Habakkuk 2:6

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ¹ 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ² 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ³ 

(How long will this go on?) ⁴  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ⁵ 

Habakkuk 2:9

2:9 The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. ⁶ 

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

and escape the clutches of disaster. ⁷ 

Habakkuk 2:12

2:12 The one who builds a city by bloodshed is as good as dead ⁸  –

he who starts ⁹  a town by unjust deeds.

Habakkuk 2:15

2:15 “You who force your neighbor to drink wine ¹⁰  are as good as dead ¹¹  –

you who make others intoxicated by forcing them to drink from the bowl of your furious anger, ¹² 

so you can look at their genitals. ¹³ 

Habakkuk 2:19

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ¹⁴  –

he who says ¹⁵  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ¹⁶ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

[2:6]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

[2:6]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.

[2:6]  ⁵ 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.

[2:9]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “to place his nest in the heights in order to escape from the hand of disaster.”

[2:12]  ⁸ tn On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:12]  ⁹ tn Or “establishes”; or “founds.”

[2:15]  ¹⁰ tn No direct object is present after “drink” in the Hebrew text. “Wine” is implied, however, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:15]  ¹¹ tn On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:15]  ¹² tc Heb “pouring out your anger and also making drunk”; or “pouring out your anger and [by] rage making drunk.” The present translation assumes that the final khet (ח) on מְסַפֵּחַ (misapeakh, “pouring”) is dittographic and that the form should actually be read מִסַּף (missaf, “from a bowl”).

[2:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “their nakedness,” a euphemism.

[2:19]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ¹⁶ 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).