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Habakkuk 1:8-10
New English Translation
Habakkuk 1:8-10
New English Translation
8 Their horses are faster than leopards
and more alert[a] than wolves in the desert.[b]
Their horses[c] gallop,[d]
their horses come a great distance;
like vultures[e] they swoop down quickly to devour their prey.[f]
9 All of them intend[g] to do violence;
every face is determined.[h]
They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand.[i]
10 They mock kings
and laugh at rulers.
They laugh at every fortified city;
they build siege ramps[j] and capture them.
Footnotes
- Habakkuk 1:8 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).
- Habakkuk 1:8 tn Heb “wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The present translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (ʿaravah, “desert”). On this phrase see also Zeph 3:3.
- Habakkuk 1:8 tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”
- Habakkuk 1:8 tn The precise nuance of the rare verb פּוּשׁ (push) is unclear here. Elsewhere it is used of animals jumping or leaping (see Jer 50:11; Mal 4:2).
- Habakkuk 1:8 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.
- Habakkuk 1:8 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.
- Habakkuk 1:9 tn Heb “come.”
- Habakkuk 1:9 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.”
- Habakkuk 1:9 tn Heb “and he gathers like sand, prisoners.”
- Habakkuk 1:10 tn Heb “they heap up dirt.” This is a reference to the piling up of earthen ramps in the process of laying siege to a fortified city.
New English Translation (NET)
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