Habakkuk 1:2-3

1:2 How long, Lord, must I cry for help?

But you do not listen!

I call out to you, “Violence!”

But you do not intervene! ¹ 

1:3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? ² 

Why do you put up with wrongdoing? ³ 

Destruction and violence confront ⁴  me;

conflict is present and one must endure strife. ⁵ 

Habakkuk 1:15

1:15 The Babylonian tyrant ⁶  pulls them all up with a fishhook;

he hauls them in with his throw net. ⁷ 

When he catches ⁸  them in his dragnet,

he is very happy. ⁹ 

Habakkuk 2:6

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ¹⁰ 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ¹¹ 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ¹² 

(How long will this go on?) ¹³  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ¹⁴ 

Habakkuk 3:16

Habakkuk Declares His Confidence

3:16 I listened and my stomach churned; ¹⁵ 

the sound made my lips quiver.

My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, ¹⁶ 

and I shook as I tried to walk. ¹⁷ 

I long ¹⁸  for the day of distress

to come upon ¹⁹  the people who attack us.

[1:2]  ¹ tn Or “deliver.”

[1:3]  ² tn Heb “Why do you make me see injustice?”

[1:3]  ³ tn Heb “Why do you look at wrongdoing?”

[1:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “are before.”

[1:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and there is conflict and strife he lifts up.” The present translation takes the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) in the sense of “carry, bear,” and understands the subject to be indefinite (“one”).

[1:15]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Babylonian tyrant) has been specified in the translation for clarity (cf. NASB “The Chaldeans”; NIV “The wicked foe”; NRSV “The enemy”). Babylonian imperialism is here compared to a professional fisherman who repeatedly brings in his catch and has plenty to eat.

[1:15]  ⁴ tn Apparently two different types of fishing nets are referred to here. The חֵרֶם (kherem, “throw net”) was used by fishermen standing on the shore (see Ezek 47:10), while the מִכְמֶרֶת (mikhmeret, “dragnet”) was used by men in a boat. See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 165.

[1:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he gathers.”

[1:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “Therefore he is happy and rejoices.” Here two synonyms are joined for emphasis.

[2:6]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

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

[2:6]  ⁸ 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.

[3:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “my insides trembled.”

[3:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “decay entered my bones.”

[3:16]  ⁷ tc Heb “beneath me I shook, which….” The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (’asher) appears to be a relative pronoun, but a relative pronoun does not fit here. The translation assumes a reading אֲשֻׁרָי (’ashuray, “my steps”) as well as an emendation of the preceding verb to a third plural form.

[3:16]  ⁸ tn The translation assumes that אָנוּחַ (’anuakh) is from the otherwise unattested verb נָוָח (navakh, “sigh”; see HALOT 680 s.v. II נוח; so also NEB). Most take this verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) and translate, “I wait patiently” (cf. NIV).

[3:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “to come up toward.”