Habakkuk 2:16

Filled. Or, “satiated.” Babylon’s evil treatment of the oppressed will react to its own overthrow. This will make them drink to the full the cup of divine retribution. Let thy foreskin be uncovered. Literally, “be counted as uncircumcised,” from the Heb. ‘oral, “to leave uncircumcised.” That is, let Babylon receive the same ignominious treatment it had given others (see on v. 15). Significantly, it is in this verse that the Hebrew text quoted in the Habakkuk Commentary of the Dead Sea scrolls (see p. 1047) has an interesting variation from the Masoretic text of Habakkuk. Instead of the word ‘oral, the Habakkuk Commentary has ra‘al, “to reel,” or “to totter” (note that the Hebrew consonants are the same, but transposed). The latter reading, ra‘al, fits the context far better, the clause then reading: “Drink thou also, and totter.” In other words, the Babylonians were to suffer the same indignities and cruelties they had heaped upon their conquered foes. This reading is supported by the LXX, which has “quake.”