Habakuk 1:13

1:13 You are too just ¹  to tolerate ²  evil;

you are unable to condone ³  wrongdoing.

So why do you put up with such treacherous people? ⁴ 

Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour ⁵  those more righteous than they are? ⁶ 

Habakuk 2:5

2:5 Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! ⁷ 

His appetite ⁸  is as big as Sheol’s; ⁹ 

like death, he is never satisfied.

He gathers ¹⁰  all the nations;

he seizes ¹¹  all peoples.

[1:13]  ¹ tn Heb “[you] are too pure of eyes.” God’s “eyes” here signify what he looks at with approval. His “eyes” are “pure” in that he refuses to tolerate any wrongdoing in his presence.

[1:13]  ² tn Heb “to see.” Here “see” is figurative for “tolerate,” “put up with.”

[1:13]  ³ tn Heb “to look at.” Cf. NEB “who canst not countenance wrongdoing”; NASB “You can not look on wickedness with favor.”

[1:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “Why do you look at treacherous ones?” The verb בָּגַד (bagad, “be treacherous”) is often used of those who are disloyal or who violate agreements. See S. Erlandsson, TDOT 1:470-73.

[1:13]  ⁵ tn Or “swallow up.”

[1:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “more innocent than themselves.”

[2:5]  ⁷ 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.”

[2:5]  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).

[2:5]  ⁸ 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.

[2:5]  ⁹ 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.

[2:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he gathers for himself.”

[2:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he collects for himself.”