Habakkuk 3:4

3:4 He is as bright as lightning; ¹ 

a two-pronged lightning bolt flashes from his hand. ² 

This is the outward display of his power. 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 1:6

1:6 Look, I am about to empower ⁹  the Babylonians,

that ruthless ¹⁰  and greedy ¹¹  nation.

They sweep across the surface ¹²  of the earth,

seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

Habakkuk 1:10

1:10 They mock kings

and laugh at rulers.

They laugh at every fortified city;

they build siege ramps ¹³  and capture them.

Habakkuk 2:3

2:3 For the message is a witness to what is decreed; ¹⁴ 

it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. ¹⁵ 

Even if the message ¹⁶  is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; ¹⁷ 

for it will certainly come to pass – it will not arrive late.

Habakkuk 3:6

3:6 He takes his battle position ¹⁸  and shakes ¹⁹  the earth;

with a mere look he frightens ²⁰  the nations.

The ancient mountains disintegrate; ²¹ 

the primeval hills are flattened.

He travels on the ancient roads. ²² 

[3:4]  ¹ tn Heb “[His] radiance is like light.” Some see a reference to sunlight, but the Hebrew word אוֹר (’or) here refers to lightning, as the context indicates (see vv. 4b, 9, 11). The word also refers to lightning in Job 36:32 and 37:3, 11, 15.

[3:4]  ² tn Heb “two horns from his hand to him.” Sharp, pointed lightning bolts have a “horn-like” appearance. The weapon of “double lightning” appears often in Mesopotamian representations of gods. See Elizabeth Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art (AnOr), 70-73.

[3:4]  ³ tn Heb “and there [is] the covering of his strength”; or “and there is his strong covering.” The meaning of this line is unclear. The point may be that the lightning bolts are merely a covering, or outward display, of God’s raw power. In Job 36:32 one reads that God “covers his hands with light [or, “lightning”].”

[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.

[1:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “raise up” (so KJV, ASV).

[1:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”

[1:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “hasty, quick.” Some translate here “impetuous” (so NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “rash,” but in this context greed may very well be the idea. The Babylonians move quickly and recklessly ahead in their greedy quest to expand their empire.

[1:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the open spaces.”

[1:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they heap up dirt.” This is a reference to the piling up of earthen ramps in the process of laying siege to a fortified city.

[2:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “For the vision is still for the appointed time.” The Hebrew word עוֹד (’od, “still”) is better emended to עֵד (’ed, “witness”) in light of the parallelism (see the note on the word “turn out” in the following line). The “appointed time” refers to the time when the divine judgment anticipated in vv. 6-20 will be realized.

[2:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and a witness to the end and it does not lie.” The Hebrew term יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) has been traditionally understood as a verb form from the root פּוּחַ (puakh, “puff, blow”; cf. NEB “it will come in breathless haste”; NASB “it hastens toward the goal”) but recent scholarship has demonstrated that it is actually a noun meaning “witness” (cf. NIV “it speaks of the end / and will not prove false”; NRSV “it speaks of the end, and does not lie”). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 106. “The end” corresponds to “the appointed time” of the preceding line and refers to the time when the prophecy to follow will be fulfilled.

[2:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the message) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “If it should delay, wait for it.” The Hebrew word חָזוֹן (khazon, “vision, message”) is the subject of the third person verbs in v. 3 and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix in the phrase “for it.”

[3:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he stands.”

[3:6]  ¹⁷ tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מוּד, mud), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מָוד (mavd; see HALOT 555 s.v.).

[3:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “makes [the nations] jump [in fear].”

[3:6]  ¹⁹ tn Or “crumbled,” broke into pieces.”

[3:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the Lord taking the same route as in the days of Moses and Deborah (see Deut 33:2; Judg 5:4). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 154.