Habakkuk 2:16-17

2:16 But you will become drunk ¹  with shame, not majesty. ² 

Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! ³ 

The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand ⁴  is coming to you,

and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!

2:17 For you will pay in full for your violent acts against Lebanon; ⁵ 

terrifying judgment will come upon you because of the way you destroyed the wild animals living there. ⁶ 

You have shed human blood

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

Habakkuk 2:1

2:1 I will stand at my watch post;

I will remain stationed on the city wall. ⁷ 

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

and can know ⁸  how I should answer

when he counters my argument. ⁹ 

Habakkuk 2:6

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ¹⁰ 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ¹¹ 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ¹² 

(How long will this go on?) ¹³  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ¹⁴ 

Habakkuk 2:8

2:8 Because you robbed many countries, ¹⁵ 

all who are left among the nations ¹⁶  will rob you.

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, ¹⁷  and those who live in them.

[2:16]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “glory.”

[2:16]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[2:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “for the violence against Lebanon will cover you.”

[2:17]  ⁶ 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.”

[2:1]  ⁹ sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”

[2:6]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

[2:6]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.

[2:6]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Or “nations.”

[2:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “peoples.”

[2:8]  ¹⁹ 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.