Discovery BoxHabakkuk 1:6
Context1:6 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 3:19
Context3:19 The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. 5
He gives me the agility of a deer; 6
he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. 7
(This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.) 8
Habakkuk 3:11
Context3:11 The sun and moon stand still in their courses; 9
the flash of your arrows drives them away, 10
the bright light of your lightning-quick spear. 11
Habakkuk 2:1
Context2:1 I will stand at my watch post;
I will remain stationed on the city wall. 12
I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to me
and can know 13 how I should answer
when he counters my argument. 14
Habakkuk 1:10
Context1:10 They mock kings
and laugh at rulers.
They laugh at every fortified city;
they build siege ramps 15 and capture them.
Habakkuk 2:12
Context2:12 The one who builds a city by bloodshed is as good as dead 16 –
he who starts 17 a town by unjust deeds.
Habakkuk 3:4
Context3:4 He is as bright as lightning; 18
a two-pronged lightning bolt flashes from his hand. 19
This is the outward display of his power. 20
Habakkuk 3:9
Context3:9 Your bow is ready for action; 21
you commission your arrows. 22 Selah.
You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface. 23
Habakkuk 2:9
Context2:9 The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. 24
He does this so he can build his nest way up high
and escape the clutches of disaster. 25
Habakkuk 3:6
Context3:6 He takes his battle position 26 and shakes 27 the earth;
with a mere look he frightens 28 the nations.
The ancient mountains disintegrate; 29
the primeval hills are flattened.
He travels on the ancient roads. 30
Habakkuk 3:10
Context3:10 When the mountains see you, they shake.
The torrential downpour sweeps through. 31
The great deep 32 shouts out;
it lifts its hands high. 33
Habakkuk 1:8
Context1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards
and more alert 34 than wolves in the desert. 35
their horses come a great distance;
like a vulture 38 they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. 39
Habakkuk 2:3
Context2:3 For the message is a witness to what is decreed; 40
it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. 41
Even if the message 42 is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; 43
for it will certainly come to pass – it will not arrive late.
Habakkuk 2:16
Context2:16 But you will become drunk 44 with shame, not majesty. 45
Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! 46
The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand 47 is coming to you,
and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!
Habakkuk 2:18
Context2:18 What good 48 is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? 49
What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? 50
Why would its creator place his trust in it 51
and make 52 such mute, worthless things?
Habakkuk 3:16-17
Context3:16 I listened and my stomach churned; 53
the sound made my lips quiver.
My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, 54
and I shook as I tried to walk. 55
I long 56 for the day of distress
to come upon 57 the people who attack us.
3:17 When 58 the fig tree does not bud,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
when the olive trees do not produce, 59
and the fields yield no crops; 60
when the sheep disappear 61 from the pen,
and there are no cattle in the stalls,
[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.”
[3:19] 5 tn Or perhaps, “is my wall,” that is, “my protector.”
[3:19] 6 tn Heb “he makes my feet like those of deer.”
[3:19] 7 tn Heb “he makes me walk on my high places.”
[3:19] 8 tn Heb “For the leader, on my stringed instruments.”
[3:11] 9 tn Heb “in their lofty dwelling places.”
[3:11] 10 tn Or “at the light of your arrows they vanish.”
[3:11] 11 tn Heb “at the brightness of the lightning of your spear.”
[2:1] 13 sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.
[2:1] 14 tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
[2:1] 15 tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”
[1:10] 17 tn Heb “they heap up dirt.” This is a reference to the piling up of earthen ramps in the process of laying siege to a fortified city.
[2:12] 21 tn On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.
[2:12] 22 tn Or “establishes”; or “founds.”
[3:4] 25 tn Heb “[His] radiance is like light.” Some see a reference to sunlight, but the Hebrew word אוֹר (’or) here refers to lightning, as the context indicates (see vv. 4b, 9, 11). The word also refers to lightning in Job 36:32 and 37:3, 11, 15.
[3:4] 26 tn Heb “two horns from his hand to him.” Sharp, pointed lightning bolts have a “horn-like” appearance. The weapon of “double lightning” appears often in Mesopotamian representations of gods. See Elizabeth Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art (AnOr), 70-73.
