Habakuk 2:10

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

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

Habakuk 2:16

2:16 But you will become drunk ²  with shame, not majesty. ³ 

Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! ⁴ 

The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand ⁵  is coming to you,

and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!

Habakuk 3:13

3:13 You march out to deliver your people,

to deliver your special servant. ⁶ 

You strike the leader of the wicked nation, ⁷ 

laying him open from the lower body to the neck. ⁸  Selah.

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

[2:16]  ² 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]  ³ tn Or “glory.”

[2:16]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.

[3:13]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “you strike the head from the house of wickedness.”

[3:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “laying bare [from] foundation to neck.”