Habakkuk 2:1

2:1 I will stand at my watch post;

I will remain stationed on the city wall. ¹ 

I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to me

and can know ²  how I should answer

when he counters my argument. ³ 

Habakkuk 2:6

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ⁴ 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ⁵ 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ⁶ 

(How long will this go on?) ⁷  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ⁸ 

Habakkuk 2:8

2:8 Because you robbed many countries, ⁹ 

all who are left among the nations ¹⁰  will rob you.

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, ¹¹  and those who live in them.

[2:1]  ¹ sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.

[2:1]  ² tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:1]  ³ tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”

[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.

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Or “nations.”

[2:8]  ⁸ tn Or “peoples.”

[2:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “because of the shed blood of humankind and violence against land, city.” The singular forms אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) and קִרְיָה (qiryah, “city”) are collective, referring to all the lands and cities terrorized by the Babylonians.