Habakuk 2:20
Konteks2:20 But the Lord is in his majestic palace. 1
The whole earth is speechless in his presence!” 2
Habakuk 3:4
Konteks3:4 He is as bright as lightning; 3
a two-pronged lightning bolt flashes from his hand. 4
This is the outward display of his power. 5
Habakuk 3:8
Konteks3:8 Is the Lord mad at the rivers?
Are you angry with the rivers?
Are you enraged at the sea? 6
Is this why 7 you climb into your horse-drawn chariots, 8
your victorious chariots? 9
Habakuk 2:3
Konteks2:3 For the message is a witness to what is decreed; 10
it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. 11
Even if the message 12 is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; 13
for it will certainly come to pass – it will not arrive late.
Habakuk 1:3
Konteks1:3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? 14
Why do you put up with wrongdoing? 15
Destruction and violence confront 16 me;
conflict is present and one must endure strife. 17
Habakuk 1:14
Konteks1:14 You made people like fish in the sea,
like animals in the sea 18 that have no ruler.
Habakuk 3:17
Konteks3:17 When 19 the fig tree does not bud,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
when the olive trees do not produce, 20
and the fields yield no crops; 21
when the sheep disappear 22 from the pen,
and there are no cattle in the stalls,
Habakuk 2:19
Konteks2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead 23 –
he who says 24 to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’
Can it give reliable guidance? 25
It is overlaid with gold and silver;
it has no life’s breath inside it.
Habakuk 3:6
Konteks3:6 He takes his battle position 26 and shakes 27 the earth;
with a mere look he frightens 28 the nations.
The ancient mountains disintegrate; 29
the primeval hills are flattened.
He travels on the ancient roads. 30
Habakuk 1:7-8
Konteks1:7 They are frightening and terrifying;
they decide for themselves what is right. 31
1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards
and more alert 32 than wolves in the desert. 33
their horses come a great distance;
like a vulture 36 they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. 37
Habakuk 2:5
Konteks2:5 Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! 38
His appetite 39 is as big as Sheol’s; 40
like death, he is never satisfied.
He gathers 41 all the nations;
he seizes 42 all peoples.
Habakuk 2:18
Konteks2:18 What good 43 is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? 44
What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? 45
Why would its creator place his trust in it 46
and make 47 such mute, worthless things?
Habakuk 1:2
Konteks1:2 How long, Lord, must I cry for help?
But you do not listen!
I call out to you, “Violence!”
But you do not intervene! 48
Habakuk 1:4
Konteks1:4 For this reason the law lacks power, 49
and justice is never carried out. 50
Indeed, 51 the wicked intimidate 52 the innocent. 53
For this reason justice is perverted. 54
Habakuk 1:12
Konteks1:12 Lord, you have been active from ancient times; 55
my sovereign God, 56 you are immortal. 57
Lord, you have made them 58 your instrument of judgment. 59
Protector, 60 you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. 61
Habakuk 2:1
Konteks2:1 I will stand at my watch post;
I will remain stationed on the city wall. 62
I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to me
and can know 63 how I should answer
when he counters my argument. 64
Habakuk 2:13
Konteks2:13 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. 65
Habakuk 2:16
Konteks2:16 But you will become drunk 66 with shame, not majesty. 67
Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! 68
The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand 69 is coming to you,
and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!
Habakuk 3:3
Konteks3:3 God comes 70 from Teman, 71
the sovereign 72 one from Mount Paran. 73 Selah. 74
His splendor covers the skies, 75
his glory 76 fills the earth.
Habakuk 3:14
Konteks3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors 77 with a spear. 78
They storm forward to scatter us; 79
they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. 80
Habakuk 3:19
Konteks3:19 The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. 81
He gives me the agility of a deer; 82
he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. 83
(This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.) 84
Habakuk 2:6
Konteks2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him 85
and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: 86
‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead 87
(How long will this go on?) 88 –
he who gets rich by extortion!’ 89
[2:20] 1 tn Or “holy temple.” The
[2:20] 2 tn Or “Be quiet before him, all the earth!”
[3:4] 3 tn Heb “[His] radiance is like light.” Some see a reference to sunlight, but the Hebrew word אוֹר (’or) here refers to lightning, as the context indicates (see vv. 4b, 9, 11). The word also refers to lightning in Job 36:32 and 37:3, 11, 15.
