Habakkuk 2:18 
Context| NET © | What good 1 is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? 2 What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? 3 Why would its creator place his trust in it 4 and make 5 such mute, worthless things? |
| NIV © | "Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. |
| NASB © | "What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, Or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols. |
| NLT © | "What have you gained by worshiping all your man–made idols? How foolish to trust in something made by your own hands! What fools you are to believe such lies! |
| MSG © | "What's the use of a carved god so skillfully carved by its sculptor? What good is a fancy cast god when all it tells is lies? What sense does it make to be a pious god-maker who makes gods that can't even talk? |
| BBE © | What profit is the pictured image to its maker? and as for the metal image, the false teacher, why does its maker put his faith in it, making false gods without a voice? |
| NRSV © | What use is an idol once its maker has shaped it—a cast image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in what has been made, though the product is only an idol that cannot speak! |
| NKJV © | "What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, The molded image, a teacher of lies, That the maker of its mold should trust in it, To make mute idols? |
| KJV | |
| NASB © | |
| HEBREW | |
| LXXM | |
| NET © [draft] ITL | What <04100> good <03276> is an idol <06459> ? Why would <03588> a craftsman <03336> make <06458> it? What good is a metal image <04541> that <03588> gives misleading <08267> oracles <03384> ? Why would its creator <03335> place his trust <0982> in <05921> it <03335> and make <06213> such mute <0483> , worthless things ?<0457> |
| NET © | What good 1 is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? 2 What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? 3 Why would its creator place his trust in it 4 and make 5 such mute, worthless things? |
| NET © Notes |
1 tn Or “of what value.” 2 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. 3 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. 4 tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative. 5 tn Heb “to make.” |
