1.4 KiB
Yahweh continues to answer Habakkuk. He refers to the Chaldeans as though they are one person.
Woe to the one who builds a city with blood, and who establishes a town in iniquity
These two phrases are saying the same thing in different ways. Alternate translation: "A warning to the Chaldeans who built their cities with what they have stolen from the people they have killed" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism)
with blood
by killing people (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy). Alternate translation: "the one who kills people and steals their goods in order to build a city." (See rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit)
and who establishes a town in iniquity
"The one who starts a town through evil behavior." The Chaldeans built their cities using goods stolen from the people they killed. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit)
Is it not from Yahweh of Hosts that peoples labor for fire and that the nations weary themselves for nothing?
God has caused the destruction of what the people built. It is said in two different ways in order to make the meaning more clear. Alternate translation: "Yahweh is the one who causes what people work hard to build to be destroyed by fire and result in nothing." (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-rquestion and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism)