This verse serves as a title for the first two chapters. The first verse of chapter 3 gives a new title for the rest of the book.

The word translated oracle is a common word in the prophetic books (compare Nahum 1.1) and is often used when the prophet speaks against pagan nations (for example Isa 13.1). In modern English it means “message” (Good News Translation). The Hebrew word implies that the message is a religious one, and so Revised Standard Version translates it as The oracle of God. The terms God and “the LORD” both occur in Habakkuk, but since “LORD” occurs in verse 2, it may be better to use it also in verse 1. This is what Good News Translation has done (“This is the message that the LORD revealed”). For comments on the translation of “LORD,” please see the sources referred to under Nahum 1.2.

The term oracle or “message” is applied to the whole of chapters 1 and 2, even though they include Habakkuk’s questions as well as the LORD’s answers.

For notes on the name of Habakkuk, see the introduction above, “Translating the Book of Habakkuk.” The prophet translates a common Hebrew word and means “one who proclaims the LORD’s message.” It is unusual for this term to be used in the title of a prophetic book. It occurs in a similar position elsewhere only in Haggai 1.1 and Zechariah 1.1.

The Hebrew word for saw is often used to describe prophetic activity (compare Micah 1.1). It usually implies that the prophet received his message in a trance or some similar condition. Thus Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible render it as “received in a vision.” For further discussion on “vision” see Nahum 1.1. Good News Translation restructures as “the message that the LORD revealed.” The word “revealed” emphasizes the divine origin of the message but does not indicate the method by which it reached the prophet. An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Here is the message that the LORD caused the prophet Habakkuk to see in a vision (or, dream).

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on the Book of Habakkuk. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .