Habakkuk 2

I will stand at my guard post and take my place on the watchtower. I will watch to see what he will say to me, and what I should answer when I am corrected.

1I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

NoteThe guard post and watchtower are the prophet's own image for his work: like a sentry posted on a city wall watching the road for an incoming messenger, he takes up a position and waits for a reply. The last phrase is ambiguous in Hebrew: it can mean "what I should answer when I am rebuked" or "what answer I will get to my complaint."

2Then the LORD answered me and said, "Write down the vision. Carve it clearly on tablets, so that whoever reads it can run with the message.

2And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

NoteTablets were flat writing surfaces of stone, clay, wood or metal, used for notices meant to be public and permanent. The last clause is ambiguous in Hebrew: it can mean that a herald picks up the message and runs off with it, or that anyone passing by can take it in at a glance without breaking stride.

3The vision is for a time that is still set in the future. It speaks about the end, and it does not lie. Even if it seems slow in coming, wait for it, because it will surely come and will not be late.

3For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Note"A time that is set" translates a word used for a fixed date, a scheduled appointment, not a vague someday.

4Look at the proud man: inside, he is not straight or honest. But the righteous person will live by his faith.

4Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

Note"Faith" here renders Hebrew *emunah*, which means steadiness, reliability, keeping firm hold, closer to faithfulness than to mental agreement. "His" is genuinely ambiguous: the righteous person may live by his own steadfastness, or by the reliability of the vision (or of God) just described.

5Wine also betrays him. He is an arrogant man who is never at rest. He opens his appetite as wide as the grave, and like death he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own.

5Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:

NoteThe opening words of this verse are unclear in the traditional Hebrew text, which reads roughly "wine betrays"; a copy of Habakkuk found among the Dead Sea Scrolls reads "wealth betrays" instead, and translations divide between the two. "The grave" renders *Sheol*, the Hebrew name for the underworld where all the dead go, pictured here, as often, with a mouth open wide that is never filled.

6Will not all of these peoples make up a saying to mock him, a taunting rhyme against him? They will say: "How terrible for the one who piles up what is not his, and loads himself with goods taken as pledges! How long will this go on?"

6Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!

Note"How terrible for..." renders the single cry "Woe!", the shout raised over a corpse at a funeral, used in speech like this to announce that someone is as good as dead already. The "taunting rhyme" is a *mashal*, a short pointed saying built on wordplay and passed around at the target's expense. "Goods taken as pledges": a pledge was property a lender held as security until a debt was paid, and the taunt casts the conquering empire as a creditor loaded down with other people's collateral.

7Will not the ones you owe suddenly rise up and bite? Will not those who shake you wake up? Then you will become their plunder.

7Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

NoteThere is a pun in the Hebrew: the word for creditors comes from the same root as the word for a bite, because interest charged on a loan was called a "bite." The debtors' creditors suddenly bite back.

8Because you have robbed many nations, the peoples who are left will rob you. This is because of the human blood you spilled, and because of your violence against the land, the city, and everyone living in it.

8Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

Note"The peoples who are left" are the survivors of the nations this empire has already plundered.

9How terrible for the one who greedily takes dishonest gain for his own household, setting his nest up high so he can escape the reach of disaster!

9Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!

NoteSetting a nest up high is a stock image for a stronghold built out of reach, used elsewhere of eagles nesting on cliffs and of fortresses on crags.

10By cutting off many peoples you have planned shame for your own household, and you have sinned against your own life.

10Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul.

Note"Sinned against your own life" is closer in Hebrew to forfeiting your own life: the damage was aimed outward but comes back on the one who did it.

11The stones will cry out from the wall, and the wooden beams will answer them.

11For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

NoteIn Hebrew legal language witnesses "cry out" against an accused person. Here the stones and roof beams of the house, bought with what was taken from others, take the witness stand themselves.

12How terrible for the one who builds a town with bloodshed and sets up a city by doing wrong!

12Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!

Note"Town" and "city" are not two different places. Hebrew poetry works by saying a thing twice in slightly different words, and the second line restates the first.

13Is it not from the LORD of Hosts, the God who commands armies, that the work of the peoples only feeds the fire, and the nations wear themselves out for nothing?

13Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?

Note"Feeds the fire": everything the conquered peoples built with their labor ends up burned, so the work is consumed for nothing. The same taunt appears almost word for word against Babylon in Jeremiah 51:58.

14For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, the way the waters cover the sea.

14For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Note"Glory" translates *kavod*, whose root sense is weight, the visible, impressive presence of someone who carries real substance.

15How terrible for the one who gives his neighbor drink, pouring it from his wineskin until the neighbor is drunk, just so he can stare at his naked body!

15Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

NoteA wineskin was a whole animal hide, sewn shut and used as a bottle. The Hebrew word used here closely resembles the word for "wrath," and some translators read the line as pouring out one's rage rather than one's wine. Stripping a drunken man naked was a recognized way of humiliating him in public; the offense is the exposure and the gloating, not nakedness itself.

16You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn to drink and to be stripped bare. The cup in the LORD's right hand will come around to you, and shameful vomit will cover your glory.

16Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD’s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.

NoteThe King James "let thy foreskin be uncovered" reflects a Hebrew verb meaning to show yourself uncircumcised: that is, to be exposed as an outsider and disgraced. A Dead Sea Scrolls copy and the ancient Greek version read a similar-looking word meaning "stagger," giving "drink, and stagger." A cup handed around a circle of drinkers is a standard image for a share of punishment being served out in turn.

17The violence you did to Lebanon will fall back on you, and the destruction of its animals will terrify you. This is because of the human blood you spilled, and because of your violence against the land, the city, and everyone living in it.

17For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

NoteLebanon was famous for its cedar forests. Mesopotamian kings logged them for palaces and temples and boasted about it in their inscriptions, destroying the wildlife along with the trees. Some readers take Lebanon here literally as the forest, others as a figure for the land and people being cut down.

18What good is a carved idol, that a craftsman should carve it? What good is a cast metal image, a teacher of lies? Its maker trusts in the thing he made himself, though he makes idols that cannot speak.

18What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

NoteTwo different manufacturing methods are named: an image carved from wood or stone, and an image cast from molten metal poured into a mold. "A teacher of lies" refers to the practice of consulting such an image for guidance or oracles.

19How terrible for the one who says to a piece of wood, "Wake up!" or to a silent stone, "Get up!" Can it teach anything? Look at it: it is covered over with gold and silver, and there is no breath in it at all.

19Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

NoteImages of this kind were commonly a wooden or stone core covered with a thin skin of hammered gold or silver. "Breath" is Hebrew *ruach* (breath, wind, spirit) the standard mark of a living creature.

20But the LORD is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.

20But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

Note"His holy temple" may mean the building in Jerusalem or God's dwelling in heaven; the Hebrew permits either. Silence was the expected response in the presence of a king or a god, and also the hush of a courtroom just before sentence is passed.