[3:4] 4 tn Heb “two horns from his hand to him.” Sharp, pointed lightning bolts have a “horn-like” appearance. The weapon of “double lightning” appears often in Mesopotamian representations of gods. See Elizabeth Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art (AnOr), 70-73.
[3:4] 5 tn Heb “and there [is] the covering of his strength”; or “and there is his strong covering.” The meaning of this line is unclear. The point may be that the lightning bolts are merely a covering, or outward display, of God’s raw power. In Job 36:32 one reads that God “covers his hands with light [or, “lightning”].”
[3:8] 6 sn The following context suggests these questions should be answered, “Yes.” The rivers and the sea, symbolizing here the hostile nations (v. 12), are objects of the Lord’s anger (vv. 10, 15).
[3:8] 7 tn Heb “so that.” Here כִּי (ki) is resultative. See the note on the phrase “make it” in 2:18.
[3:8] 8 tn Heb “you mount your horses.” As the next line makes clear, the Lord is pictured here as a charioteer, not a cavalryman. Note NRSV here, “when you drove your horses, // your chariots to victory.”
[3:8] 9 tn Or “chariots of deliverance.”
[2:3] 10 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] 11 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] 12 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the message) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[2:3] 13 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.”
[1:3] 14 tn Heb “Why do you make me see injustice?”
[1:3] 15 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] 17 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”).
[1:14] 18 tn The Hebrew word רֶמֶשׂ (remesh) usually refers to animals that creep, but here the referent seems to be marine animals that glide through the water (note the parallelism in the previous line). See also Ps 104:25.
[3:17] 20 tn Heb “the produce of the olive disappoints.”
[3:17] 22 tn Or “are cut off.”
[2:19] 23 tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.
[2:19] 24 tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.
[2:19] 25 tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).
[3:6] 27 tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מוּד, mud), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מָוד (mavd; see HALOT 555 s.v.).
[3:6] 28 tn Heb “makes [the nations] jump [in fear].”
[3:6] 29 tn Or “crumbled,” broke into pieces.”
[3:6] 30 tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the
[1:7] 31 tn Heb “from him his justice, even his lifting up, goes out.” In this context שְׂאֵת (sÿ’et) probably has the nuance “authority.” See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 150.
[1:8] 32 tn Heb “sharper,” in the sense of “keener” or “more alert.” Some translate “quicker” on the basis of the parallelism with the first line (see HALOT 291 s.v. חדד).
[1:8] 33 tn Heb “wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The present translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). On this phrase see also Zeph 3:3.
[1:8] 34 tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”
[1:8] 35 tn The precise nuance of the rare verb פָּוַשׁ (parash) is unclear here. Elsewhere it is used of animals jumping or leaping (see Jer 50:11; Mal 4:2).
[1:8] 36 tn Or “eagle” (so NASB, NRSV). The term can refer to either eagles or vultures, but in this context of gruesome destruction and death “vulture” is preferred.
[1:8] 37 tn Heb “they fly like a vulture/an eagle quickly to devour.” The direct object “their prey” is not included in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[2:5] 38 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] 39 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] 40 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] 41 tn Heb “he gathers for himself.”
[2:5] 42 tn Heb “he collects for himself.”
[2:18] 43 tn Or “of what value.”
[2:18] 44 tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.
[2:18] 45 tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.
[2:18] 46 tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.
[1:4] 49 tn Heb “the law is numb,” i.e., like a hand that has “fallen asleep” (see Ps 77:2). Cf. NAB “is benumbed”; NIV “is paralyzed.”
[1:4] 50 tn Heb “never goes out.”
[1:4] 52 tn Heb “surround” (so NASB, NRSV).
[1:4] 53 tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[1:4] 54 tn Heb “comes out crooked.”
[1:12] 55 tn Heb “Are you not from antiquity, O
[1:12] 56 tn Heb “My God, my holy one.” God’s “holiness” in this context is his sovereign transcendence as the righteous judge of the world (see vv. 12b-13a), thus the translation “My sovereign God.”
