unfoldingWord_en_tn/hab/02/18.md

# General Information:

Yahweh continues to answer Habakkuk and to speak of the Chaldeans as if they were one man. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])

# What does the carved figure profit you?

This rhetorical question emphasizes the negative answer that it anticipates. The question can be translated as a statement. AT: "The carved figure profits you nothing!" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-rquestion]])

# you

The word "you" refers to the Chaldeans.

# molten metal

This describes metal when it is in its liquid form.

# a teacher of lies

This phrase refers to the one who carved or cast the figure. By making a false god, he is teaching a lie.

# Or to the silent stone

The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. AT: "Woe to the one saying to the silent stone" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-ellipsis]])

# Do these things teach?

This rhetorical question emphasizes the negative answer that it anticipates. The question can be translated as a statement. AT: "These things cannot teach." or "Wood and stone cannot teach." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-rquestion]])

# See

"Indeed." The word "see" here adds emphasis to what follows.

# it is overlaid with gold and silver

This can be stated in active form. AT: "a person overlays the wood or stone with gold and silver" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive]])

# there is no breath at all within it

The idiom "no breath ... within it" means that it is not alive, but dead. AT: "it is not alive" or "it is dead" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-idiom]])

# all the land

Here the word "land" is a metonym for the people who live in the land. AT: "everyone in the land" or "everyone on earth" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])