Habakkuk 1:14

1:14 You made people like fish in the sea,

like animals in the sea ¹  that have no ruler.

Habakkuk 2:18

2:18 What good ²  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ³ 

What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ⁴ 

Why would its creator place his trust in it ⁵ 

and make ⁶  such mute, worthless things?

Habakkuk 3:17

3:17 When ⁷  the fig tree does not bud,

and there are no grapes on the vines;

when the olive trees do not produce, ⁸ 

and the fields yield no crops; ⁹ 

when the sheep disappear ¹⁰  from the pen,

and there are no cattle in the stalls,

[1:14]  ¹ tn The Hebrew word רֶמֶשׂ (remesh) usually refers to animals that creep, but here the referent seems to be marine animals that glide through the water (note the parallelism in the previous line). See also Ps 104:25.

[2:18]  ² tn Or “of what value.”

[2:18]  ³ tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.

[2:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.

[2:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “to make.”

[3:17]  ³ tn Or “though.”

[3:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “the produce of the olive disappoints.”

[3:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “food.”

[3:17]  ⁶ tn Or “are cut off.”