Logos Bible Study

Habakkuk 3:4–12

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3:4He 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

3:5Plague goes before him;

pestilence19 marches right behind him.20

3:6He 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

3:7I see the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble;26

the tent curtains of the land of Midian are shaking.27

3:8Is 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

3:9Your bow is ready for action;32

you commission your arrows.33

Selah.

You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface.34

3:10When the mountains see you, they shake.

The torrential downpour sweeps through.35

The great deep36 shouts out;

it lifts its hands high.37

3:11The 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

3:12You furiously stomp on the earth,

you angrily trample down the nations.

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Footnotes

  1. 16 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.
  2. 17 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 (), 70–73.
  3. 18 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”].”
  4. 19 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 958 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,” 29 (1979): 353–55.
  5. 20 Heb “goes out at his feet.”
  6. 21 Heb “he stands.”
  7. 22 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 ).
  8. 23 Heb “makes [the nations] jump [in fear].”
  9. 24 Or “crumbled,” broke into pieces.”
  10. 25 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 (), 154.
  11. 26 Heb “under trouble I saw the tents of Cushan.” Cushan was located in southern Transjordan.
  12. 27 R. D. Patterson takes תַּחַת אֲוֶן (takhat ’aven) in the first line as a place name, “Tahath-Aven.” (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [], 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.”
  13. 28 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).
  14. 29 Heb “so that.” Here כִּי (ki) is resultative. See the note on the phrase “make it” in .
  15. 30 Heb “you mount your horses.” As the next line makes clear, the Lord is pictured here as a charioteer, not a cavalryman. Note here, “when you drove your horses, // your chariots to victory.”
  16. 31 Or “chariots of deliverance.”
  17. 32 Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”
  18. 33 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 (21:28 ) 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.
  19. 34 Heb “[with] rivers you split open the earth.” A literal rendering like “You split the earth with rivers” (so , ) 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. 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.
  20. 35 Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.
  21. 36 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.
  22. 37 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.
  23. 38 Heb “in their lofty dwelling places.”
  24. 39 Or “at the light of your arrows they vanish.”
  25. 40 Heb “at the brightness of the lightning of your spear.”

The NET Bible First Edition, Copyright 1996-2005 by Biblical Studies Press