In this fifth taunt the prophet mocks idols and those who make and worship them. This theme occurs in several other passages (compare Psa 115.4-8; 135.15-18; Isa 44.9-20; 46.6-7; Jer 10.2-16; Baruch 6 [also called the Letter of Jeremiah]). The Babylonians were a very idolatrous people, and in that respect the prophet is mocking them.
Each of the previous taunts began with the words “Woe to him” (verses 6, 9, 12, 15). In the case of this last taunt, these words do not occur until verse 19. It may be that in the final taunt of the series, the prophet reserves these words till later as a kind of climax. However, many scholars think that verses 18 and 19 have been reversed accidentally, and that verse 19 should come before verse 18. Some translations print verse 19 first, such as Moffatt, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, and New American Bible. This has the advantage of giving the last taunt the same structure as the other four, as well as presenting the content of verses 18 and 19 in a more convincing order. However, if translators wish to do this in other languages, it will probably be better to put the verses together and number them 18-19 rather than print the numbers separately in the wrong order. In this Handbook comments will follow the traditional order.
The verse opens with a rhetorical question, What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it…? As in previous examples (verses 6, 7, 13) this is a way of making a strong statement. In languages which do not use rhetorical questions, the first clause may be rendered as “An idol is useless!” or “An idol is a useless object!” Good News Translation, however, keeps the question form with “What’s the use of an idol?” and then turns the rest of the sentence into an answer to the question. This makes it clear that “an idol” is no “use.”
The subordinate clause when its maker has shaped it can be taken to mean “that its maker should carve it” (New American Bible; compare Jerusalem Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). If taken in this way, the clause is better treated as part of the question, as in New American Bible. Good News Translation makes it the answer to the question: “It is only something that a man has made.”
The Hebrew text mentions two different kinds of image (idol and metal image in Revised Standard Version). For the distinction between them, see the comments on Nahum 1.14. Since English vocabulary does not offer a convenient way to make this distinction, Good News Translation drops it and translates both Hebrew words under the general term “idol.” In some languages translators will have various terms for different types of idol, but in others they will need to follow the example of Good News Translation or perhaps say “an idol made of wood or metal” (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
The idol once completed is only a teacher of lies. Good News Translation turns this into a separate clause: “it tells you nothing but lies.” One may also say “it lies to you continually.”
In Hebrew the second half of the verse is a statement: For the workman trusts in his own creation when he makes dumb idols! Good News Translation makes it parallel with the first half by translating as another rhetorical question with the answer following: “What good does it do for its maker to trust it—a god that can’t even talk!” Some translators may wish to use a statement here rather than a rhetorical question. In such a case one may say “It is useless for its maker to trust it, because it is a false god that can’t even talk!” This sentence is ironic, and Good News Translation shows the irony in English by adding the word “even.” The irony is the prophet’s way of ridiculing the Babylonians. Translators should use irony in their own language if at all possible. Another way of introducing irony is to use a figurative expression and say something like this: “It is just like chasing the wind, for an idol’s maker to trust a false god that can’t even talk.”
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 .