He refers of course to “The Babylonians,” as Good News Translation makes explicit, changing the singular pronoun to a plural noun. Many translators will wish to do the same, or they may prefer to keep the noun singular, “the Babylonian.” Here the Babylonians are pictured as treating other people as if they were merely fish. The comparison between people and fish was stated in the previous verse, but Good News Translation repeats it with “as though they were fish.” Similar thoughts can be found in Jeremiah 16.16; Ezekiel 12.13; 17.20; 29.4; 32.3; Amos 4.2.

The second and third lines in Revised Standard Version make the same statement twice but using different words: he drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his seine. A seine is a large dragnet which requires several people to pull it in a semicircle through the water. The word translated net probably refers to a smaller net that was cast by one person. Because seine is a rare word in English and will be unfamiliar to many people, Good News Translation has run these two clauses into one and uses only the general word for a net: “They drag them off in nets.” If different kinds of fishing nets are familiar in any particular culture, translators will have no difficulty in speaking about them. If they are not, then it will probably be best to do as Good News Translation has done and make just one statement using a generic term for net. The comparison of the Babylonians with fishermen illustrates the ease with which they capture their prisoners.

As fishermen are happy when they catch plenty of fish, so the Babylonian rejoices and exults. Good News Translation expresses this more naturally as “shout for joy” and makes it explicit that the “joy” is “over their catch.” “Their catch” may also be rendered “what they have caught.”

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 .