Net English TranslationHabakkuk 3 =
Habakkuk’s Vision of the Divine Warrior
3
1 This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet:1
2 Lord, I have heard the report of what you did;2
I am awed,3 Lord, by what you accomplished.4
In our time5 repeat those deeds;6
in our time reveal them again.7
But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy!8
3 God comes9 from Teman,10
the sovereign11 one from Mount Paran.12 Selah.13
His splendor covers the skies,14
his glory15 fills the earth.
4 He is as bright as lightning;16
a two-pronged lightning bolt flashes from his hand.17
This is the outward display of his power.18
5 Plague goes before him;
pestilence19 marches right behind him.20
6 He takes his battle position21 and shakes22 the earth;
with a mere look he frightens23 the nations.
The ancient mountains disintegrate;24
the primeval hills are flattened.
He travels on the ancient roads.25
7 I see the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble;26
the tent curtains of the land of Midian are shaking.27
8 Is the Lord mad at the rivers?
Are you angry with the rivers?
Are you enraged at the sea?28
Is this why29 you climb into your horse-drawn chariots,30
your victorious chariots?31
9 Your bow is ready for action;32
you commission your arrows.33 Selah.
You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface.34
10 When the mountains see you, they shake.
The torrential downpour sweeps through.35
The great deep36 shouts out;
it lifts its hands high.37
11 The sun and moon stand still in their courses;38
the flash of your arrows drives them away,39
the bright light of your lightning-quick spear.40
12 You furiously stomp on the earth,
you angrily trample down the nations.
13 You march out to deliver your people,
to deliver your special servant.41
You strike the leader of the wicked nation,42
laying him open from the lower body to the neck.43 Selah.
14 You pierce the heads of his warriors44 with a spear.45
They storm forward to scatter us;46
they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition.47
15 But you trample on the sea with your horses,
on the surging, raging waters.48
Habakkuk Declares His Confidence
16 I listened and my stomach churned;49
the sound made my lips quiver.
My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying,50
and I shook as I tried to walk.51
I long52 for the day of distress
to come upon53 the people who attack us.
17 When54 the fig tree does not bud,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
when the olive trees do not produce,55
and the fields yield no crops;56
when the sheep disappear57 from the pen,
and there are no cattle in the stalls,
18 I will rejoice because of58 the Lord;
I will be happy because of the God who delivers me!
19 The sovereign Lord is my source of strength.59
He gives me the agility of a deer;60
he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain.61

(This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)62

13:1tn The Hebrew text adds עַל שִׁגְיֹנוֹת (’al shigyonot, “upon [or, “according to”] shigyonot”). The meaning of this word is uncertain. It may refer to the literary genre of the prayer or to the musical style to be employed when it is sung. The NEB leaves the term untranslated; several other modern English versions transliterate the term into English, sometimes with explanatory notes (NASB, NRSV “according to Shigionoth”; NIV “On shigyonoth”). 23:2tn Heb “your report,” that is, “the report concerning you.” 33:2tn Heb “I fear.” Some prefer to read, “I saw, Lord, what you accomplished” (cf. NEB). 43:2tn Heb “your work.” 53:2tn Heb “in the midst of years.” The meaning of the phrase, which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain (cf. NIV “in our day”; NEB, NASB “in the midst of the years”). 63:2tn Heb “revive it” (i.e., “your work”). 73:2tn Heb “make known.” The implied object is “your deeds”; the pronoun “them,” referring to “deeds” in the previous line, was employed in the translation to avoid redundancy. The suffix on the form חַיֵּיהוּ (khayyehu, “revive it”) does double duty in the parallelism. 83:2tn Heb “in turmoil remember [to show] compassion.” 93:3tn In vv. 3-15 there is a mixture of eleven prefixed verbal forms (without vav [ו] consecutive or with vav conjunctive), sixteen suffixed forms, and three prefixed forms with vav consecutive. All of the forms are best taken as indicating completed action from the speaker’s standpoint (all of the prefixed forms being regarded as preterites). The forms could be translated with the past tense, but this would be misleading, for this is not a mere recital of God’s deeds in Israel’s past history. Habakkuk here describes, in terms reminiscent of past theophanies, his prophetic vision of a future theophany (see v. 7, “I saw”). From the prophet’s visionary standpoint the theophany is “as good as done.” This translation uses the English present tense throughout these verses to avoid misunderstanding. A similar strategy is followed by the NEB; in contrast note the NIV and NRSV, which consistently use past tenses throughout the section, and the NASB, which employs present tenses in vv. 3-5 and mostly past tenses in vv. 6-15. 103:3sn Teman was a city or region in southern Edom. 113:3tn Or traditionally, “holy one.” The term קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy [one]”) here refers to God’s sovereignty. See v. 3b. 123:3sn The precise location of Mount Paran is unknown, but like Teman it was located to the southeast of Israel. Habakkuk saw God marching from the direction of Sinai. 133:3tn Selah. The meaning of this musical term (which also appears in vv. 9, 13, and in the Psalms as well) is unknown. 143:3tn Or “heavens.” 153:3tn Heb “praise.” This could mean that the earth responds in praise as God’s splendor is observed in the skies. However, the Hebrew term תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) can stand by metonymy for what prompts it (i.e., fame, glory, deeds). 163:4tn Heb “[His] radiance is like light.” Some see a reference to sunlight, but the Hebrew word אוֹר (’or) here refers to lightning, as the context indicates (see vv. 4b, 9, 11). The word also refers to lightning in Job 36:32 and 37:3, 11, 15. 173:4tn Heb “two horns from his hand to him.” Sharp, pointed lightning bolts have a “horn-like” appearance. The weapon of “double lightning” appears often in Mesopotamian representations of gods. See Elizabeth Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art (AnOr), 70-73. 183:4tn Heb “and there [is] the covering of his strength”; or “and there is his strong covering.” The meaning of this line is unclear. The point may be that the lightning bolts are merely a covering, or outward display, of God’s raw power. In Job 36:32 one reads that God “covers his hands with light [or, “lightning”].” 193:5tn Because of parallelism with the previous line, the meaning “pestilence” is favored for רֶשֶׁף (reshef) here, but usage elsewhere suggests a destructive bolt of fire may be in view. See BDB 958 s.v.sn There are mythological echoes here, for in Canaanite literature the god Resheph aids Baal in his battles. See J. Day, “New Light on the Mythological Background of the Allusion to Resheph in Habakkuk III 5,” VT 29 (1979): 353-55. 203:5tn Heb “goes out at his feet.” 213:6tn Heb “he stands.” 223:6tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מוּד, mud), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מָוד (mavd; see HALOT 555 s.v.). 233:6tn Heb “makes [the nations] jump [in fear].” 243:6tn Or “crumbled,” broke into pieces.” 253:6tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the Lord taking the same route as in the days of Moses and Deborah (see Deut 33:2; Judg 5:4). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 154. 263:7tn Heb “under trouble I saw the tents of Cushan.”sn Cushan was located in southern Transjordan. 273:7tn R. D. Patterson takes תַּחַת אֲוֶן (takhat ’aven) in the first line as a place name, “Tahath-Aven.” (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [WEC], 237.) In this case one may translate the verse as a tricolon: “I look at Tahath-Aven. The tents of Cushan are shaking, the tent curtains of the land of Midian.” 283:8sn The following context suggests these questions should be answered, “Yes.” The rivers and the sea, symbolizing here the hostile nations (v. 12), are objects of the Lord’s anger (vv. 10, 15). 293:8tn Heb “so that.” Here כִּי (ki) is resultative. See the note on the phrase “make it” in 2:18. 303:8tn Heb “you mount your horses.” As the next line makes clear, the Lord is pictured here as a charioteer, not a cavalryman. Note NRSV here, “when you drove your horses, // your chariots to victory.” 313:8tn Or “chariots of deliverance.” 323:9tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.” 333:9tn Heb “sworn in are the arrow-shafts with a word.” The passive participle of שָׁבַע (shava’), “swear an oath,” also occurs in Ezek 21:23 ET (21:28 HT) referencing those who have sworn allegiance. Here the Lord’s arrows are personified and viewed as having received a commission which they have vowed to uphold. In Jer 47:6-7 the Lord’s sword is given such a charge. In the Ugaritic myths Baal’s weapons are formally assigned the task of killing the sea god Yam. 343:9tn Heb “[with] rivers you split open the earth.” A literal rendering like “You split the earth with rivers” (so NIV, NRSV) suggests geological activity to the modern reader, but in the present context of a violent thunderstorm, the idea of streams swollen to torrents by downpours better fits the imagery.sn As the Lord comes in a thunderstorm the downpour causes streams to swell to river-like proportions and spread over the surface of the ground, causing flash floods. 353:10tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here. 363:10sn The great deep, which is to be equated with the sea (vv. 8, 15), is a symbol of chaos and represents the Lord’s enemies. 373:10sn Lifting the hands here suggests panic and is accompanied by a cry for mercy (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19). The forces of chaos cannot withstand the Lord’s power revealed in the storm. 383:11tn Heb “in their lofty dwelling places.” 393:11tn Or “at the light of your arrows they vanish.” 403:11tn Heb “at the brightness of the lightning of your spear.” 413:13tn Heb “anointed one.” In light of the parallelism with “your people” in the preceding line this could refer to Israel, but elsewhere the Lord’s anointed one is always an individual. The Davidic king is the more likely referent here. 423:13tn Heb “you strike the head from the house of wickedness.” 433:13tn Heb “laying bare [from] foundation to neck.” 443:14tn Some take “warriors” with the following line, in which case one should translate, “you pierce [his] head with a spear; his warriors storm forward to scatter us” (cf. NIV). The meaning of the Hebrew term פְּרָזוֹ (pÿrazo), translated here “his warriors,” is uncertain. 453:14tc Heb “his shafts.” Some emend to “your shafts.” The translation above assumes an emendation to מַטֶּה (matteh, “shaft, spear”), the vav-yod (ו-י) sequence being a corruption of an original he (ה). 463:14tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people. 473:14tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.” 483:15tn Heb “the foaming of the mighty [or “many”] waters.” 493:16tn Heb “my insides trembled.” 503:16tn Heb “decay entered my bones.” 513:16tc Heb “beneath me I shook, which….” The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (’asher) appears to be a relative pronoun, but a relative pronoun does not fit here. The translation assumes a reading אֲשֻׁרָי (’ashuray, “my steps”) as well as an emendation of the preceding verb to a third plural form. 523:16tn The translation assumes that אָנוּחַ (’anuakh) is from the otherwise unattested verb נָוָח (navakh, “sigh”; see HALOT 680 s.v. II נוח; so also NEB). Most take this verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) and translate, “I wait patiently” (cf. NIV). 533:16tn Heb “to come up toward.” 543:17tn Or “though.” 553:17tn Heb “the produce of the olive disappoints.” 563:17tn Heb “food.” 573:17tn Or “are cut off.” 583:18tn Or “in.” 593:19tn Or perhaps, “is my wall,” that is, “my protector.” 603:19tn Heb “he makes my feet like those of deer.” 613:19tn Heb “he makes me walk on my high places.”sn Difficult times are coming, but Habakkuk is confident the Lord will sustain him. Habakkuk will be able to survive, just as the deer negotiates the difficult rugged terrain of the high places without injury. 623:19tn Heb “For the leader, on my stringed instruments.”
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