Habakuk 1:6

1:6 Look, I am about to empower ¹  the Babylonians,

that ruthless ²  and greedy ³  nation.

They sweep across the surface ⁴  of the earth,

seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

Habakuk 2:2

The Lord Assures Habakkuk

2:2 The Lord responded: ⁵ 

“Write down this message! ⁶  Record it legibly on tablets,

so the one who announces ⁷  it may read it easily. ⁸ 

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. ⁹ 

Habakuk 3:13

3:13 You march out to deliver your people,

to deliver your special servant. ¹⁰ 

You strike the leader of the wicked nation, ¹¹ 

laying him open from the lower body to the neck. ¹²  Selah.

[1:6]  ¹ tn Heb “raise up” (so KJV, ASV).

[1:6]  ² tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”

[1:6]  ³ tn Heb “hasty, quick.” Some translate here “impetuous” (so NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “rash,” but in this context greed may very well be the idea. The Babylonians move quickly and recklessly ahead in their greedy quest to expand their empire.

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “the open spaces.”

[2:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord answered and said.” The redundant expression “answered and said” has been simplified in the translation as “responded.”

[2:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Or “reads from.”

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “might run,” which here probably means “run [through it quickly with one’s eyes],” that is, read it easily.

[2:13]  ⁹ 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?”

[3:13]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you strike the head from the house of wickedness.”

[3:13]  ¹² tn Heb “laying bare [from] foundation to neck.”