Habakuk 1:6

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

that ruthless ²  and greedy ³  nation.

They sweep across the surface ⁴  of the earth,

seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

Habakuk 2:2

The Lord Assures Habakkuk

2:2 The Lord responded: ⁵ 

“Write down this message! ⁶  Record it legibly on tablets,

so the one who announces ⁷  it may read it easily. ⁸ 

Habakuk 2:7

2:7 Your creditors will suddenly attack; ⁹ 

those who terrify you will spring into action, ¹⁰ 

and they will rob you. ¹¹ 

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

[1:6]  ² tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”

[1:6]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “the open spaces.”

[2:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord answered and said.” The redundant expression “answered and said” has been simplified in the translation as “responded.”

[2:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Or “reads from.”

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “might run,” which here probably means “run [through it quickly with one’s eyes],” that is, read it easily.

[2:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “Will not your creditors suddenly rise up?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.

[2:7]  sn Your creditors will suddenly attack. The Babylonians are addressed directly here. They have robbed and terrorized others, but now the situation will be reversed as their creditors suddenly attack them.

[2:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[Will not] the ones who make you tremble awake?”

[2:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and you will become their plunder.”