Discovery BoxHabakkuk 1:2 
Context1:2 How long, Lord, must I cry for help?
But you do not listen!
I call out to you, “Violence!”
But you do not intervene! 1
Habakkuk 1:4
Context1:4 For this reason the law lacks power, 2
and justice is never carried out. 3
Indeed, 4 the wicked intimidate 5 the innocent. 6
For this reason justice is perverted. 7
Habakkuk 3:10
Context3:10 When the mountains see you, they shake.
The torrential downpour sweeps through. 8
The great deep 9 shouts out;
it lifts its hands high. 10
1 tn Or “deliver.”
2 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.”
3 tn Heb “never goes out.”
4 tn Or “for.”
5 tn Heb “surround” (so NASB, NRSV).
6 tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
7 tn Heb “comes out crooked.”
8 tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.
9 sn The great deep, which is to be equated with the sea (vv. 8, 15), is a symbol of chaos and represents the Lord’s enemies.
10 sn Lifting the hands here suggests panic and is accompanied by a cry for mercy (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19). The forces of chaos cannot withstand the Lord’s power revealed in the storm.
