Habakuk 2:20

2:20 But the Lord is in his majestic palace. ¹ 

The whole earth is speechless in his presence!” ² 

Habakuk 1:17

1:17 Will he then ³  continue to fill and empty his throw net? ⁴ 

Will he always ⁵  destroy ⁶  nations and spare none? ⁷ 

Habakuk 2:4

2:4 Look, the one whose desires are not upright will faint from exhaustion, ⁸ 

but the person of integrity ⁹  will live ¹⁰  because of his faithfulness. ¹¹ 

Habakuk 1:3

1:3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? ¹² 

Why do you put up with wrongdoing? ¹³ 

Destruction and violence confront ¹⁴  me;

conflict is present and one must endure strife. ¹⁵ 

Habakuk 2:2

The Lord Assures Habakkuk

2:2 The Lord responded: ¹⁶ 

“Write down this message! ¹⁷  Record it legibly on tablets,

so the one who announces ¹⁸  it may read it easily. ¹⁹ 

Habakuk 3:19

3:19 The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. ²⁰ 

He gives me the agility of a deer; ²¹ 

he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. ²² 

(This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.) ²³ 

Habakuk 1:13

1:13 You are too just ²⁴  to tolerate ²⁵  evil;

you are unable to condone ²⁶  wrongdoing.

So why do you put up with such treacherous people? ²⁷ 

Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour ²⁸  those more righteous than they are? ²⁹ 

Habakuk 3:2

3:2 Lord, I have heard the report of what you did; ³⁰ 

I am awed, ³¹  Lord, by what you accomplished. ³² 

In our time ³³  repeat those deeds; ³⁴ 

in our time reveal them again. ³⁵ 

But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy! ³⁶ 

Habakuk 3:16-17

Habakkuk Declares His Confidence

3:16 I listened and my stomach churned; ³⁷ 

the sound made my lips quiver.

My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, ³⁸ 

and I shook as I tried to walk. ³⁹ 

I long ⁴⁰  for the day of distress

to come upon ⁴¹  the people who attack us.

3:17 When ⁴²  the fig tree does not bud,

and there are no grapes on the vines;

when the olive trees do not produce, ⁴³ 

and the fields yield no crops; ⁴⁴ 

when the sheep disappear ⁴⁵  from the pen,

and there are no cattle in the stalls,

[2:20]  ¹ tn Or “holy temple.” The Lord’s heavenly palace, rather than the earthly temple, is probably in view here (see Ps 11:4; Mic 1:2-3). The Hebrew word ֹקדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) here refers to the sovereign transcendence associated with his palace.

[2:20]  ² tn Or “Be quiet before him, all the earth!”

[1:17]  ³ tn Or “therefore.”

[1:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “Will he then empty his throw net?” The words “continue to fill and” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:17]  ⁵ tn Or “continually.”

[1:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “kill.”

[1:17]  ⁷ tn Or “without showing compassion.”

[2:4]  ⁸ tn The meaning of this line is unclear, primarily because of the uncertainty surrounding the second word, עֲפְּלָה (’apÿlah). Some read this as an otherwise unattested verb עָפַל (’afal, “swell”) from which are derived nouns meaning “mound” and “hemorrhoid.” This “swelling” is then understood in an abstract sense, “swell with pride.” This would yield a translation, “As for the proud, his desires are not right within him” (cf. NASB “as for the proud one”; NIV “he is puffed up”; NRSV “Look at the proud!”). A multitude of other interpretations of this line, many of which involve emendations of the problematic form, may be found in the commentaries and periodical literature. The present translation assumes an emendation to a Pual form of the verb עָלַף (’alaf, “be faint, exhausted”). (See its use in the Pual in Isa 51:20, and in the Hitpael in Amos 8:13 and Jonah 4:8.) In the antithetical parallelism of the verse, it corresponds to חָיָה (khayah, “live”). The phrase לֹא יָשְׁרָה נַפְשׁוֹ בּוֹ (lo’ yoshrah nafsho bo), literally, “not upright his desire within him,” is taken as a substantival clause that contrasts with צַדִּיק (tsadiq, “the righteous one”) and serves as the subject of the preceding verb. Here נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is understood in the sense of “desire” (see BDB 660-61 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ for a list of passages where the word carries this sense).

