Habakkuk 2:12

2:12 The one who builds a city by bloodshed is as good as dead ¹  –

he who starts ²  a town by unjust deeds.

Habakkuk 2:9

2:9 The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. ³ 

He does this so he can build his nest way up high

and escape the clutches of disaster. ⁴ 

Habakkuk 2:15

2:15 “You who force your neighbor to drink wine ⁵  are as good as dead ⁶  –

you who make others intoxicated by forcing them to drink from the bowl of your furious anger, ⁷ 

so you can look at their genitals. ⁸ 

Habakkuk 2:19

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ⁹  –

he who says ¹⁰  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ¹¹ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

Habakkuk 2:6

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ¹² 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ¹³ 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ¹⁴ 

(How long will this go on?) ¹⁵  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ¹⁶ 

[2:12]  ¹ tn On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:12]  ² tn Or “establishes”; or “founds.”

[2:9]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “to place his nest in the heights in order to escape from the hand of disaster.”

[2:15]  ⁵ tn No direct object is present after “drink” in the Hebrew text. “Wine” is implied, however, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:15]  ⁶ tn On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:15]  ⁷ tc Heb “pouring out your anger and also making drunk”; or “pouring out your anger and [by] rage making drunk.” The present translation assumes that the final khet (ח) on מְסַפֵּחַ (misapeakh, “pouring”) is dittographic and that the form should actually be read מִסַּף (missaf, “from a bowl”).

[2:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “their nakedness,” a euphemism.

[2:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:19]  ⁸ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ⁹ tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).

[2:6]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

[2:6]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.

[2:6]  ¹³ 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.