Habakkuk 2:7

2:7 Your creditors will suddenly attack; ¹ 

those who terrify you will spring into action, ² 

and they will rob you. ³ 

Habakkuk 3:9

3:9 Your bow is ready for action; ⁴ 

you commission your arrows. ⁵  Selah.

You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface. ⁶ 

[2:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Will not your creditors suddenly rise up?” 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.

[2:7]  ² tn Heb “[Will not] the ones who make you tremble awake?”

[2:7]  ³ tn Heb “and you will become their plunder.”

[3:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”

[3:9]  ⁵ 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 Lord’s arrows are personified and viewed as having received a commission which they have vowed to uphold. In Jer 47:6-7 the Lord’s sword is given such a charge. In the Ugaritic myths Baal’s weapons are formally assigned the task of killing the sea god Yam.

[3:9]  ⁶ 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.