Discovery BoxHabakkuk 2:5 
Context2:5 Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! 1
His appetite 2 is as big as Sheol’s; 3
like death, he is never satisfied.
He gathers 4 all the nations;
he seizes 5 all peoples.
Habakkuk 2:18
Context2:18 What good 6 is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? 7
What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? 8
Why would its creator place his trust in it 9
and make 10 such mute, worthless things?
Habakkuk 3:6
Context3:6 He takes his battle position 11 and shakes 12 the earth;
with a mere look he frightens 13 the nations.
The ancient mountains disintegrate; 14
the primeval hills are flattened.
He travels on the ancient roads. 15
Habakkuk 3:14
Context3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors 16 with a spear. 17
They storm forward to scatter us; 18
they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. 19
1 tn Heb “Indeed wine betrays a proud man and he does not dwell.” The meaning of the last verb, “dwell,” is uncertain. Many take it as a denominative of the noun נָוָה (navah, “dwelling place”). In this case it would carry the idea, “he does not settle down,” and would picture the drunkard as restless (cf. NIV “never at rest”; NASB “does not stay at home”). Some relate the verb to an Arabic cognate and translate the phrase as “he will not succeed, reach his goal.”
sn The Babylonian tyrant is the proud, restless man described in this line as the last line of the verse, with its reference to the conquest of the nations, makes clear. Wine is probably a metaphor for imperialistic success. The more success the Babylonians experience, the more greedy they become just as a drunkard wants more and more wine to satisfy his thirst. But eventually this greed will lead to their downfall, for God will not tolerate such imperialism and will judge the Babylonians appropriately (vv. 6-20).
2 tn Heb “who opens wide like Sheol his throat.” Here נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is understood in a physical sense, meaning “throat,” which in turn is figurative for the appetite. See H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 11-12.
3 sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead. In ancient Canaanite thought Death was a powerful god whose appetite was never satisfied. In the OT Sheol/Death, though not deified, is personified as greedy and as having a voracious appetite. See Prov 30:15-16; Isa 5:14; also see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 168.
4 tn Heb “he gathers for himself.”
5 tn Heb “he collects for himself.”
6 tn Or “of what value.”
7 tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.
8 tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.
9 tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.
10 tn Heb “to make.”
11 tn Heb “he stands.”
12 tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מוּד, mud), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מָוד (mavd; see HALOT 555 s.v.).
13 tn Heb “makes [the nations] jump [in fear].”
14 tn Or “crumbled,” broke into pieces.”
15 tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the
16 tn Some take “warriors” with the following line, in which case one should translate, “you pierce [his] head with a spear; his warriors storm forward to scatter us” (cf. NIV). The meaning of the Hebrew term פְּרָזוֹ (pÿrazo), translated here “his warriors,” is uncertain.
17 tc Heb “his shafts.” Some emend to “your shafts.” The translation above assumes an emendation to מַטֶּה (matteh, “shaft, spear”), the vav-yod (ו-י) sequence being a corruption of an original he (ה).
18 tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.
19 tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”
