25:26 Like a muddied 3 spring and a polluted 4 well,
so is a righteous person who gives way 5 before the wicked.
1:4 For this reason the law lacks power, 6
and justice is never carried out. 7
Indeed, 8 the wicked intimidate 9 the innocent. 10
For this reason justice is perverted. 11
1:12 Lord, you have been active from ancient times; 12
my sovereign God, 13 you are immortal. 14
Lord, you have made them 15 your instrument of judgment. 16
Protector, 17 you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. 18
1:1 The following is the message 19 which God revealed to Habakkuk the prophet: 20
3:12 You furiously stomp on the earth,
you angrily trample down the nations.
1 tn Heb “The
2 tn Heb “because he struck down two men more innocent and better than he and he killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know.”
3 tn The Niphal participle is from רָפַס (rafas), which means “to stamp; to tread; to foul by treading [or, by stamping].” BDB 952 s.v. defines it here as a “fountain befouled.” The picture is one of a spring of water where men and beasts gather and muddy it by their trampling in and out of it.
4 tn The Hophal participle from שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to ruin; to destroy; to corrupt”) provides a general description – the well has been “ruined” or “corrupted” (so ASV) and is therefore unusable.
5 tn The verb מָט (mat) means “to give way; to move.” This probably refers to the integrity of the righteous being lost – comparing it to moving [off course]. T. T. Perowne writes, “To see a righteous man moved from his steadfastness through fear or favour in the presence of the wicked is as disheartening as to find the stream turbid and defiled at which you were longing to quench your thirst” (Proverbs, 161). But the line may refer to the loss of social standing and position by the righteous due to the plots of the wicked – just as someone muddied the water, someone made the righteous slip from his place.
6 tn Heb “the law is numb,” i.e., like a hand that has “fallen asleep” (see Ps 77:2). Cf. NAB “is benumbed”; NIV “is paralyzed.”
7 tn Heb “never goes out.”
8 tn Or “for.”
9 tn Heb “surround” (so NASB, NRSV).
10 tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
11 tn Heb “comes out crooked.”
12 tn Heb “Are you not from antiquity, O
13 tn Heb “My God, my holy one.” God’s “holiness” in this context is his sovereign transcendence as the righteous judge of the world (see vv. 12b-13a), thus the translation “My sovereign God.”
14 tc The MT reads, “we will not die,” but an ancient scribal tradition has “you [i.e., God] will not die.” This is preferred as a more difficult reading that can explain the rise of the other variant. Later scribes who copied the manuscripts did not want to associate the idea of death with God in any way, so they softened the statement to refer to humanity.
15 tn Heb “him,” a collective singular referring to the Babylonians. The plural pronoun “them” has been used in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.
16 tn Heb “for judgment.”
17 tn Heb “Rock” or “Cliff.” This divine epithet views God as a place where one can go to be safe from danger. The translation “Protector” conveys the force of the metaphor (cf. KJV, NEB “O mighty God”).
18 tn Heb “to correct, reprove.”
19 tn Heb “The burden” (so KJV, ASV). The Hebrew term מַשָּׂא (masa’), usually translated “oracle” (NAB, NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “utterance” (BDB 672 s.v. III מַשָּׂא), in prophetic literature is a technical term introducing a message from the
20 tn Heb “The message [traditionally, “burden”] which Habakkuk the prophet saw.”