Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and most English versions appear to ignore the fact that in this verse the Hebrew pronouns in they scoff and They laugh are emphatic. Jerusalem Bible comes closest to representing this, with “They are a people that scoff at kings.” Another way in English to show the emphasis is “These Babylonians are a people who….” This can be repeated at the beginning of the second half of the verse.

The first half of the verse says essentially the same thing twice, as is clear from Revised Standard Version, At kings they scoff, and of rulers they make sport. Scoff means to mock or scorn, and make sport means make fun of. It has nothing to do with athletic sports. The idea of scoff (Good News Translation “treat … with contempt”) can be translated in a variety of ways; for example, “They treat kings as if they were nothing,” “They look down their noses at kings,” “They sneer at…,” or “They shake their fingers at….” Make sport (Good News Translation “laugh at”) is similar in meaning but is a more active form of contempt. Here the conquerors are trying to show the defeated rulers how weak and foolish they are. In some languages make sport can be translated as “cause to lose face.” For rulers, see the translation note on “princes” in Nahum 3.17.

The second half of the verse is also in two parts, but in this case the second is not parallel in meaning to the first, so they cannot be combined. The first part is similar to the statements in the first half of the verse (They laugh at every fortress in Revised Standard Version). However, it sounds a little odd in English to laugh at something which is not personal, so Good News Translation turns this statement around and expresses its meaning in plain language as “No fortress can stop them.” Fortress may be translated as “city with strong walls,” or in certain languages as “large group of houses with a strong high wall around it” (see comment on Nahum 3.12). “Stop them” may also be translated as “prevent them from entering,” or “defend itself against them,” or “is an obstacle to them.”

The words they heap up earth and take it refer to one ancient method of besieging a town or fortress. This involved heaping a ramp of earth against its wall until the top of the ramp was level with the top of the wall. Then the attackers could climb the ramp, cross the wall, and capture the town or fortress. See the illustration at the discussion of Nahum 2.1.

Another translation model for this verse is:

• The Babylonian soldiers make fun of kings and laugh at their high officials (or, the chief servants of the kings). No city with strong walls can keep them from entering. They pile up earth against the walls and capture the city.

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 .