For the paragraph division, see the introduction to this section. Revised Standard Version includes verse 5 as part of “the vision” mentioned in verses 2 and 3. It should be noted that Good News Translation closes the quotation at the end of verse 4, but Revised Standard Version includes verse 5 as part of the quotation. Either arrangement is possible.
As the Revised Standard Version footnote shows, the traditional Hebrew text in the first two lines is hard to understand. The reference to wine seems to be completely out of place. Some scholars make a small change which gives the meaning “the traitor in his over-confidence” (New English Bible) or “he who boasts of being a traitor” (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). This seems to fit fairly well with the rest of the verse, understood as speaking about the Babylonians.
The Dead Sea Scroll has a word meaning “wealth” instead of the one meaning “wine.” This possibility is followed by Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Bible en français courant, and Good News Translation, which says “Wealth is deceitful.” This also fits a description of the Babylonians and probably gives the best sense available; translators are recommended to accept it. “Deceitful” here means “untrustworthy” or “something that one cannot put one’s trust in.”
The arrogant man shall not abide: this also speaks about the Babylonians. Some translators take this line more closely with the line that follows (His greed is as wide as Sheol). Good News Translation combines the first two lines of this verse into one clause, saying “Greedy men are proud and restless.” “Proud” is the Good News Translation equivalent of arrogant, and “restless” is the Good News Translation equivalent of shall not abide. This expression Good News Translation takes to mean “shall not remain still or at rest,” hence “restless.” Compare Jerusalem Bible “unable to rest”; New International Version “never at rest.”
His greed is as wide as Sheol: Sheol is the place where the dead were pictured as continuing their existence. It is spoken of as if it were an animal with a huge appetite. The greed of the Babylonians is compared with the greed of Sheol. In the next line, like death he has never enough, the meaning is almost identical. Good News Translation combines these two lines into one with “like death itself they are never satisfied.” In some languages one may prefer to say “like the land of death.” If translators can speak of death as being like a greedy animal, they may be able to keep the picture used in Hebrew, but in many languages it will probably be necessary to use nonfigurative language, as Good News Translation has done. For a similar thought compare Isaiah 5.14.
In the last two lines (He gathers for himself all nations, and collects as his own all peoples) the application is made to the Babylonians. Just as death is never satisfied and is constantly taking more people, so the Babylonians are greedy for wealth and are constantly trying to conquer more nations. The fifth and sixth lines in Revised Standard Version are again parallel in meaning, and again Good News Translation combines them into one clause: “That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves.”
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 .