Habakuk 2:3

2:3 For the message is a witness to what is decreed; ¹ 

it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. ² 

Even if the message ³  is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; ⁴ 

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

Habakuk 3:2

3:2 Lord, I have heard the report of what you did; ⁵ 

I am awed, ⁶  Lord, by what you accomplished. ⁷ 

In our time ⁸  repeat those deeds; ⁹ 

in our time reveal them again. ¹⁰ 

But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy! ¹¹ 

[2:3]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the message) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:3]  ⁴ 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.”

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “your report,” that is, “the report concerning you.”

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “I fear.” Some prefer to read, “I saw, Lord, what you accomplished” (cf. NEB).

[3:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “your work.”

[3:2]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “revive it” (i.e., “your work”).

[3:2]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in turmoil remember [to show] compassion.”