Habakuk 1:5

The Lord Reveals Some Startling News

1:5 “Look at the nations and pay attention! ¹ 

You will be shocked and amazed! ² 

For I will do something in your lifetime ³ 

that you will not believe even though you are forewarned. 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 3:2

3:2 Lord, I have heard the report of what you did; ⁹ 

I am awed, ¹⁰  Lord, by what you accomplished. ¹¹ 

In our time ¹²  repeat those deeds; ¹³ 

in our time reveal them again. ¹⁴ 

But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy! ¹⁵ 

Habakuk 2:19

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ¹⁶  –

he who says ¹⁷  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ¹⁸ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

[1:5]  ¹ tn Or “look among the nations and observe.” The imperatival forms in v. 5 are plural, indicating that the Lord’s message is for the whole nation, not just the prophet.

[1:5]  ² tn The Hebrew text combines the Hitpael and Qal imperatival forms of the verb תָּמַה (tamah, “be amazed”). A literal translation might read, “Shock yourselves and be shocked!” The repetition of sounds draws attention to the statement. The imperatives here have the force of an emphatic assertion. On this use of the imperative in Hebrew, see GKC 324 §110.c and IBHS 572-73 §34.4c.

[1:5]  ³ tc Heb “for a work working in your days.” Following the LXX reading, some supply a first person singular pronoun with the participle פֹּעֵל (po’el). Ellipsis of a first singular pronoun before participles is relatively rare (see GKC 360 §116.s); perhaps an original אֲנֹכִי (’anoki; or אֲנִי, ’aniy) followed the initial כִּי (ki) and was omitted by homoioteleuton.

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “you will not believe when it is told.” In this context the force of כִּי (ki) may be “when,” “if,” or “even though.”

[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.

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “your report,” that is, “the report concerning you.”

[3:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I fear.” Some prefer to read, “I saw, Lord, what you accomplished” (cf. NEB).

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your work.”

[3:2]  ¹² tn Heb “in the midst of years.” The meaning of the phrase, which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain (cf. NIV “in our day”; NEB, NASB “in the midst of the years”).

[3:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “revive it” (i.e., “your work”).

[3:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “make known.” The implied object is “your deeds”; the pronoun “them,” referring to “deeds” in the previous line, was employed in the translation to avoid redundancy. The suffix on the form חַיֵּיהוּ (khayyehu, “revive it”) does double duty in the parallelism.

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in turmoil remember [to show] compassion.”

[2:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:19]  ¹⁷ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ¹⁸ tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).