Habakkuk 1:17

1:17 Will he then ¹  continue to fill and empty his throw net? ² 

Will he always ³  destroy ⁴  nations and spare none? ⁵ 

Habakkuk 2:14

2:14 For recognition of the Lord’s sovereign majesty will fill the earth

just as the waters fill up the sea. ⁶ 

Habakkuk 3:7

3:7 I see the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble; ⁷ 

the tent curtains of the land of Midian are shaking. ⁸ 

Habakkuk 2:17-18

2:17 For you will pay in full for your violent acts against Lebanon; ⁹ 

terrifying judgment will come upon you because of the way you destroyed the wild animals living there. ¹⁰ 

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them.

2:18 What good ¹¹  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ¹² 

What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ¹³ 

Why would its creator place his trust in it ¹⁴ 

and make ¹⁵  such mute, worthless things?

[1:17]  ¹ tn Or “therefore.”

[1:17]  ² tn Heb “Will he then empty his throw net?” The words “continue to fill and” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:17]  ³ tn Or “continually.”

[1:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “kill.”

[1:17]  ⁵ tn Or “without showing compassion.”

[2:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, just as the waters cover over the sea.”

[3:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “under trouble I saw the tents of Cushan.”

[3:7]  ¹² tn R. D. Patterson takes תַּחַת אֲוֶן (takhat ’aven) in the first line as a place name, “Tahath-Aven.” (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [WEC], 237.) In this case one may translate the verse as a tricolon: “I look at Tahath-Aven. The tents of Cushan are shaking, the tent curtains of the land of Midian.”

[2:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for the violence against Lebanon will cover you.”

[2:17]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew appears to read literally, “and the violence against the animals [which] he terrified.” The verb form יְחִיתַן (yÿkhitan) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect third masculine singular with third feminine plural suffix (the antecedent being the animals) from חָתַת (khatat, “be terrified”). The translation above follows the LXX and assumes a reading יְחִתֶּךָ (yÿkhittekha, “[the violence against the animals] will terrify you”; cf. NRSV “the destruction of the animals will terrify you”; NIV “and your destruction of animals will terrify you”). In this case the verb is a Hiphil imperfect third masculine singular with second masculine singular suffix (the antecedent being Babylon). This provides better symmetry with the preceding line, where Babylon’s violence is the subject of the verb “cover.”

[2:18]  ²¹ tn Or “of what value.”

[2:18]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.

[2:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to make.”