Lord, you have been active from ancient times; ¹  my sovereign God, ²  you are immortal. ³  Lord, you have made them ⁴  your instrument of judgment. ⁵  Protector, ⁶  you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. ⁷ 

biblegateway Hab 1:12

Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct.

Are You not from eternity, Yahweh my God? My Holy One, You will not die. LORD, You appointed them to execute judgment; my Rock, You destined them to punish us .

Didn’t you exist before time began, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die! O LORD, you have appointed the Babylonians to bring judgment. O Rock, you have destined them to correct us.

biblegateway Hab 1:12

O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.

Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.

bibleoremus Hab 1:12

Are you not from of old, O LORD my God, my Holy One? You shall not die. O LORD, you have marked them for judgment; and you, O Rock, have established them for punishment.

LORD, are you not from ancient times my God and Holy One, who is immortal? LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgement; my Rock, you have commissioned them to punish.

biblegateway Hab 1:12

Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction.

[Art] thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

biblegateway Hab 1:12

Lord, you have been active from ancient times; ¹  my sovereign God, ²  you are immortal. ³  Lord, you have made them ⁴  your instrument of judgment. ⁵  Protector, ⁶  you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. ⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “Are you not from antiquity, O Lord?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, of course.” The present translation reflects the force of the rhetorical question, rendering it as an affirmation. When used in a temporal sense the phrase מִקֶדֶם (miqedem) means “from antiquity, ancient times,” often referring to earlier periods in Israel’s history. See its use in Neh 12:46; Pss 74:12; 77:11; Isa 45:21; 46:10; Mic 5:2.

² 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.”

³ 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.

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Heb “for judgment.”

⁶ 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”).

⁷ tn Heb “to correct, reprove.”