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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)