[1:12] 57 tc The MT reads, “we will not die,” but an ancient scribal tradition has “you [i.e., God] will not die.” This is preferred as a more difficult reading that can explain the rise of the other variant. Later scribes who copied the manuscripts did not want to associate the idea of death with God in any way, so they softened the statement to refer to humanity.
[1:12] 58 tn Heb “him,” a collective singular referring to the Babylonians. The plural pronoun “them” has been used in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.
[1:12] 59 tn Heb “for judgment.”
[1:12] 60 tn Heb “Rock” or “Cliff.” This divine epithet views God as a place where one can go to be safe from danger. The translation “Protector” conveys the force of the metaphor (cf. KJV, NEB “O mighty God”).
[1:12] 61 tn Heb “to correct, reprove.”
[2:1] 62 sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.
[2:1] 63 tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
[2:1] 64 tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”
[2:13] 65 tn Heb “Is it not, look, from the
[2:16] 66 tn Heb “are filled.” The translation assumes the verbal form is a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of Babylon’s coming judgment, which will reduce the majestic empire to shame and humiliation.
[2:16] 68 tc Heb “drink, even you, and show the foreskin.” Instead of הֵעָרֵל (he’arel, “show the foreskin”) one of the Dead Sea scrolls has הֵרָעֵל (hera’el, “stumble”). This reading also has support from several ancient versions and is followed by the NEB (“you too shall drink until you stagger”) and NRSV (“Drink, you yourself, and stagger”). For a defense of the Hebrew text, see P. D. Miller, Jr., Sin and Judgment in the Prophets, 63-64.
[2:16] 69 sn The Lord’s right hand represents his military power. He will force the Babylonians to experience the same humiliating defeat they inflicted on others.
[3:3] 70 tn In vv. 3-15 there is a mixture of eleven prefixed verbal forms (without vav [ו] consecutive or with vav conjunctive), sixteen suffixed forms, and three prefixed forms with vav consecutive. All of the forms are best taken as indicating completed action from the speaker’s standpoint (all of the prefixed forms being regarded as preterites). The forms could be translated with the past tense, but this would be misleading, for this is not a mere recital of God’s deeds in Israel’s past history. Habakkuk here describes, in terms reminiscent of past theophanies, his prophetic vision of a future theophany (see v. 7, “I saw”). From the prophet’s visionary standpoint the theophany is “as good as done.” This translation uses the English present tense throughout these verses to avoid misunderstanding. A similar strategy is followed by the NEB; in contrast note the NIV and NRSV, which consistently use past tenses throughout the section, and the NASB, which employs present tenses in vv. 3-5 and mostly past tenses in vv. 6-15.
[3:3] 71 sn Teman was a city or region in southern Edom.
[3:3] 72 tn Or traditionally, “holy one.” The term קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy [one]”) here refers to God’s sovereignty. See v. 3b.
[3:3] 73 sn The precise location of Mount Paran is unknown, but like Teman it was located to the southeast of Israel. Habakkuk saw God marching from the direction of Sinai.
[3:3] 74 tn Selah. The meaning of this musical term (which also appears in vv. 9, 13, and in the Psalms as well) is unknown.
[3:3] 76 tn Heb “praise.” This could mean that the earth responds in praise as God’s splendor is observed in the skies. However, the Hebrew term תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) can stand by metonymy for what prompts it (i.e., fame, glory, deeds).
[3:14] 77 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] 78 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] 79 tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.
[3:14] 80 tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”
[3:19] 81 tn Or perhaps, “is my wall,” that is, “my protector.”
[3:19] 82 tn Heb “he makes my feet like those of deer.”
[3:19] 83 tn Heb “he makes me walk on my high places.”
[3:19] sn Difficult times are coming, but Habakkuk is confident the
[3:19] 84 tn Heb “For the leader, on my stringed instruments.”
[2:6] 85 tn Heb “Will not these, all of them, take up a taunt against him…?” 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.
[2:6] 86 tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”
[2:6] 87 tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who increases [what is] not his.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe,” “ah”) was used in funeral laments and carries the connotation of death.
[2:6] 88 tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.
[2:6] 89 tn Heb “and the one who makes himself heavy [i.e., wealthy] [by] debts.” Though only appearing in the first line, the term הוֹי (hoy) is to be understood as elliptical in the second line.
