Waiting for God (2)
I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the watchtower; and I will keep watch to see what He will say to me, and how I may reply when I am reprimanded. Habakkuk 2:1 NASB
Reprimanded – Why are we looking at the same verse and the same word again? Because the scope of this word, tôkēḥâ, includes another possible translation that changes everything we discovered yesterday.
Here’s Robert Alter’s translation (notice the change at the end):
On my watch let me stand, and let me take my station at the watchtower and look out to see what He will speak to me and what He will respond to my complaint.
The oddity of the metaphor is not diminished, but the translation of tôkēḥât is quite different. In Alter’s rendition, Habakkuk isn’t waiting for judgment. He’s waiting to hear God’s answer to his protest. He wants to know what God is going to do about the unfaithfulness of the people. Now the verse isn’t about our guilt and the necessity of repentance (as Gilchrist suggested). Now it’s about the prophet’s vision of God’s response to the people. Same word—very different outcome.
Let’s go back to the text. In this verse (5), the root tôkēḥâ is a noun, not a verb as suggested by the NASB. The verb is “reply” (šûb), “that I may [return] reply.” Reply to what? To tôkēḥât. Here the word, as a noun, should be translated as “argument” or “objection,” or “protest.” Habakkuk is not worrying about how he’s going to respond to God’s accusation about his personal guilt. He’s considering how he will react when God addresses his complaint. And, of course, the following verses describe how he responds. He writes down the vision God gives him. Alter’s translation treats tôkēḥâtas it should be treated: a noun, not a verb. The NASB shifts the meaning significantly, and unnecessarily. tôkēḥât is a parallel to mûsār which means discipline, instruction. What a difference!
Was investigation of the NASB translation a waste of time? No, I don’t think so, because the root tôkēḥâ still raises all the questions we have about God’s judgment and our accountability. In addition, we need to know the background of the root in order to understand the nuance of the noun. God’s judgment is still guaranteed, but the noun suggests there is time to protest. There’s time to bring the case to court. Or at least be prepared to do so.
What else have we learned? Translations often divert our true understanding of the verse. Gilchrist’s comments on the root are correct, but they don’t support translating the noun as a verb. Alter’s translation recognizes the noun, and consequently changes how we read the verse. But if you don’t read Hebrew, how would you know? The NASB pushes us toward a theological idea—repentance—rather than a legal idea—argument. The semantic range of tôkēḥâ includes both. Grammar matters.
Topical Index: tôkēḥâ, tôkēḥât, argument, objection, complaint, Robert Alter, Habakkuk 2:1
