Habakkuk Chapter 2 verse 2 Holy Bible
And Jehovah answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it.
read chapter 2 in ASV
And the Lord gave me an answer, and said, Put the vision in writing and make it clear on stones, so that the reader may go quickly.
read chapter 2 in BBE
And Jehovah answered me and said, Write the vision, and engrave it upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it.
read chapter 2 in DARBY
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
read chapter 2 in KJV
read chapter 2 in WBT
Yahweh answered me, "Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.
read chapter 2 in WEB
And Jehovah answereth me and saith: `Write a vision, and explain on the tables, That he may run who is reading it.
read chapter 2 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - Jehovah answers the prophet's expostulation (Habakkuk 1:12, etc.). Write. That it may remain permanently on record, and that, when it comes to pass, people may believe in the prophet's inspiration (John 13:19; comp. Isaiah 8:1; Isaiah 30:8; Jeremiah 30:2; Revelation 1:11). The vision (see Habakkuk 1:1: Obadiah 1:1). The word includes the inward revelation as well as the open vision. Upon tables; upon the tables (Deuteronomy 27:8); i.e. certain tablets placed in public places, that all might see and read them (see Isaiah, loc. cit.); Septuagint, εἰς πυξίον, "a boxwood tablet" The summary of what was to be written is given in ver. 4. This was to be "made plain," written large and legibly. Septuagint, σαφῶς. That he may run that readeth it. The common explanation of these words (unfortunately perpetuated by Keble's well known hymn, "There is a book, who runs may read"), viz. that even the runner, one who hastens by hurriedly, may be able to read it, is not borne out by the Hebrew, which rather means that every one who reads it may run, i.e. read fluently and easily. So Jerome, "Scribere jubetur planius, ut possit lector currere, et nullo impedimento velocitas ejus et legendi cupido teneatur." Henderson, comparing Daniel 12:4, "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased," interprets the clause to signify that whosoever reads the announcement might run and publish it to all within his reach. "' To run,'" he adds, "is equivalent to 'to prophesy' in Jeremiah 23:21," on the principle that those who were charged with a Divine message were to use all despatch in making it known. In the passage of Daniel, "to run to and fro," is explained to mean "to peruse."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) On tables.--Better, on the tables. The definite article probably indicates certain well-known tables on which the prophets were wont to inscribe their utterances for public edification. These tables may have been hung up in the Temple (Calvin) or market-place (Luther and Ewald).That he may run that readeth it--i.e., the prophecy is to be inscribed plainly and legibly, so that the reader may "run his eye" quickly through it.
