Habakkuk 1:3

1:3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? ¹ 

Why do you put up with wrongdoing? ² 

Destruction and violence confront ³  me;

conflict is present and one must endure strife. ⁴ 

Habakkuk 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 

¹ tn Heb “Why do you make me see injustice?”

² tn Heb “Why do you look at wrongdoing?”

³ tn Heb “are before.”

⁴ tn Heb “and there is conflict and strife he lifts up.” The present translation takes the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) in the sense of “carry, bear,” and understands the subject to be indefinite (“one”).

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

⁶ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

⁷ tn Or “reads from.”

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