⁷ 

The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand ⁸  is coming to you,

and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!

Habakuk 3:3

3:3 God comes ⁹  from Teman, ¹⁰ 

the sovereign ¹¹  one from Mount Paran. ¹²  Selah. ¹³ 

His splendor covers the skies, ¹⁴ 

his glory ¹⁵  fills the earth.

Habakuk 3:8

3:8 Is the Lord mad at the rivers?

Are you angry with the rivers?

Are you enraged at the sea? ¹⁶ 

Is this why ¹⁷  you climb into your horse-drawn chariots, ¹⁸ 

your victorious chariots? ¹⁹ 

Habakuk 3:13-14

3:13 You march out to deliver your people,

to deliver your special servant. ²⁰ 

You strike the leader of the wicked nation, ²¹ 

laying him open from the lower body to the neck. ²²  Selah.

3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors ²³  with a spear. ²⁴ 

They storm forward to scatter us; ²⁵ 

they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. ²⁶ 

[1:3]  ¹ tn Heb “Why do you make me see injustice?”

[1:3]  ² tn Heb “Why do you look at wrongdoing?”

[1:3]  sn Habakkuk complains that God tolerates social injustice and fails to intervene on behalf of the oppressed (put up with wrongdoing).

[1:3]  ³ tn Heb “are before.”

[1:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and there is conflict and strife he lifts up.” The present translation takes the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) in the sense of “carry, bear,” and understands the subject to be indefinite (“one”).

[2:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “are filled.” The translation assumes the verbal form is a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of Babylon’s coming judgment, which will reduce the majestic empire to shame and humiliation.

[2:16]  ⁶ tn Or “glory.”

[2:16]  ⁷ tc Heb “drink, even you, and show the foreskin.” Instead of הֵעָרֵל (he’arel, “show the foreskin”) one of the Dead Sea scrolls has הֵרָעֵל (hera’el, “stumble”). This reading also has support from several ancient versions and is followed by the NEB (“you too shall drink until you stagger”) and NRSV (“Drink, you yourself, and stagger”). For a defense of the Hebrew text, see P. D. Miller, Jr., Sin and Judgment in the Prophets, 63-64.

[2:16]  ⁸ sn The Lord’s right hand represents his military power. He will force the Babylonians to experience the same humiliating defeat they inflicted on others.

[3:3]  ⁹ tn In vv. 3-15 there is a mixture of eleven prefixed verbal forms (without vav [ו] consecutive or with vav conjunctive), sixteen suffixed forms, and three prefixed forms with vav consecutive. All of the forms are best taken as indicating completed action from the speaker’s standpoint (all of the prefixed forms being regarded as preterites). The forms could be translated with the past tense, but this would be misleading, for this is not a mere recital of God’s deeds in Israel’s past history. Habakkuk here describes, in terms reminiscent of past theophanies, his prophetic vision of a future theophany (see v. 7, “I saw”). From the prophet’s visionary standpoint the theophany is “as good as done.” This translation uses the English present tense throughout these verses to avoid misunderstanding. A similar strategy is followed by the NEB; in contrast note the NIV and NRSV, which consistently use past tenses throughout the section, and the NASB, which employs present tenses in vv. 3-5 and mostly past tenses in vv. 6-15.

[3:3]  ¹⁰ sn Teman was a city or region in southern Edom.

[3:3]  ¹¹ tn Or traditionally, “holy one.” The term קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy [one]”) here refers to God’s sovereignty. See v. 3b.

[3:3]  ¹² sn The precise location of Mount Paran is unknown, but like Teman it was located to the southeast of Israel. Habakkuk saw God marching from the direction of Sinai.

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Selah. The meaning of this musical term (which also appears in vv. 9, 13, and in the Psalms as well) is unknown.

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “heavens.”

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “praise.” This could mean that the earth responds in praise as God’s splendor is observed in the skies. However, the Hebrew term תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) can stand by metonymy for what prompts it (i.e., fame, glory, deeds).

[3:8]  ¹⁶ sn The following context suggests these questions should be answered, “Yes.” The rivers and the sea, symbolizing here the hostile nations (v. 12), are objects of the Lord’s anger (vv. 10, 15).

[3:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “so that.” Here כִּי (ki) is resultative. See the note on the phrase “make it” in 2:18.

[3:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “you mount your horses.” As the next line makes clear, the Lord is pictured here as a charioteer, not a cavalryman. Note NRSV here, “when you drove your horses, // your chariots to victory.”

[3:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “chariots of deliverance.”

[3:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “anointed one.” In light of the parallelism with “your people” in the preceding line this could refer to Israel, but elsewhere the Lord’s anointed one is always an individual. The Davidic king is the more likely referent here.

[3:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “you strike the head from the house of wickedness.”

[3:13]  ²² tn Heb “laying bare [from] foundation to neck.”

[3:14]  ²³ tn Some take “warriors” with the following line, in which case one should translate, “you pierce [his] head with a spear; his warriors storm forward to scatter us” (cf. NIV). The meaning of the Hebrew term פְּרָזוֹ (pÿrazo), translated here “his warriors,” is uncertain.

[3:14]  ²⁴ tc Heb “his shafts.” Some emend to “your shafts.” The translation above assumes an emendation to מַטֶּה (matteh, “shaft, spear”), the vav-yod (ו-י) sequence being a corruption of an original he (ה).

[3:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.

[3:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”