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! ¹ 

Habakuk 2:11

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

and the wooden rafters will answer back. ² 

Habakuk 2:19

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ³  –

he who says ⁴  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ⁵ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

Habakuk 3:9-10

3:9 Your bow is ready for action; ⁶ 

you commission your arrows. ⁷  Selah.

You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface. ⁸ 

3:10 When the mountains see you, they shake.

The torrential downpour sweeps through. ⁹ 

The great deep ¹⁰  shouts out;

it lifts its hands high. ¹¹ 

[1:2]  ¹ tn Or “deliver.”

[2:11]  ² 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.

[2:19]  ³ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:19]  ⁴ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ⁵ tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).

[3:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”

[3:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “sworn in are the arrow-shafts with a word.” The passive participle of שָׁבַע (shava’), “swear an oath,” also occurs in Ezek 21:23 ET (21:28 HT) referencing those who have sworn allegiance. Here the Lord’s arrows are personified and viewed as having received a commission which they have vowed to uphold. In Jer 47:6-7 the Lord’s sword is given such a charge. In the Ugaritic myths Baal’s weapons are formally assigned the task of killing the sea god Yam.

[3:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “[with] rivers you split open the earth.” A literal rendering like “You split the earth with rivers” (so NIV, NRSV) suggests geological activity to the modern reader, but in the present context of a violent thunderstorm, the idea of streams swollen to torrents by downpours better fits the imagery.

[3:9]  sn As the Lord comes in a thunderstorm the downpour causes streams to swell to river-like proportions and spread over the surface of the ground, causing flash floods.

[3:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.

[3:10]  ¹⁰ sn The great deep, which is to be equated with the sea (vv. 8, 15), is a symbol of chaos and represents the Lord’s enemies.

[3:10]  ¹¹ sn Lifting the hands here suggests panic and is accompanied by a cry for mercy (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19). The forces of chaos cannot withstand the Lord’s power revealed in the storm.