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 3:14

3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors ⁷  with a spear. ⁸ 

They storm forward to scatter us; ⁹ 

they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. ¹⁰ 

Habakuk 2:13

2:13 Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed:

The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke;

their exhausting work will be for nothing. ¹¹ 

[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.”

[3:14]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.

[3:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”

[2:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Is it not, look, from the Lord of hosts that the nations work hard for fire, and the peoples are exhausted for nothing?”