Habakkuk 1:1

Habakkuk Complains to the Lord

1:1 The following is the message ¹  which God revealed to Habakkuk the prophet: ² 

Habakkuk 3:9

3:9 Your bow is ready for action; ³ 

you commission your arrows. ⁴  Selah.

You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface. ⁵ 

Habakkuk 2:6

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

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

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ⁷ 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ⁸ 

(How long will this go on?) ⁹  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ¹⁰ 

Habakkuk 3:2

3:2 Lord, I have heard the report of what you did; ¹¹ 

I am awed, ¹²  Lord, by what you accomplished. ¹³ 

In our time ¹⁴  repeat those deeds; ¹⁵ 

in our time reveal them again. ¹⁶ 

But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy! ¹⁷ 

[1:1]  ¹ tn Heb “The burden” (so KJV, ASV). The Hebrew term מַשָּׂא (masa’), usually translated “oracle” (NAB, NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “utterance” (BDB 672 s.v. III מַשָּׂא), in prophetic literature is a technical term introducing a message from the Lord (see Zech 9:1; 12:1; Mal 1:1). Since it derives from a verb meaning “to carry,” its original nuance was that of a burdensome message, that is, one with ominous content.

[1:1]  ² tn Heb “The message [traditionally, “burden”] which Habakkuk the prophet saw.”

[3:9]  ³ tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”

[3:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “sworn in are the arrow-shafts with a word.” The passive participle of שָׁבַע (shava’), “swear an oath,” also occurs in Ezek 21:23 ET (21:28 HT) referencing those who have sworn allegiance. Here the Lord’s arrows are personified and viewed as having received a commission which they have vowed to uphold. In Jer 47:6-7 the Lord’s sword is given such a charge. In the Ugaritic myths Baal’s weapons are formally assigned the task of killing the sea god Yam.

[3:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “[with] rivers you split open the earth.” A literal rendering like “You split the earth with rivers” (so NIV, NRSV) suggests geological activity to the modern reader, but in the present context of a violent thunderstorm, the idea of streams swollen to torrents by downpours better fits the imagery.

[2:6]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

[2:6]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.

[2:6]  ⁹ 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.

[3:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “your report,” that is, “the report concerning you.”

[3:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “I fear.” Some prefer to read, “I saw, Lord, what you accomplished” (cf. NEB).

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “your work.”

[3:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in the midst of years.” The meaning of the phrase, which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain (cf. NIV “in our day”; NEB, NASB “in the midst of the years”).

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “revive it” (i.e., “your work”).

[3:2]  ¹² tn Heb “make known.” The implied object is “your deeds”; the pronoun “them,” referring to “deeds” in the previous line, was employed in the translation to avoid redundancy. The suffix on the form חַיֵּיהוּ (khayyehu, “revive it”) does double duty in the parallelism.

[3:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “in turmoil remember [to show] compassion.”