Discovery BoxHabakkuk 1:7
Context1:7 They are frightening and terrifying;
they decide for themselves what is right. 1
Habakkuk 3:2
Context3:2 Lord, I have heard the report of what you did; 2
I am awed, 3 Lord, by what you accomplished. 4
In our time 5 repeat those deeds; 6
in our time reveal them again. 7
But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy! 8
Habakkuk 3:10
Context3:10 When the mountains see you, they shake.
The torrential downpour sweeps through. 9
The great deep 10 shouts out;
it lifts its hands high. 11
Habakkuk 2:17
Context2:17 For you will pay in full for your violent acts against Lebanon; 12
terrifying judgment will come upon you because of the way you destroyed the wild animals living there. 13
You have shed human blood
and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them.
Habakkuk 3:16
Context3:16 I listened and my stomach churned; 14
the sound made my lips quiver.
My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, 15
and I shook as I tried to walk. 16
I long 17 for the day of distress
to come upon 18 the people who attack us.
[1:7] 1 tn Heb “from him his justice, even his lifting up, goes out.” In this context שְׂאֵת (sÿ’et) probably has the nuance “authority.” See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 150.
[3:2] 2 tn Heb “your report,” that is, “the report concerning you.”
[3:2] 3 tn Heb “I fear.” Some prefer to read, “I saw,
[3:2] 5 tn Heb “in the midst of years.” The meaning of the phrase, which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain (cf. NIV “in our day”; NEB, NASB “in the midst of the years”).
[3:2] 6 tn Heb “revive it” (i.e., “your work”).
[3:2] 7 tn Heb “make known.” The implied object is “your deeds”; the pronoun “them,” referring to “deeds” in the previous line, was employed in the translation to avoid redundancy. The suffix on the form חַיֵּיהוּ (khayyehu, “revive it”) does double duty in the parallelism.
[3:2] 8 tn Heb “in turmoil remember [to show] compassion.”
[3:10] 3 tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.
[3:10] 4 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] 5 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.
[2:17] 4 tn Heb “for the violence against Lebanon will cover you.”
[2:17] 5 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.”
[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).
