Habakkuk 1:6

1:6 Look, I am about to empower ¹  the Babylonians,

that ruthless ²  and greedy ³  nation.

They sweep across the surface ⁴  of the earth,

seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

Habakkuk 2:2

The Lord Assures Habakkuk

2:2 The Lord responded: ⁵ 

“Write down this message! ⁶  Record it legibly on tablets,

so the one who announces ⁷  it may read it easily. ⁸ 

Habakkuk 2:13

2:13 Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed:

The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke;

their exhausting work will be for nothing. ⁹ 

[1:6]  ¹ tn Heb “raise up” (so KJV, ASV).

[1:6]  ² tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”

[1:6]  ³ tn Heb “hasty, quick.” Some translate here “impetuous” (so NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “rash,” but in this context greed may very well be the idea. The Babylonians move quickly and recklessly ahead in their greedy quest to expand their empire.

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “the open spaces.”

[2:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord answered and said.” The redundant expression “answered and said” has been simplified in the translation as “responded.”

[2:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Or “reads from.”

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “might run,” which here probably means “run [through it quickly with one’s eyes],” that is, read it easily.

[2:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “Is it not, look, from the Lord of hosts that the nations work hard for fire, and the peoples are exhausted for nothing?”