Hābāgǔshū 2:2

2 Tā duì wǒ shuō , jiāng zhè mò shì míng míng dì xiĕ zaì bǎn shang , shǐ dòu de rén róngyi dòu ( huò zuò suí paó suí dòu ) .

Hābāgǔshū 2:2 Meaning and Commentary

Habakkuk 2:2

And the Lord answered me
As he does his ministers and people sooner or later, in one way or another, when they call upon him with humility and reverence, with faith and fervency: and said, Write the vision;
which the prophet now had from him, concerning the coming of the Messiah, and the destruction of the enemies of the church and people of God: and this he has orders to "write"; not only to tell it to the people then present, for their particular information and satisfaction; but to write it, that it may be read over and over, and that it may remain, and be of use in times to come: and make [it] plain upon tables,
engrave it in plain legible letters on tables of wood; on box tree, as the Septuagint version; on which they used to write before paper was found out and used. Writing tables are of ancient use; they were used in and before the times of Homer, for he speaks F15 of writing very pernicious things on a two leaved table; wherefore Josephus must be mistaken when he suggests F16 that letters were not found out in the times of Homer. These tables were made of wood, sometimes of one sort, and sometimes of another; sometimes they were made of the pine tree, as appears from Euripides F17 but, for the most part, of box F18, according to the Greek version as above; and consisted sometimes of two leaves, for the most part of three or five, covered with wax F19, on which impressions were easily made, and continued long, and were very legible; and these impressions or letters were formed with an iron style or pen; see ( Jeremiah 17:1 ) this the Greeks and Tuscans first used, but was afterwards forbidden by the Romans, who, instead of it, ordered an instrument of bone to be used F20: hence these tables were wont to be called "wax", because besmeared with it; and so, in wills and testaments written on them, the heirs are said to be written either in the first wax, or in the bottom of the wax F21, that is, of the will, or in the lowest part of the table, or what we should call the bottom of the leaf or page: and it was a custom among the Romans, as Cicero F23 relates, that the public affairs of every year were committed to writing by the Pontifex Maximus, or high priest, and published on a table, and set to view within doors, that the people might have an opportunity and be able to know them; yea, it was usual to hang up laws, approved and recorded, in tables of brass, in their market places, and in their temples, that F24 they might be seen and read; the same we call annals. In like manner the Jewish prophets used to write and expose their prophecies publicly on tables, either in their own houses, or in the temple, that everyone that passed by might read them. That he may run that readeth it;
may run through the whole without any difficulty, without making any stop, being written in such large capital letters; and those cut so well, and made so plain, that a man might run it over at once with ease, or even read it as he was running; nor need he stop his pace, or stand to read. The Targum is,

``write the prophecy, and explain it in the book of the law, that he may hasten to obtain wisdom, whoever he is that reads in it.''

FOOTNOTES:

F15 (graqav en pinaki ptuktw) Homer. Iliad. 6.
F16 Contr. Apion, l. 1. c. 2.
F17 In Hippolito.
F18 "Ergo tam doctae nobis periere tabellae, Non illas fixum charas effeceret aurum, Vulgari buxo sordida cera fuit. Propertius. Buxa crepent cerata------" Prudentius.
F19 Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 2. c. 30.
F20 Isidor. Originum, l. 6. c. 8.
F21 "In ima cera", Sueton. in Vit. Jul. Caesar. c. 83. "in extrema cera", Cicero in Verrem, l. 3. Vid. Alex. ab Alex. ib. l. 1. c. 1.
F23 De Oratore, l. 2. sect. 34.
F24 Taciti Annales, l. 11. c. 14.

Hābāgǔshū 2:2 In-Context

1 Wǒ yào zhàn zaì shǒu wàng suǒ , lì zaì wàng lóu shang guānkàn , kàn Yēhéhuá duì wǒ shuō shénme huà , wǒ kĕ yòng shénme huà xiàng tā sù yuān . ( xiàng tā sù yuān huò zuò huídá suǒ yí wèn de ) .
2 Tā duì wǒ shuō , jiāng zhè mò shì míng míng dì xiĕ zaì bǎn shang , shǐ dòu de rén róngyi dòu ( huò zuò suí paó suí dòu ) .
3 Yīnwei zhè mò shì yǒu yídéng de rìqī , kuaì yào yìngyàn , bìng bù xū huǎng . suīrán chíyán , hái yào dĕnghòu . yīnwei bìrán líndào , bú zaì chíyán .
4 Jiālèdǐ rén zì gāo zì dà , xīn bù zhèngzhí . wéi yì rén yīn xìn dé shēng .
5 Jiālèdǐ rén yīn jiǔ guǐzhà , kuángào , bù zhù zaì jiā zhōng , kuò chōng xīn yù , hǎoxiàng yīnjiān . tā rú sǐ bùnéng zhīzú , jùjí wàn guó , duījī wàn mín , dōu guī zìjǐ .
Public Domain