In this verse more details are given of the punishment that is to come upon the Babylonians. As they have greedily robbed other nations, so they in turn will be robbed. The punishment will fit the crime.

Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation treat the whole verse as one sentence, but many translators will find it more natural to break it into two sentences, as New International Version has done.

The first two clauses in Revised Standard Version state the fairness of the punishment: Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you (compare Isa 33.1). Good News Translation makes it explicit that many nations means “the people of many nations.” Good News Translation also makes it clear that all the remnant of the peoples means “those who have survived” the cruelties of the Babylonians. “Those who have survived” may also be phrased as “Those who did not die.”

The second half of the verse may well be translated as a separate sentence, especially since it is repeated in verse 17. One can show the relationship with the first half of the verse by beginning “This will happen because….”

The blood of men in Revised Standard Version is made clearer in Good News Translation as “the murders you have committed.” In a similar way violence in Revised Standard Version can be expanded to “the violence you have done.” In some languages translators may need to render these two clauses as “This will happen because of all the people you have killed, and because of your cruel acts against…” (see 1.2 for comment on violence).

Those who suffered the violence of the Babylonians are stated as the earth … cities and all who dwell therein. This is not very natural English, and so Good News Translation has expressed it in a smoother way as “the people of the world and its cities.” Both “the people” and the “cities” had been harmed by the Babylonian attacks. “City” here refers to a large group of houses surrounded by a strong wall (see Nahum 3.1).

The Hebrew word translated as the earth in Revised Standard Version and “the world” in Good News Translation may also mean “the land,” as in the Good News Translation footnote. The translation in the footnote, “the land, the city, and those who live in it,” refers primarily to the land of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. However, although the words for “land” and “city” are singular in Hebrew, it seems more probable in this context that they are collective in meaning (compare New International Version “lands and cities”). Many other countries besides Judah were attacked by the Babylonians. The translation in the text of Good News Translation is therefore to be preferred.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• You have taken by force the possessions of the people of many nations, but now those who are still alive will take your possessions by force. This will happen because you have killed many people and have acted so cruelly against the people of the world and its cities.

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 .