Ezekiel 28:5

28:5 By your great skill ¹  in trade you have increased your wealth,

and your heart is proud because of your wealth.

Ezekiel 28:17

28:17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;

you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor.

I threw you down to the ground;

I placed you before kings, that they might see you.

Ezekiel 31:10

31:10 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height,

Deuteronomy 8:14

8:14 be sure ²  you do not feel self-important and forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery,

Deuteronomy 8:2

8:2 Remember the whole way by which he ³  has brought you these forty years through the desert ⁴  so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 26:16

Narrative Interlude

26:16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul. ⁵ 

Proverbs 16:18

16:18 Pride ⁶  goes ⁷  before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall. ⁸ 

Proverbs 18:12

18:12 Before destruction the heart ⁹  of a person is proud,

but humility comes ¹⁰  before honor. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 2:12

2:12 Indeed, the Lord who commands armies has planned a day of judgment, ¹² 

for ¹³  all the high and mighty,

for all who are proud – they will be humiliated;

Daniel 5:22-23

5:22 “But you, his son ¹⁴  Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, ¹⁵  although you knew all this. 5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ¹⁶  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ¹⁷  your very breath and all your ways!

Habakkuk 2:4

2:4 Look, the one whose desires are not upright will faint from exhaustion, ¹⁸ 

but the person of integrity ¹⁹  will live ²⁰  because of his faithfulness. ²¹ 

Habakkuk 2:1

2:1 I will stand at my watch post;

I will remain stationed on the city wall. ²² 

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

and can know ²³  how I should answer

when he counters my argument. ²⁴ 

Habakkuk 3:6

3:6 He takes his battle position ²⁵  and shakes ²⁶  the earth;

with a mere look he frightens ²⁷  the nations.

The ancient mountains disintegrate; ²⁸ 

the primeval hills are flattened.

He travels on the ancient roads. ²⁹ 

Habakkuk 3:1

Habakkuk’s Vision of the Divine Warrior

3:1 This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet: ³⁰ 

Habakkuk 1:5

The Lord Reveals Some Startling News

1:5 “Look at the nations and pay attention! ³¹ 

You will be shocked and amazed! ³² 

For I will do something in your lifetime ³³ 

that you will not believe even though you are forewarned. ³⁴ 

[28:5]  ¹ tn Or “wisdom.”

[8:14]  ² tn The words “be sure” are not in the Hebrew text; vv. 12-14 are part of the previous sentence. For stylistic reasons a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 in the translation and the words “be sure” repeated from v. 11 to indicate the connection.

[8:2]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:2]  ⁴ tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.

[26:16]  ⁵ tn Or “mind and being”; cf. NCV “with your whole being”; TEV “obey them faithfully with all your heart.”

[16:18]  ⁶ sn The two lines of this proverb are synonymous parallelism, and so there are parasynonyms. “Pride” is paired with “haughty spirit” (“spirit” being a genitive of specification); and “destruction” is matched with “a tottering, falling.”

[16:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “[is] before destruction.”

[16:18]  ⁸ sn Many proverbs have been written in a similar way to warn against the inevitable disintegration and downfall of pride. W. McKane records an Arabic proverb: “The nose is in the heavens, the seat is in the mire” (Proverbs [OTL], 490).

[18:12]  ⁹ sn The term “heart” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the seat of the spiritual and intellectual capacities – the mind, the will, the motivations and intentions. Proud ambitions and intentions will lead to a fall.

[18:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[is] before honor”; cf. CEV “humility leads to honor.”

[18:12]  ¹¹ sn The way to honor is through humility (e.g., Prov 11:2; 15:33; 16:18). The humility and exaltation of Jesus provides the classic example (Phil 2:1-10).

[2:12]  ¹² tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] has a day.”

[2:12]  ¹³ tn Or “against” (NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[5:22]  ¹⁴ tn Or “descendant”; or “successor.”

[5:22]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “your heart.”

[5:23]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “which.”

