Isaiah 28:15-17

28:15 For you say,

“We have made a treaty with death,

with Sheol ¹  we have made an agreement. ² 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by ³ 

it will not reach us.

For we have made a lie our refuge,

we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” ⁴ 

28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:

“Look, I am laying ⁵  a stone in Zion,

an approved ⁶  stone,

set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. ⁷ 

The one who maintains his faith will not panic. ⁸ 

28:17 I will make justice the measuring line,

fairness the plumb line;

hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, ⁹ 

the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.

Jeremiah 16:19

16:19 Then I said, ¹⁰ 

“Lord, you give me strength and protect me.

You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. ¹¹ 

Nations from all over the earth

will come to you and say,

‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods –

worthless idols that could not help them at all. ¹² 

Habakkuk 2:18

2:18 What good ¹³  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ¹⁴ 

What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ¹⁵ 

Why would its creator place his trust in it ¹⁶ 

and make ¹⁷  such mute, worthless things?

Habakkuk 2:2

The Lord Assures Habakkuk

2:2 The Lord responded: ¹⁸ 

“Write down this message! ¹⁹  Record it legibly on tablets,

so the one who announces ²⁰  it may read it easily. ²¹ 

Habakkuk 2:9-11

2:9 The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. ²² 

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

and escape the clutches of disaster. ²³ 

2:10 Your schemes will bring shame to your house.

Because you destroyed many nations, you will self-destruct. ²⁴ 

2:11 For the stones in the walls will cry out,

and the wooden rafters will answer back. ²⁵ 

Habakkuk 2:1

2:1 I will stand at my watch post;

I will remain stationed on the city wall. ²⁶ 

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

and can know ²⁷  how I should answer

when he counters my argument. ²⁸ 

Habakkuk 1:2

1:2 How long, Lord, must I cry for help?

But you do not listen!

I call out to you, “Violence!”

But you do not intervene! ²⁹ 

[28:15]  ¹ sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.

[28:15]  ² tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.

[28:15]  ³ tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).

[28:15]  ⁴ sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.

[28:16]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text has a third person verb form, which does not agree with the first person suffix that precedes. The form should be emended to יֹסֵד (yosed), a Qal active participle used in a present progressive or imminent future sense.

[28:16]  ⁶ tn Traditionally “tested,” but the implication is that it has passed the test and stands approved.

[28:16]  ⁷ sn The reality behind the metaphor is not entirely clear from the context. The stone appears to represent someone or something that gives Zion stability. Perhaps the ideal Davidic ruler is in view (see 32:1). Another option is that the image of beginning a building project by laying a precious cornerstone suggests that God is about to transform Zion through judgment and begin a new covenant community that will experience his protection (see 4:3-6; 31:5; 33:20-24; 35:10).

[28:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “will not hurry,” i.e., act in panic.

[28:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “[the] refuge, [the] lie.” See v. 15.

[16:19]  ¹⁰ tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to show the shift from God, who has been speaking to Jeremiah, to Jeremiah, who here addresses God.

[16:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble. The literal which piles up attributes is of course more forceful than the predications. However, piling up poetic metaphors like this adds to the length of the English sentence and risks lack of understanding on the part of some readers. Some rhetorical force has been sacrificed for the sake of clarity.

[16:19]  ¹² tn Once again the translation has sacrificed some of the rhetorical force for the sake of clarity and English style: Heb “Only falsehood did our ancestors possess, vanity and [things in which?] there was no one profiting in them.”

[2:18]  ¹³ tn Or “of what value.”

[2:18]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.

[2:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to make.”

[2:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the Lord answered and said.” The redundant expression “answered and said” has been simplified in the translation as “responded.”

[2:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

[2:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “reads from.”

[2:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “might run,” which here probably means “run [through it quickly with one’s eyes],” that is, read it easily.

[2:9]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Heb “to place his nest in the heights in order to escape from the hand of disaster.”

[2:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “you planned shame for your house, cutting off many nations, and sinning [against] your life.”

[2:11]  ²⁵ sn The house mentioned in vv. 9-10 represents the Babylonian empire, which became great through imperialism. Here the materials of this “house” (the stones in the walls, the wooden rafters) are personified as witnesses who testify that the occupants have built the house through wealth stolen from others.

[2:1]  ²⁶ sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.

[2:1]  ²⁷ tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”

[1:2]  ²⁹ tn Or “deliver.”