Habakuk 2:8

2:8 Because you robbed many countries, ¹ 

all who are left among the nations ²  will rob you.

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, ³  and those who live in them.

Habakuk 2:19

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ⁴  –

he who says ⁵  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ⁶ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

Habakuk 3:13

3:13 You march out to deliver your people,

to deliver your special servant. ⁷ 

You strike the leader of the wicked nation, ⁸ 

laying him open from the lower body to the neck. ⁹  Selah.

[2:8]  ¹ tn Or “nations.”

[2:8]  ² tn Or “peoples.”

[2:8]  ³ 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.

[2:19]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ⁶ 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).

[3:13]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “you strike the head from the house of wickedness.”

[3:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “laying bare [from] foundation to neck.”