[5:23]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”

[2:4]  ¹⁸ tn The meaning of this line is unclear, primarily because of the uncertainty surrounding the second word, עֲפְּלָה (’apÿlah). Some read this as an otherwise unattested verb עָפַל (’afal, “swell”) from which are derived nouns meaning “mound” and “hemorrhoid.” This “swelling” is then understood in an abstract sense, “swell with pride.” This would yield a translation, “As for the proud, his desires are not right within him” (cf. NASB “as for the proud one”; NIV “he is puffed up”; NRSV “Look at the proud!”). A multitude of other interpretations of this line, many of which involve emendations of the problematic form, may be found in the commentaries and periodical literature. The present translation assumes an emendation to a Pual form of the verb עָלַף (’alaf, “be faint, exhausted”). (See its use in the Pual in Isa 51:20, and in the Hitpael in Amos 8:13 and Jonah 4:8.) In the antithetical parallelism of the verse, it corresponds to חָיָה (khayah, “live”). The phrase לֹא יָשְׁרָה נַפְשׁוֹ בּוֹ (lo’ yoshrah nafsho bo), literally, “not upright his desire within him,” is taken as a substantival clause that contrasts with צַדִּיק (tsadiq, “the righteous one”) and serves as the subject of the preceding verb. Here נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is understood in the sense of “desire” (see BDB 660-61 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ for a list of passages where the word carries this sense).

[2:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “righteous.” The oppressed individuals mentioned in 1:4 are probably in view here.

[2:4]  ²⁰ tn Or “will be preserved.” In the immediate context this probably refers to physical preservation through both the present oppression and the coming judgment (see Hab 3:16-19).

[2:4]  ²¹ tn Or “loyalty”; or “integrity.” The Hebrew word אֱמוּנָה (’emunah) has traditionally been translated “faith,” but the term nowhere else refers to “belief” as such. When used of human character and conduct it carries the notion of “honesty, integrity, reliability, faithfulness.” The antecedent of the suffix has been understood in different ways. It could refer to God’s faithfulness, but in this case one would expect a first person suffix (the original form of the LXX has “my faithfulness” here). Others understand the “vision” to be the antecedent. In this case the reliability of the prophecy is in view. For a statement of this view, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 111-12. The present translation assumes that the preceding word “[the person of] integrity” is the antecedent. In this case the Lord is assuring Habakkuk that those who are truly innocent will be preserved through the coming oppression and judgment by their godly lifestyle, for God ultimately rewards this type of conduct. In contrast to these innocent people, those with impure desires (epitomized by the greedy Babylonians; see v. 5) will not be able to withstand God’s judgment (v. 4a).

[2:1]  ²² sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.

[2:1]  ²³ tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”

[3:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he stands.”

[3:6]  ²⁶ tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מוּד, mud), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מָוד (mavd; see HALOT 555 s.v.).

[3:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “makes [the nations] jump [in fear].”

[3:6]  ²⁸ tn Or “crumbled,” broke into pieces.”

[3:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the Lord taking the same route as in the days of Moses and Deborah (see Deut 33:2; Judg 5:4). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 154.

[3:1]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew text adds עַל שִׁגְיֹנוֹת (’al shigyonot, “upon [or, “according to”] shigyonot”). The meaning of this word is uncertain. It may refer to the literary genre of the prayer or to the musical style to be employed when it is sung. The NEB leaves the term untranslated; several other modern English versions transliterate the term into English, sometimes with explanatory notes (NASB, NRSV “according to Shigionoth”; NIV “On shigyonoth”).

[1:5]  ³¹ tn Or “look among the nations and observe.” The imperatival forms in v. 5 are plural, indicating that the Lord’s message is for the whole nation, not just the prophet.

[1:5]  ³² tn The Hebrew text combines the Hitpael and Qal imperatival forms of the verb תָּמַה (tamah, “be amazed”). A literal translation might read, “Shock yourselves and be shocked!” The repetition of sounds draws attention to the statement. The imperatives here have the force of an emphatic assertion. On this use of the imperative in Hebrew, see GKC 324 §110.c and IBHS 572-73 §34.4c.

[1:5]  ³³ tc Heb “for a work working in your days.” Following the LXX reading, some supply a first person singular pronoun with the participle פֹּעֵל (po’el). Ellipsis of a first singular pronoun before participles is relatively rare (see GKC 360 §116.s); perhaps an original אֲנֹכִי (’anoki; or אֲנִי, ’aniy) followed the initial כִּי (ki) and was omitted by homoioteleuton.

[1:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “you will not believe when it is told.” In this context the force of כִּי (ki) may be “when,” “if,” or “even though.”