[2:4]  ⁹ tn Or “righteous.” The oppressed individuals mentioned in 1:4 are probably in view here.

[2:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “will be preserved.” In the immediate context this probably refers to physical preservation through both the present oppression and the coming judgment (see Hab 3:16-19).

[2:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “loyalty”; or “integrity.” The Hebrew word אֱמוּנָה (’emunah) has traditionally been translated “faith,” but the term nowhere else refers to “belief” as such. When used of human character and conduct it carries the notion of “honesty, integrity, reliability, faithfulness.” The antecedent of the suffix has been understood in different ways. It could refer to God’s faithfulness, but in this case one would expect a first person suffix (the original form of the LXX has “my faithfulness” here). Others understand the “vision” to be the antecedent. In this case the reliability of the prophecy is in view. For a statement of this view, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 111-12. The present translation assumes that the preceding word “[the person of] integrity” is the antecedent. In this case the Lord is assuring Habakkuk that those who are truly innocent will be preserved through the coming oppression and judgment by their godly lifestyle, for God ultimately rewards this type of conduct. In contrast to these innocent people, those with impure desires (epitomized by the greedy Babylonians; see v. 5) will not be able to withstand God’s judgment (v. 4a).

[1:3]  ¹² tn Heb “Why do you make me see injustice?”

[1:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “Why do you look at wrongdoing?”

[1:3]  sn Habakkuk complains that God tolerates social injustice and fails to intervene on behalf of the oppressed (put up with wrongdoing).

[1:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “are before.”

[1:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and there is conflict and strife he lifts up.” The present translation takes the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) in the sense of “carry, bear,” and understands the subject to be indefinite (“one”).

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the Lord answered and said.” The redundant expression “answered and said” has been simplified in the translation as “responded.”

[2:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

[2:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “reads from.”

[2:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “might run,” which here probably means “run [through it quickly with one’s eyes],” that is, read it easily.

[3:19]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps, “is my wall,” that is, “my protector.”

[3:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “he makes my feet like those of deer.”

[3:19]  ²² tn Heb “he makes me walk on my high places.”

[3:19]  sn Difficult times are coming, but Habakkuk is confident the Lord will sustain him. Habakkuk will be able to survive, just as the deer negotiates the difficult rugged terrain of the high places without injury.

[3:19]  ²³ tn Heb “For the leader, on my stringed instruments.”

[1:13]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to see.” Here “see” is figurative for “tolerate,” “put up with.”

[1:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to look at.” Cf. NEB “who canst not countenance wrongdoing”; NASB “You can not look on wickedness with favor.”

[1:13]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ tn Or “swallow up.”

[1:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “more innocent than themselves.”

[3:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “your report,” that is, “the report concerning you.”

[3:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “I fear.” Some prefer to read, “I saw, Lord, what you accomplished” (cf. NEB).

[3:2]  ³² tn Heb “your work.”

[3:2]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn Heb “revive it” (i.e., “your work”).

[3:2]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ tn Heb “in turmoil remember [to show] compassion.”

[3:16]  ³⁷ tn Heb “my insides trembled.”

[3:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “decay entered my bones.”

[3:16]  ³⁹ tc Heb “beneath me I shook, which….” The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (’asher) appears to be a relative pronoun, but a relative pronoun does not fit here. The translation assumes a reading אֲשֻׁרָי (’ashuray, “my steps”) as well as an emendation of the preceding verb to a third plural form.

[3:16]  ⁴⁰ tn The translation assumes that אָנוּחַ (’anuakh) is from the otherwise unattested verb נָוָח (navakh, “sigh”; see HALOT 680 s.v. II נוח; so also NEB). Most take this verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) and translate, “I wait patiently” (cf. NIV).

[3:16]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “to come up toward.”

[3:17]  ⁴² tn Or “though.”

[3:17]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the produce of the olive disappoints.”

[3:17]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “food.”

[3:17]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “are cut off.”