Habakuk 3:18

3:18 I will rejoice because of ¹  the Lord;

I will be happy because of the God who delivers me!

Habakuk 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! ² 

Habakuk 2:1

2:1 I will stand at my watch post;

I will remain stationed on the city wall. ³ 

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

and can know ⁴  how I should answer

when he counters my argument. ⁵ 

Habakuk 3:19

3:19 The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. ⁶ 

He gives me the agility of a deer; ⁷ 

he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. ⁸ 

(This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.) ⁹ 

Habakuk 1:6

1:6 Look, I am about to empower ¹⁰  the Babylonians,

that ruthless ¹¹  and greedy ¹²  nation.

They sweep across the surface ¹³  of the earth,

seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

Habakuk 3:2

3:2 Lord, I have heard the report of what you did; ¹⁴ 

I am awed, ¹⁵  Lord, by what you accomplished. ¹⁶ 

In our time ¹⁷  repeat those deeds; ¹⁸ 

in our time reveal them again. ¹⁹ 

But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy! ²⁰ 

Habakuk 3:7

3:7 I see the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble; ²¹ 

the tent curtains of the land of Midian are shaking. ²² 

Habakuk 3:16

Habakkuk Declares His Confidence

3:16 I listened and my stomach churned; ²³ 

the sound made my lips quiver.

My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, ²⁴ 

and I shook as I tried to walk. ²⁵ 

I long ²⁶  for the day of distress

to come upon ²⁷  the people who attack us.

Habakuk 1:5

The Lord Reveals Some Startling News

1:5 “Look at the nations and pay attention! ²⁸ 

You will be shocked and amazed! ²⁹ 

For I will do something in your lifetime ³⁰ 

that you will not believe even though you are forewarned. ³¹ 

Habakuk 1:3

1:3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? ³² 

Why do you put up with wrongdoing? ³³ 

Destruction and violence confront ³⁴  me;

conflict is present and one must endure strife. ³⁵ 

Habakuk 2:2

The Lord Assures Habakkuk

2:2 The Lord responded: ³⁶ 

“Write down this message! ³⁷  Record it legibly on tablets,

so the one who announces ³⁸  it may read it easily. ³⁹ 

Habakuk 3:14

3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors ⁴⁰  with a spear. ⁴¹ 

They storm forward to scatter us; ⁴² 

they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. ⁴³ 

Habakuk 2:3

2:3 For the message is a witness to what is decreed; ⁴⁴ 

it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. ⁴⁵ 

Even if the message ⁴⁶  is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; ⁴⁷ 

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

Habakuk 3:3

3:3 God comes ⁴⁸  from Teman, ⁴⁹ 

the sovereign ⁵⁰  one from Mount Paran. ⁵¹  Selah. ⁵² 

His splendor covers the skies, ⁵³ 

his glory ⁵⁴  fills the earth.

[3:18]  ¹ tn Or “in.”

[1:2]  ² tn Or “deliver.”

[2:1]  ³ sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.

[2:1]  ⁴ tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”

[3:19]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “is my wall,” that is, “my protector.”

[3:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “he makes my feet like those of deer.”

[3:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “he makes me walk on my high places.”

[3:19]  sn Difficult times are coming, but Habakkuk is confident the Lord will sustain him. Habakkuk will be able to survive, just as the deer negotiates the difficult rugged terrain of the high places without injury.

[3:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “For the leader, on my stringed instruments.”

[1:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “raise up” (so KJV, ASV).

[1:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”

[1:6]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “the open spaces.”

[3:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your report,” that is, “the report concerning you.”

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I fear.” Some prefer to read, “I saw, Lord, what you accomplished” (cf. NEB).

[3:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your work.”

[3:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the midst of years.” The meaning of the phrase, which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain (cf. NIV “in our day”; NEB, NASB “in the midst of the years”).

[3:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “revive it” (i.e., “your work”).

[3:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “make known.” The implied object is “your deeds”; the pronoun “them,” referring to “deeds” in the previous line, was employed in the translation to avoid redundancy. The suffix on the form חַיֵּיהוּ (khayyehu, “revive it”) does double duty in the parallelism.

[3:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in turmoil remember [to show] compassion.”

[3:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “under trouble I saw the tents of Cushan.”

[3:7]  sn Cushan was located in southern Transjordan.

[3:7]  ²² tn R. D. Patterson takes תַּחַת אֲוֶן (takhat ’aven) in the first line as a place name, “Tahath-Aven.” (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [WEC], 237.) In this case one may translate the verse as a tricolon: “I look at Tahath-Aven. The tents of Cushan are shaking, the tent curtains of the land of Midian.”

[3:16]  ²³ tn Heb “my insides trembled.”

[3:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “decay entered my bones.”

