2:1 I will stand at my watch post;
I will remain stationed on the city wall. 1
I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to me
and can know 2 how I should answer
when he counters my argument. 3
1:3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? 4
Why do you put up with wrongdoing? 5
Destruction and violence confront 6 me;
conflict is present and one must endure strife. 7
1:13 You are too just 8 to tolerate 9 evil;
you are unable to condone 10 wrongdoing.
So why do you put up with such treacherous people? 11
Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour 12 those more righteous than they are? 13
2:18 What good 14 is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? 15
What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? 16
Why would its creator place his trust in it 17
and make 18 such mute, worthless things?
1 sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.
2 tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
3 tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”
4 tn Heb “Why do you make me see injustice?”
5 tn Heb “Why do you look at wrongdoing?”
6 tn Heb “are before.”
7 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”).
7 tn Heb “[you] are too pure of eyes.” God’s “eyes” here signify what he looks at with approval. His “eyes” are “pure” in that he refuses to tolerate any wrongdoing in his presence.
8 tn Heb “to see.” Here “see” is figurative for “tolerate,” “put up with.”
9 tn Heb “to look at.” Cf. NEB “who canst not countenance wrongdoing”; NASB “You can not look on wickedness with favor.”
10 tn Heb “Why do you look at treacherous ones?” The verb בָּגַד (bagad, “be treacherous”) is often used of those who are disloyal or who violate agreements. See S. Erlandsson, TDOT 1:470-73.
11 tn Or “swallow up.”
12 tn Heb “more innocent than themselves.”
10 tn Or “of what value.”
11 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.
12 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.
13 tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.
14 tn Heb “to make.”