Habakkuk 2:19-20

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ¹  –

he who says ²  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ³ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

2:20 But the Lord is in his majestic palace. ⁴ 

The whole earth is speechless in his presence!” ⁵ 

[2:19]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:19]  ² tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ³ tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).

[2:20]  ⁴ tn Or “holy temple.” The Lord’s heavenly palace, rather than the earthly temple, is probably in view here (see Ps 11:4; Mic 1:2-3). The Hebrew word ֹקדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) here refers to the sovereign transcendence associated with his palace.

[2:20]  ⁵ tn Or “Be quiet before him, all the earth!”