Habakuk 2:10

2:10 Your schemes will bring shame to your house.

Because you destroyed many nations, you will self-destruct. ¹ 

Habakuk 1:17

1:17 Will he then ²  continue to fill and empty his throw net? ³ 

Will he always ⁴  destroy ⁵  nations and spare none? ⁶ 

Habakuk 3:9

3:9 Your bow is ready for action; ⁷ 

you commission your arrows. ⁸  Selah.

You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface. ⁹ 

Habakuk 2:6

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ¹⁰ 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ¹¹ 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ¹² 

(How long will this go on?) ¹³  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ¹⁴ 

Habakuk 1:6

1:6 Look, I am about to empower ¹⁵  the Babylonians,

that ruthless ¹⁶  and greedy ¹⁷  nation.

They sweep across the surface ¹⁸  of the earth,

seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

Habakuk 2:8

2:8 Because you robbed many countries, ¹⁹ 

all who are left among the nations ²⁰  will rob you.

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, ²¹  and those who live in them.

Habakuk 2:18

2:18 What good ²²  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ²³ 

What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ²⁴ 

Why would its creator place his trust in it ²⁵ 

and make ²⁶  such mute, worthless things?

[2:10]  ¹ tn Heb “you planned shame for your house, cutting off many nations, and sinning [against] your life.”

[1:17]  ² tn Or “therefore.”

[1:17]  ³ tn Heb “Will he then empty his throw net?” The words “continue to fill and” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:17]  ⁴ tn Or “continually.”

[1:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “kill.”

[1:17]  ⁶ tn Or “without showing compassion.”

[3:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”

[3:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “sworn in are the arrow-shafts with a word.” The passive participle of שָׁבַע (shava’), “swear an oath,” also occurs in Ezek 21:23 ET (21:28 HT) referencing those who have sworn allegiance. Here the Lord’s arrows are personified and viewed as having received a commission which they have vowed to uphold. In Jer 47:6-7 the Lord’s sword is given such a charge. In the Ugaritic myths Baal’s weapons are formally assigned the task of killing the sea god Yam.

[3:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “[with] rivers you split open the earth.” A literal rendering like “You split the earth with rivers” (so NIV, NRSV) suggests geological activity to the modern reader, but in the present context of a violent thunderstorm, the idea of streams swollen to torrents by downpours better fits the imagery.

[3:9]  sn As the Lord comes in a thunderstorm the downpour causes streams to swell to river-like proportions and spread over the surface of the ground, causing flash floods.

[2:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Will not these, all of them, take up a taunt against him…?” 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.

[2:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

[2:6]  ¹² tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who increases [what is] not his.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe,” “ah”) was used in funeral laments and carries the connotation of death.

[2:6]  ¹³ tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.

[2:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the one who makes himself heavy [i.e., wealthy] [by] debts.” Though only appearing in the first line, the term הוֹי (hoy) is to be understood as elliptical in the second line.

[1:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “raise up” (so KJV, ASV).

[1:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”

[1:6]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the open spaces.”

[2:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “nations.”

[2:8]  ²⁰ tn Or “peoples.”

[2:8]  ²¹ 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.

[2:18]  ²² tn Or “of what value.”

[2:18]  ²³ tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.

[2:18]  ²⁴ tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.

[2:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.

[2:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to make.”