Ecclesiastes 1:8

1:8 All this ¹  monotony ²  is tiresome; no one can bear ³  to describe it: ⁴ 

The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content ⁵  with hearing.

Ecclesiastes 5:10

Covetousness

5:10 The one who loves money ⁶  will never be satisfied with money, ⁷ 

he who loves wealth ⁸  will never be satisfied ⁹  with his ¹⁰  income.

This also is futile.

Proverbs 27:20

27:20 As ¹¹  Death and Destruction are never satisfied, ¹² 

so the eyes of a person ¹³  are never satisfied. ¹⁴ 

Habakkuk 2:5-9

2:5 Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! ¹⁵ 

His appetite ¹⁶  is as big as Sheol’s; ¹⁷ 

like death, he is never satisfied.

He gathers ¹⁸  all the nations;

he seizes ¹⁹  all peoples.

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ²⁰ 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ²¹ 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ²² 

(How long will this go on?) ²³  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ²⁴ 

2:7 Your creditors will suddenly attack; ²⁵ 

those who terrify you will spring into action, ²⁶ 

and they will rob you. ²⁷ 

2:8 Because you robbed many countries, ²⁸ 

all who are left among the nations ²⁹  will rob you.

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, ³⁰  and those who live in them.

2:9 The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. ³¹ 

He does this so he can build his nest way up high

and escape the clutches of disaster. ³² 

Habakkuk 2:1

2:1 I will stand at my watch post;

I will remain stationed on the city wall. ³³ 

I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to me

and can know ³⁴  how I should answer

when he counters my argument. ³⁵ 

Habakkuk 2:16

2:16 But you will become drunk ³⁶  with shame, not majesty. ³⁷ 

Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! ³⁸ 

The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand ³⁹  is coming to you,

and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!

[1:8]  ¹ tn The word “this” is not in Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:8]  ² tn Heb “the things.” The Hebrew term דְּבָרִים (dÿvarim, masculine plural noun from דָּבָר, davar) is often used to denote “words,” but it can also refer to actions and events (HALOT 211 s.v. דָּבָר 3.a; BDB 183 s.v. דָּבָר IV.4). Here, it means “things,” as is clear from the context: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done” (1:9). Here דְּבָרִים can be nuanced “occurrences” or even “[natural] phenomena.”

[1:8]  ³ tn Heb “is able.”

[1:8]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has no stated object. The translation supplies “it” for stylistic reasons and clarification.

[1:8]  ⁵ tn The term מָלֵא (male’, “to be filled, to be satisfied”) is repeated in 1:7-8 to draw a comparison between the futility in the cycle of nature and human secular accomplishments: lots of action, but no lasting effects. In 1:7 אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא (’enennu male’, “it is never filled”) describes the futility of the water cycle: “All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never filled.” In 1:8 וְלֹא־תִמָּלֵא (vÿlo-timmale’, “it is never satisfied”) describes the futility of human labor: “the ear is never satisfied with hearing.”

[5:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “silver.” The Hebrew term כֶּסֶף (kesef, “silver”) refers to “money” (HALOT 490–91 s.v. כֶּסֶף 3). It is a synecdoche of specific (i.e., silver) for the general (i.e., money); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 625-29.

[5:10]  ⁷ sn The Hebrew term “silver” (translated “money”) is repeated twice in this line for rhetorical emphasis.

[5:10]  ⁸ tn The term הָמוֹן (hamon, “abundance; wealth”) has a wide range of meanings: (1) agitation; (2) turmoil; (3) noise; (4) pomp; (5) multitude; crowd = noisy crowd; and (6) abundance; wealth (HALOT 250 s.v. הָמוֹן 1–6). Here, it refers to abundant wealth (related to “pomp”); cf. HALOT 250 s.v. הָמוֹן 6, that is, lavish abundant wealth (Ezek 29:19; 30:4; 1 Chr 29:16).

[5:10]  ⁹ tn The phrase “will never be satisfied” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. Note the previous line.

[5:10]  ¹⁰ tn The word “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[27:20]  ¹¹ tn The term “as” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation in light of the analogy.

[27:20]  ¹² sn Countless generations of people have gone into the world below; yet “death” is never satisfied – it always takes more. The line personifies Death and Destruction. It forms the emblem in the parallelism.

[27:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “eyes of a man.” This expression refers to the desires – what the individual looks longingly on. Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:34 (one of the rabbinic Midrashim) says, “No man dies and has one-half of what he wanted.”

[27:20]  ¹⁴ tc The LXX contains a scribal addition: “He who fixes his eye is an abomination to the Lord, and the uninstructed do not restrain their tongues.” This is unlikely to be original.

[2:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Indeed wine betrays a proud man and he does not dwell.” The meaning of the last verb, “dwell,” is uncertain. Many take it as a denominative of the noun נָוָה (navah, “dwelling place”). In this case it would carry the idea, “he does not settle down,” and would picture the drunkard as restless (cf. NIV “never at rest”; NASB “does not stay at home”). Some relate the verb to an Arabic cognate and translate the phrase as “he will not succeed, reach his goal.”

[2:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “who opens wide like Sheol his throat.” Here נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is understood in a physical sense, meaning “throat,” which in turn is figurative for the appetite. See H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 11-12.

[2:5]  ¹⁷ sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead. In ancient Canaanite thought Death was a powerful god whose appetite was never satisfied. In the OT Sheol/Death, though not deified, is personified as greedy and as having a voracious appetite. See Prov 30:15-16; Isa 5:14; also see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 168.

[2:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he gathers for himself.”

[2:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he collects for himself.”

[2:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Will not these, all of them, take up a taunt against him…?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.

[2:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

[2:6]  ²² tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who increases [what is] not his.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe,” “ah”) was used in funeral laments and carries the connotation of death.

[2:6]  ²³ tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.

[2:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and the one who makes himself heavy [i.e., wealthy] [by] debts.” Though only appearing in the first line, the term הוֹי (hoy) is to be understood as elliptical in the second line.

[2:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Will not your creditors suddenly rise up?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.

[2:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “[Will not] the ones who make you tremble awake?”

[2:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and you will become their plunder.”

[2:8]  ²⁸ tn Or “nations.”

[2:8]  ²⁹ tn Or “peoples.”

[2:8]  ³⁰ 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.

[2:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who profits unjustly by evil unjust gain for his house.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:9]  ³² tn Heb “to place his nest in the heights in order to escape from the hand of disaster.”

[2:1]  ³³ sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.

[2:1]  ³⁴ tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”

[2:16]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ tn Or “glory.”

[2:16]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ 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.