1.8 KiB
General Information:
Habakkuk continues to describe his vision of Yahweh.
You have pierced the head of his warriors with his own arrows
The word "his" refers to the leader of the Chaldeans. Possible meanings are 1) this is a metaphor in which the warriors are spoken of as if they were a body and the leader were the head. AT: "You have killed with his own spear the one who leads the warriors" or 2) the word "head" refers to the heads of each of the warriors. AT: "With the leader's own spear, you have pierced the heads of each of his warriors" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor)
they came like a storm
The power and quickness of the Chaldeans as they attacked the people of Israel is compared to the coming of a sudden storm. AT: "they came quickly like a storm" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-simile)
their gloating was like one who devours the poor in a hiding place
The word "gloating" here means to rejoice for bad reasons and can be translated with a verb. The warriors treating people cruelly or killing them is spoken of as if the warriors were wild beasts who carry their prey to their hiding places in order to eat it. AT: "they gloated like a person who secretly abuses poor people" or "they rejoiced when they oppressed the poor, acting as if they would eat them like a beast eats its prey in its den" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-abstractnouns and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor)
heaped up the great waters
Yahweh causing the waters to surge is spoken of as if he heaped the water up into piles. AT: "caused the great waters to surge" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor)