Habakkuk 2:8

2:8 Because you robbed many countries, ¹ 

all who are left among the nations ²  will rob you.

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, ³  and those who live in them.

Habakkuk 2:18

2:18 What good ⁴  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ⁵ 

What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ⁶ 

Why would its creator place his trust in it ⁷ 

and make ⁸  such mute, worthless things?

[2:8]  ¹ tn Or “nations.”

[2:8]  ² tn Or “peoples.”

[2:8]  ³ 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.

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Or “of what value.”

[2:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.

[2:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.

[2:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.

[2:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “to make.”