SIL Translator’s Notes on Habakkuk 2:19

2:19a Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’

You (sing.) will suffer, you who say to a piece of wood, “Wake up!”
-or-

Yahweh⌋ will punish you (plur.) who say to a wooden thing, “Awake!”
-or-
I will punish/destroy ⌊those people⌋ who think they can wake up a block of wood by speaking to it.

2:19b or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’

You (sing.)will suffer⌋ , you who say to a silent/speechless block of stone “Arise!”
-or-

He will also punish you (plur.) who say⌋ to a stone idol that cannot speak, “Get up!”
-or-

And I will also punish/destroy those people who talk⌋ to a stone image/idol ⌊as if it were a god. They do it even though⌋ it is not able to speak.

2:19a-b (reordered)

You (sing.) say to wooden and stone statues/idols, “Wake up!”, as if they could hear you. For this, ⌊God⌋ will punish/destroy you.

2:19c Can it give guidance?

Can these things teach/instruct you (sing.) ? ⌊Of course not!
-or-
These idols can never reveal anything to you (plur.) !
-or-
But surely the idols will not give them any advice.

2:19d Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

People⌋ may decorate them with gold and silver, but there is no spirit in them.
-or-
Even though ⌊people⌋ cover them with gold and silver, there is no life in them.
-or-

Yes, they look nice/beautiful because⌋ they are covered with precious metal, but they are not alive.

2:18-19 (reordered)

You (sing.) who say to a speechless wooden or stone idol, “Wake up!” will suffer! It cannot teach you anything, because it is a false god that cannot even talk. This idol that a master makes is worthless. Though people decorate it with gold and silver, there is no life in it. It teaches/predicts nothing but lies because the man trusts in what he himself made.

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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