Discovery BoxHabakkuk 1:8 
Context1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards
and more alert 1 than wolves in the desert. 2
their horses come a great distance;
like a vulture 5 they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. 6
Habakkuk 2:6
Context2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him 7
and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: 8
‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead 9
(How long will this go on?) 10 –
he who gets rich by extortion!’ 11
Habakkuk 2:16
Context2:16 But you will become drunk 12 with shame, not majesty. 13
Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! 14
The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand 15 is coming to you,
and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!
Habakkuk 3:17
Context3:17 When 16 the fig tree does not bud,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
when the olive trees do not produce, 17
and the fields yield no crops; 18
when the sheep disappear 19 from the pen,
and there are no cattle in the stalls,
1 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).
2 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.
3 tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”
4 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).
5 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.
6 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.
7 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.
8 tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”
9 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.
10 tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.
11 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.
12 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.
13 tn Or “glory.”
14 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.
15 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.
16 tn Or “though.”
17 tn Heb “the produce of the olive disappoints.”
18 tn Heb “food.”
19 tn Or “are cut off.”