[3:16]  ²⁵ tc Heb “beneath me I shook, which….” The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (’asher) appears to be a relative pronoun, but a relative pronoun does not fit here. The translation assumes a reading אֲשֻׁרָי (’ashuray, “my steps”) as well as an emendation of the preceding verb to a third plural form.

[3:16]  ²⁶ tn The translation assumes that אָנוּחַ (’anuakh) is from the otherwise unattested verb נָוָח (navakh, “sigh”; see HALOT 680 s.v. II נוח; so also NEB). Most take this verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) and translate, “I wait patiently” (cf. NIV).

[3:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to come up toward.”

[1:5]  ²⁸ tn Or “look among the nations and observe.” The imperatival forms in v. 5 are plural, indicating that the Lord’s message is for the whole nation, not just the prophet.

[1:5]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew text combines the Hitpael and Qal imperatival forms of the verb תָּמַה (tamah, “be amazed”). A literal translation might read, “Shock yourselves and be shocked!” The repetition of sounds draws attention to the statement. The imperatives here have the force of an emphatic assertion. On this use of the imperative in Hebrew, see GKC 324 §110.c and IBHS 572-73 §34.4c.

[1:5]  ³⁰ tc Heb “for a work working in your days.” Following the LXX reading, some supply a first person singular pronoun with the participle פֹּעֵל (po’el). Ellipsis of a first singular pronoun before participles is relatively rare (see GKC 360 §116.s); perhaps an original אֲנֹכִי (’anoki; or אֲנִי, ’aniy) followed the initial כִּי (ki) and was omitted by homoioteleuton.

[1:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “you will not believe when it is told.” In this context the force of כִּי (ki) may be “when,” “if,” or “even though.”

[1:3]  ³² tn Heb “Why do you make me see injustice?”

[1:3]  ³³ tn Heb “Why do you look at wrongdoing?”

[1:3]  sn Habakkuk complains that God tolerates social injustice and fails to intervene on behalf of the oppressed (put up with wrongdoing).

[1:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “are before.”

[1:3]  ³⁵ 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”).

[2:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the Lord answered and said.” The redundant expression “answered and said” has been simplified in the translation as “responded.”

[2:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

[2:2]  ³⁸ tn Or “reads from.”

[2:2]  ³⁹ tn Heb “might run,” which here probably means “run [through it quickly with one’s eyes],” that is, read it easily.

[3:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Some take “warriors” with the following line, in which case one should translate, “you pierce [his] head with a spear; his warriors storm forward to scatter us” (cf. NIV). The meaning of the Hebrew term פְּרָזוֹ (pÿrazo), translated here “his warriors,” is uncertain.

[3:14]  ⁴¹ tc Heb “his shafts.” Some emend to “your shafts.” The translation above assumes an emendation to מַטֶּה (matteh, “shaft, spear”), the vav-yod (ו-י) sequence being a corruption of an original he (ה).

[3:14]  ⁴² tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.

[3:14]  ⁴³ tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”

[2:3]  ⁴⁴ 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]  ⁴⁵ 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]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the message) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:3]  ⁴⁷ 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.”

[3:3]  ⁴⁸ tn In vv. 3-15 there is a mixture of eleven prefixed verbal forms (without vav [ו] consecutive or with vav conjunctive), sixteen suffixed forms, and three prefixed forms with vav consecutive. All of the forms are best taken as indicating completed action from the speaker’s standpoint (all of the prefixed forms being regarded as preterites). The forms could be translated with the past tense, but this would be misleading, for this is not a mere recital of God’s deeds in Israel’s past history. Habakkuk here describes, in terms reminiscent of past theophanies, his prophetic vision of a future theophany (see v. 7, “I saw”). From the prophet’s visionary standpoint the theophany is “as good as done.” This translation uses the English present tense throughout these verses to avoid misunderstanding. A similar strategy is followed by the NEB; in contrast note the NIV and NRSV, which consistently use past tenses throughout the section, and the NASB, which employs present tenses in vv. 3-5 and mostly past tenses in vv. 6-15.

[3:3]  ⁴⁹ sn Teman was a city or region in southern Edom.

[3:3]  ⁵⁰ tn Or traditionally, “holy one.” The term קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy [one]”) here refers to God’s sovereignty. See v. 3b.

[3:3]  ⁵¹ sn The precise location of Mount Paran is unknown, but like Teman it was located to the southeast of Israel. Habakkuk saw God marching from the direction of Sinai.

[3:3]  ⁵² tn Selah. The meaning of this musical term (which also appears in vv. 9, 13, and in the Psalms as well) is unknown.

[3:3]  ⁵³ tn Or “heavens.”

[3:3]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “praise.” This could mean that the earth responds in praise as God’s splendor is observed in the skies. However, the Hebrew term תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) can stand by metonymy for what prompts it (i.e., fame, glory, deeds).