[3:4] 27 tn Heb “and there [is] the covering of his strength”; or “and there is his strong covering.” The meaning of this line is unclear. The point may be that the lightning bolts are merely a covering, or outward display, of God’s raw power. In Job 36:32 one reads that God “covers his hands with light [or, “lightning”].”
[3:9] 29 tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”
[3:9] 30 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
[3:9] 31 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.
[2:9] 33 tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who profits unjustly by evil unjust gain for his house.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.
[2:9] 34 tn Heb “to place his nest in the heights in order to escape from the hand of disaster.”
[3:6] 38 tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מוּד, mud), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מָוד (mavd; see HALOT 555 s.v.).
[3:6] 39 tn Heb “makes [the nations] jump [in fear].”
[3:6] 40 tn Or “crumbled,” broke into pieces.”
[3:6] 41 tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the
[3:10] 41 tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.
[3:10] 42 sn The great deep, which is to be equated with the sea (vv. 8, 15), is a symbol of chaos and represents the Lord’s enemies.
[3:10] 43 sn Lifting the hands here suggests panic and is accompanied by a cry for mercy (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19). The forces of chaos cannot withstand the Lord’s power revealed in the storm.
[1:8] 45 tn Heb “sharper,” in the sense of “keener” or “more alert.” Some translate “quicker” on the basis of the parallelism with the first line (see HALOT 291 s.v. חדד).
[1:8] 46 tn Heb “wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The present translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). On this phrase see also Zeph 3:3.
[1:8] 47 tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”
[1:8] 48 tn The precise nuance of the rare verb פָּוַשׁ (parash) is unclear here. Elsewhere it is used of animals jumping or leaping (see Jer 50:11; Mal 4:2).
[1:8] 49 tn Or “eagle” (so NASB, NRSV). The term can refer to either eagles or vultures, but in this context of gruesome destruction and death “vulture” is preferred.
[1:8] 50 tn Heb “they fly like a vulture/an eagle quickly to devour.” The direct object “their prey” is not included in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[2:3] 49 tn Heb “For the vision is still for the appointed time.” The Hebrew word עוֹד (’od, “still”) is better emended to עֵד (’ed, “witness”) in light of the parallelism (see the note on the word “turn out” in the following line). The “appointed time” refers to the time when the divine judgment anticipated in vv. 6-20 will be realized.
[2:3] 50 tn Heb “and a witness to the end and it does not lie.” The Hebrew term יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) has been traditionally understood as a verb form from the root פּוּחַ (puakh, “puff, blow”; cf. NEB “it will come in breathless haste”; NASB “it hastens toward the goal”) but recent scholarship has demonstrated that it is actually a noun meaning “witness” (cf. NIV “it speaks of the end / and will not prove false”; NRSV “it speaks of the end, and does not lie”). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 106. “The end” corresponds to “the appointed time” of the preceding line and refers to the time when the prophecy to follow will be fulfilled.
[2:3] 51 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the message) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[2:3] 52 tn Heb “If it should delay, wait for it.” The Hebrew word חָזוֹן (khazon, “vision, message”) is the subject of the third person verbs in v. 3 and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix in the phrase “for it.”
[2:16] 53 tn Heb “are filled.” The translation assumes the verbal form is a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of Babylon’s coming judgment, which will reduce the majestic empire to shame and humiliation.
[2:16] 55 tc Heb “drink, even you, and show the foreskin.” Instead of הֵעָרֵל (he’arel, “show the foreskin”) one of the Dead Sea scrolls has הֵרָעֵל (hera’el, “stumble”). This reading also has support from several ancient versions and is followed by the NEB (“you too shall drink until you stagger”) and NRSV (“Drink, you yourself, and stagger”). For a defense of the Hebrew text, see P. D. Miller, Jr., Sin and Judgment in the Prophets, 63-64.
[2:16] 56 sn The Lord’s right hand represents his military power. He will force the Babylonians to experience the same humiliating defeat they inflicted on others.
[2:18] 57 tn Or “of what value.”
[2:18] 58 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] 59 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] 60 tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.
[3:16] 61 tn Heb “my insides trembled.”
[3:16] 62 tn Heb “decay entered my bones.”
[3:16] 63 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] 64 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] 65 tn Heb “to come up toward.”
