Habakkuk 1:9

1:9 All of them intend ¹  to do violence;

every face is determined. ² 

They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. ³ 

Habakkuk 2:2

The Lord Assures Habakkuk

2:2 The Lord responded: ⁴ 

“Write down this message! ⁵  Record it legibly on tablets,

so the one who announces ⁶  it may read it easily. ⁷ 

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¹ tn Heb “come.”

² tn Heb “The totality of their faces is to the east” (or “is forward”). The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מְגַמַּת (megammat) is unclear. For a discussion of options see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 93. NEB has “a sea of faces rolls on”; NIV “their hordes advance like a desert wind”; NRSV “with faces pressing forward.”

³ tn Heb “and he gathers like sand, prisoners.”

⁴ tn Heb “the Lord answered and said.” The redundant expression “answered and said” has been simplified in the translation as “responded.”

⁵ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

⁶ tn Or “reads from.”

⁷ tn Heb “might run,” which here probably means “run [through it quickly with one’s eyes],” that is, read it easily.