The first part of verse 6 introduces the whole series of taunts, and the first taunt proper does not begin until the second half of the verse. The first part of the verse has the grammatical form of a negative question (see Revised Standard Version). This is a rhetorical question and is really a way of making a strong positive statement. Good News Translation therefore translates as a statement, and many translators will wish to do the same.

The grammatical subject of the introduction in Revised Standard Version is all these, which refers back to “all nations” and “all peoples” of verse 5. Good News Translation makes this explicit by translating as “The conquered people.” In similar manner the grammatical object him refers back to “the arrogant man” of verse 5. Good News Translation again makes this explicit by translating as “their conquerors.” In many cases translators will do well to follow the example of Good News Translation in translating the subject and object as nouns rather than pronouns, especially if verse 6 is treated as the beginning of a new section. But in certain languages which do not use the passive, it will be necessary to say “The people who received defeat…” instead of “the conquered people….”

The peoples whom the Babylonians had conquered will take up their taunt against them. The implication is that the situation of Habakkuk’s own day will be reversed, and that the oppressed nations will then be in a position to repay the Babylonians for their cruelty. Take up may be translated as “begin.”

The Hebrew word translated taunt here is a term with a wide range of meaning, including likeness, parable, proverb, and lament. In this context, where scoffing is involved, taunt seems the most appropriate term in English (compare Isa 14.4; Micah 2.4). In some languages there may be a specific term for this, and if so it will probably fit well here.

The Hebrew contains two more terms which help to define the meaning of taunt as related to mockery in this setting. Revised Standard Version translates them as in scoffing derision, and Good News Translation as “show their scorn.” The Hebrew implies that the mockery will take the form of a brief poem or riddle, such as the second half of verse 6 is. Again, some languages may have a particular term for this.

An alternative translation model for the first part of this verse is:

• The people whose lands the Babylonians have taken by force will begin to mock them and show how much they despise them, saying….

The second half of the verse gives the content of what the conquered people say. This opens with the words Woe to …, which also appear in the other four taunts which follow. This expression is not a wish that evil may come upon the person addressed but rather an assertion that it will come. Thus Good News Translation translates with the statement “you are doomed,” changing from third person to second. In languages which do not use the passive, one may say “God is going to punish you” or “You will receive punishment from God.” In most of the other taunts, Good News Translation puts these words at the beginning of the taunt, but here, because the Hebrew construction is rather awkward, Good News Translation changes the order and puts these words later. However, Good News Translation puts this information into two separate sentences, and links the first with the Woe … and the second with the question how long? Good News Translation also changes from the third person of the Hebrew (and Revised Standard Version) to a direct address in the second person. This adds vividness in English.

Thus the first sentence in Good News Translation becomes “You take what isn’t yours, but you are doomed!” The Hebrew refers to heaping up stolen goods, so an alternative translation model is “You take (or, seize) great quantities of things which don’t belong to you, so God is going to punish you.”

The question for how long? really applies to the whole statement, but in translation it can just as well be placed with one half or the other.

The second relative clause, and loads himself with pledges, may be difficult to understand. When a rich man lent money, the borrower would give him something as a guarantee of repayment. This was called a pledge. If the money was not repaid, the lender kept the pledge.

There are two ways in which the reference to pledges may be understood here. The first is that when the Babylonians took other people’s goods by conquest, they could be thought of as borrowers giving pledges that the goods would eventually be returned. When the situation goes against the Babylonians, the other nations will hold these pledges against them and require the return of their goods. This view is shown in the translations of Moffatt (“loading himself with what he must repay”), New American Bible (“he loads himself down with debts”), and New Jerusalem Bible (“make ever heavier your load of indebtedness”).

The second possibility is to see the Babylonians as seizing pledges from their victims, and then either keeping the pledges or making their victims pay what they did not really owe. In this way they extorted goods wrongfully from those they conquered. This view is shown in New English Bible (“enrich yourself with goods taken in pledge”), New International Version (“makes himself wealthy by extortion”), and Good News Translation (“getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up”). This second interpretation seems to be the more likely in a context which is complaining about the oppressive behavior of the Babylonians, and translators are recommended to follow it.

Good News Translation combines the question for how long? with the clause about the pledges and says “How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?” In some cultures which do not have a technical term for “debtors,” the clause “forcing your debtors to pay up” may be rendered as “forcing those who owe you money to pay it back” or “forcing those who have borrowed money from you to pay it back.”

The direct quotation of the victims’ words is generally taken to end at the end of verse 6. It is also possible to take the direct quotation as extending to the end of verse 8, or perhaps even verse 20. This may be the intention of Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible. However, the absence of quotation marks from these versions leaves their intention uncertain. The versions which use quotation marks all close them at the end of verse 6 (Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, Good News Translation, New International Version). In this case the following verses are to be understood as the words of Habakkuk. Translators are recommended to follow this interpretation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch closes the quotation at the end of verse 17, but this does not seem very satisfactory.

An alternative translation model for the final part of this verse is:

• They will say to the Babylonians, “You take great quantities of things that don’t belong to you, so God is going to punish you. How long will you continue making yourselves rich by forcing those who owe you money to pay it back (or, pay back more than they owe)?”

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 .