In keeping with the general outlook of the taunts, this verse speaks of the Babylonians being treated by God as they have treated others. The picture of drinking is continued in the description of this punishment.
The opening words You will be sated with contempt instead of glory keep up the picture only in the verb sated. Jerusalem Bible makes this more explicit by saying “You are drunk with ignominy, not with glory.” Other versions tone down the figure and say “filled with shame instead of glory” (New American Bible, New International Version). Good News Translation drops this figure, but instead uses a different one and says “You in turn will be covered with shame instead of honor.” If figurative language is to be kept at all here, it seems best to make it fit with the larger figure used throughout verses 15 and 16. For this reason “filled with shame” seems better than “covered with shame.” In some languages it may be necessary to drop the figure altogether and say “You will be disgraced instead of honored,” or “People will not honor you, but will disgrace you,” or “… cause you to receive great shame,” or even “… cause you to lose face very much.” Glory or “honor” here refers to reputation rather than to power and greatness as in verse 14.
Drink, yourself, and stagger! is a command to the Babylonians to suffer as they had made others suffer. The translation stagger in Revised Standard Version (compare Moffatt, New American Bible, New English Bible, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible) is based on the Septuagint and other ancient versions, supported by the Dead Sea Scroll. The Hebrew word in this Scroll has the same letters as the word in the traditional Hebrew text but in a different order. The traditional word means “to be uncircumcised” or “to show the foreskin” (compare King James Version, Revised Version, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The Babylonians did not practice circumcision. The Jews looked down on nations who were uncircumcised, and also regarded exposure of the sexual organs as disgraceful. It was therefore doubly shameful to be so drunk that one’s organs were exposed, and one’s lack of circumcision made obvious.
It is difficult to choose between these two possibilities. The mention of staggering fits well with the description of drunkenness and occurs in similar passages elsewhere in the Old Testament (see Psa 60.3; Isa 51.17, 22; Jer 25.15, 16; Zech 12.2). But exposure of the sexual organs fits with the reference in verse 15, and is also mentioned in connection with both drunkenness (Lam 4.21) and punishment (Nahum 3.5). On the whole it seems best to follow the traditional Hebrew text and speak of exposure (compare Hebrew Old Testament Text Project).
In some languages it may not be acceptable to refer explicitly to the foreskin or to the sexual organs in general. In such cases it will be necessary to find some suitable euphemism such as “private parts.” Or else one can follow a model similar to New International Version and Bible en français courant and say “people will see you naked,” or “people will see you with your body completely uncovered,” or “people will see you with no clothes on.”
The second half of the verse speaks more explicitly of punishment as being forced to drink. This time the LORD is named as the one who causes the punishment: The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you. There are several Old Testament passages in which a cup of wine is used as a symbol of punishment. The figure is most fully developed in Jeremiah 25.15-29 and is found also in Psalm 75.8; Jeremiah 49.12; and Obadiah 16. Since this is a common picture and is related to wine, one of the central features of Palestinian culture, it is desirable to keep it in translation if at all possible. This may be a problem in areas where wine is not known, or a cup has not been used before with a symbolic meaning. Translators will have to decide whether a new figure of speech will be acceptable and understandable to the readers. For further comments see the notes on Obadiah 16 in k A Translator’s Handbook on the Books of Obadiah and Micahk*. Good News Translation retains the figure but makes its meaning explicit by saying “The LORD will make you drink your own cup of punishment.” One may also say “The LORD will make you drink a cup of punishment yourself.” In some cultures, however, it will be necessary to dispense with the figure and say “The LORD will punish you severely.”
The cup in the LORD’s right hand: in some languages it may be better to express this as “the cup which the LORD is holding.”
The cup … will come around to you means that the Babylonians will have to take a turn at drinking, just as they had forced others to drink. To make the participants clear, one may say “the cup which the LORD is holding, he will pass around to you.”
Shame will come upon your glory: the Hebrew word here translated shame is a word related to the one translated contempt at the beginning of the verse. There is perhaps a play on words here. The Hebrew word may also be read as two words with the meaning “vomit of disgrace” (New Jerusalem Bible footnote; compare Hebrew Old Testament Text Project “shameful vomiting”; King James Version “shameful spewing”). The mention of vomiting would be a continuation of the comparison of punishment with drinking. Just as drunkenness causes vomiting, so the LORD’s punishment produces disgrace.
In some languages it may be helpful to restructure the verse so as to put the events mentioned into a more logical order. One possibility is “The cup of punishment which the LORD holds in his right hand he will pass to you. You yourself will have to drink from it. You will get drunk and people will see you naked. Instead of honoring you, they will despise you and you will be disgraced.” However, in cultures which cannot retain all this figurative language, a possible translation model is the following: “The LORD will punish you just like forcing you to drink a cup of bitter wine. It will be as if you got drunk and people will see you naked. Instead of honoring you, they will….”
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 .