Habakkuk 2:2

The LORD’s Answer

2 Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald^[a] may run with it.

Habakkuk 2:2 in Other Translations

2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

2 And the LORD answered me:"Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.

2 Then the LORD said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.

2 And then God answered: "Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run.

2 The Lord answered me: Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it.

Habakkuk 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.''

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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.

Habakkuk 2:2 In-Context

1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

2 Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.

3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

4 “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness —

5 indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.

Cross References

• 1. S Isaiah 30:8; S Jeremiah 36:2; S Ezekiel 24:2; S Romans 4:24; Revelation 1:19

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "so that whoever reads it"