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.
2:10 Your schemes will bring shame to your house.
Because you destroyed many nations, you will self-destruct. 4
1:9 All of them intend 5 to do violence;
every face is determined. 6
They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. 7
1:3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? 8
Why do you put up with wrongdoing? 9
Destruction and violence confront 10 me;
conflict is present and one must endure strife. 11
2:5 Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! 12
His appetite 13 is as big as Sheol’s; 14
like death, he is never satisfied.
He gathers 15 all the nations;
he seizes 16 all peoples.
3:15 But you trample on the sea with your horses,
on the surging, raging waters. 17
1 tn Or “nations.”
2 tn Or “peoples.”
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.
4 tn Heb “you planned shame for your house, cutting off many nations, and sinning [against] your life.”
5 tn Heb “come.”
6 tn Heb “The totality of their faces is to the east” (or “is forward”). The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מְגַמַּת (megammat) is unclear. For a discussion of options see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 93. NEB has “a sea of faces rolls on”; NIV “their hordes advance like a desert wind”; NRSV “with faces pressing forward.”
7 tn Heb “and he gathers like sand, prisoners.”
8 tn Heb “Why do you make me see injustice?”
9 tn Heb “Why do you look at wrongdoing?”
sn Habakkuk complains that God tolerates social injustice and fails to intervene on behalf of the oppressed (put up with wrongdoing).
10 tn Heb “are before.”
11 tn Heb “and there is conflict and strife he lifts up.” The present translation takes the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) in the sense of “carry, bear,” and understands the subject to be indefinite (“one”).
12 tn Heb “Indeed wine betrays a proud man and he does not dwell.” The meaning of the last verb, “dwell,” is uncertain. Many take it as a denominative of the noun נָוָה (navah, “dwelling place”). In this case it would carry the idea, “he does not settle down,” and would picture the drunkard as restless (cf. NIV “never at rest”; NASB “does not stay at home”). Some relate the verb to an Arabic cognate and translate the phrase as “he will not succeed, reach his goal.”
sn The Babylonian tyrant is the proud, restless man described in this line as the last line of the verse, with its reference to the conquest of the nations, makes clear. Wine is probably a metaphor for imperialistic success. The more success the Babylonians experience, the more greedy they become just as a drunkard wants more and more wine to satisfy his thirst. But eventually this greed will lead to their downfall, for God will not tolerate such imperialism and will judge the Babylonians appropriately (vv. 6-20).
13 tn Heb “who opens wide like Sheol his throat.” Here נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is understood in a physical sense, meaning “throat,” which in turn is figurative for the appetite. See H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 11-12.
14 sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead. In ancient Canaanite thought Death was a powerful god whose appetite was never satisfied. In the OT Sheol/Death, though not deified, is personified as greedy and as having a voracious appetite. See Prov 30:15-16; Isa 5:14; also see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 168.
15 tn Heb “he gathers for himself.”
16 tn Heb “he collects for himself.”
17 tn Heb “the foaming of the mighty [or “many”] waters.”