Habakuk 1:4

1:4 For this reason the law lacks power, ¹ 

and justice is never carried out. ² 

Indeed, ³  the wicked intimidate ⁴  the innocent. ⁵ 

For this reason justice is perverted. ⁶ 

Habakuk 2:7

2:7 Your creditors will suddenly attack; ⁷ 

those who terrify you will spring into action, ⁸ 

and they will rob you. ⁹ 

Habakuk 2:13

2:13 Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed:

The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke;

their exhausting work will be for nothing. ¹⁰ 

Habakuk 3:3

3:3 God comes ¹¹  from Teman, ¹² 

the sovereign ¹³  one from Mount Paran. ¹⁴  Selah. ¹⁵ 

His splendor covers the skies, ¹⁶ 

his glory ¹⁷  fills the earth.

[1:4]  ¹ tn Heb “the law is numb,” i.e., like a hand that has “fallen asleep” (see Ps 77:2). Cf. NAB “is benumbed”; NIV “is paralyzed.”

[1:4]  ² tn Heb “never goes out.”

[1:4]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[1:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “surround” (so NASB, NRSV).

[1:4]  ⁵ tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[1:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “comes out crooked.”

[2:7]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “[Will not] the ones who make you tremble awake?”

[2:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “and you will become their plunder.”

[2:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Is it not, look, from the Lord of hosts that the nations work hard for fire, and the peoples are exhausted for nothing?”

[3:3]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² sn Teman was a city or region in southern Edom.

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Or traditionally, “holy one.” The term קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy [one]”) here refers to God’s sovereignty. See v. 3b.

[3:3]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Or “heavens.”

[3:3]  ¹⁷ 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).