Once again, the Hebrew has the form of a rhetorical negative question which has the force of a strong positive statement (compare verses 6, 7). Good News Translation turns it into a statement and breaks it into two sentences. See the notes on 1.2, 12 for comments on rhetorical questions.

The word Behold is old fashioned and has no exact equivalent in modern English (compare comments on verse 4). Its function is to draw attention to what follows (is it not from the LORD of hosts…?). This function is achieved in Good News Translation by placing the equivalent words, “The LORD Almighty has done this,” as a separate sentence at the end of the verse. For comments on the translation of Behold and the phrase the LORD of hosts, see the notes on Nahum 2.13.

The rest of the verse consists of two lines which are parallel with each other in both form and meaning: peoples labor only for fire, and nations weary themselves for nought. Two similar lines occur in Jeremiah 51.58, which is also speaking about Babylon. It is possible that both Jeremiah and Habakkuk are quoting or alluding to a popular proverb or saying.

The peoples and nations are those whom the Babylonians had conquered and put to forced labor as mentioned in the previous verse. Thus Good News Translation puts the two terms together and translates as “The nations you conquered.”

Labor only for fire means that all that the people were forced to build will be destroyed by burning. Weary themselves for nought means that they became exhausted with their work, but all they did would turn out to be purposeless. The first line, which mentions the fire, gives more of an explanation than the second line, and so Good News Translation reverses the sequence in order to keep the fire as a climax: “The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labor, and all they have built goes up in flames.” Note that Good News Translation makes it explicit that the “labor” refers to the building project (“all they have built”). The thought is that, as the Babylonians had destroyed other cities, so Babylon itself will be destroyed and burned.

The expression in Good News Translation “goes up in flames” is rather idiomatic in English. In some languages there may be some natural expression equally vivid, but in others it may be necessary to use plain language and say “all they have built will be burned to ashes” or “completely burned.”

Another translation model for this verse is:

• The nations you conquered did work which gained them nothing. They wore themselves out, but all the things which they built will be completely burned. It is the LORD Almighty who does this.

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 .