Habakkuk 3:1-4 – In Wrath Remember Mercy

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 25 May 2025
Omitting greyed-out text should bring oral delivery down to about 40 minutes.

v. 1 - Introduction

The final chapter of Habakkuk is the prophet’s answer to God’s response in chapter 2.
- Remember that chapter 1 started with Habakkuk raising concerns with God over the injustices going on in his home country of Judea as well as concerns over the atrocities that would be committed against his people when the Chaldean army will invade.
- In Chapter 2, God answered by declaring that He will be both just and merciful: that He will punish the wrongdoing of the Jews – and also of the Chaldeans, but He mercifully gives five warnings, calling for repentance before the judgment comes, and He also promises to give life to those who have faith in Him.
- Habakkuk says in chapter 3, verse 2, that he has “listened to” what God had to “say” in chapter 2, and he responds with worship toward God. That should be our response as well.
Chapter 3 begins with a “prayer.”
Habakkuk labels his prayer as being “according to Shigginoth,”
- which seems to be the same word used as the label for Psalm 7, where David cried out to God while he was being persecuted by King Saul¹.
- There is debate over what exactly that word means.
  - The root meaning has to do with “staggering back and forth” and “falling into error.”
  - The Latin Vulgate and John Calvin followed the Jewish tradition that it was praying for forgiveness for sins committed in ignorance,
  - But the Greek Septuagint and most English scholars think it was a musical term describing a form of music, like a reel, that expresses intense, conflicting emotions.
Read Habakkuk 3:1-6:
A prayer in the reel-genre, by Habakkuk the prophet. Yahweh, I have listened to Your briefing; I have been afraid. Yahweh, Your work, in the midst of the years, keep it alive - in the midst of the years, make it known. During the turmoil, let it be mercy that You remember. God comes from Teman – even the Holy One from Mount Paran. SELAH
His majesty has covered the heavens, and His praise filled the earth. Indeed, rays from His hand become bright as light for Him, yet a hiding of strength is there. Before His face goes disease, and fever goes forth at His feet. He stood and measured the earth. He looked and unloosed nations. Even the longstanding mountains were broken to bits; the everlasting hills sagged low. The ways that are everlasting belong to Him.
“There is no doubt but that the Prophet dictated this form of prayer for his people, before they were led into exile, that they might always exercise themselves in the study of religion … Hence... the Prophet here sets before them the materials of faith, and stimulates them to prayer: and we know, that our faith cannot be supported in a better way than by the exercise of prayer... to look up to God daily... They would, indeed, have wholly fallen away into the superstitions of the Gentiles, had not the memory of the covenant, which the Lord had made with them, remained firm in their hearts… [W]e may adopt therefore this form of prayer which is prescribed for us by the Holy Spirit, - that God would not forsake his own work in the middle of our course.” ~J. Calvin, AD 1559
“This psalm helps the community work out what faith looks like as it waits, and why they can be confident that Yahweh will triumph.” ~D. Firth, AD 2023
In v.2, Habakkuk identifies his first response to God’s message, and that response is “fear.” “I heard... You, and I fear.”

v. 2 – The One Thing Habakkuk Prays For

Fear is the natural and right response to hearing from God.
- It was the response of Adam & Eve in the Garden the first time they heard God’s voice after they had sinned. In Genesis 3:10 Adam said to God, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid...²” To hear God’s voice meant that judgment was coming!
- David wrote in Psalm 119:120 “My flesh trembles [סמר מפחד] for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments.” (NKJV)
- Yet the voice of the Lord also inspires respect for Him among His people. In Deuteronomy God told Moses, “4:10 ...Assemble the people before Me, and I will make them hear my words such that they will learn to fear/respect me all the days which their lives are upon the earth, and they will teach their children… 13 All Israel will hear and fear and not continue to do... evil… (cf. 17:13) 19:20 And the remnant will hear and fear and not continue to act again according to this evil thing… 31:12-13 Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and thy sojourner that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear/respect Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law; and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear/respect Yahweh your God…” (NAW) God intends for us to be respectful toward Him after we hear His word.
- Habakkuk describes his own fear in more detail later on in v. 16, “When I heard, my body trembled; My lips quivered [צלל] at the voice; Rottenness entered my bones; And I trembled in myself, That I might rest in the day of trouble [צרה]. When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops." (NKJV)
- The fear and respect which Jesus deserves from human beings is no less today. Even the saints in heaven in Revelation 15:4 say, “Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested." (NKJV, cf. Jer. 10:7)
- But there is an even more important word in v.2.
The word “mercy” is emphatic in Hebrew at the end of v.2. (Normally the object stands after the verb in Hebrew, but here it stands before the verb, so “mercy” really stands out.)
Going backwards up verse 2, there are two verbs without an explicit object: “make it known³” and “renew/revive/keep it alive.” The question naturally follows, “What is ‘it’ that Habakkuk wants God to “keep alive” and to “make known”?
Go back further, and we have the noun for “work/deed.” What is this “work” which God characteristically does?
- English versions made after the year 2000 say that this “work” is what Habakkuk “fears,” but I side with all the versions made before the year 2000 which indicate that this “work” is what Habakkuk is asking God to “revive” and “make known.”
- This is the same “work/deed” which God mentioned in Habakkuk 1:5 “Look among the nations... for I am doing a work⁴ during y'all's days...” (NAW)
- It also has to do with the “work” that God “did” “in the days of old” in Psalm 44 when he settled Israel in the Promised Land and displaced the Canaanites.⁵
This whole verse is pointing to
- something which is a characteristic “work” of God,
- something which affects Habakkuk personally,
- something which Habakkuk wants to see “proclaimed” and “kept alive” “in his day/in the midst of the years” - as the years of judgment against Israel approach, as God, “in wrath,” brings “turmoil” against Israel and against Babylon for their rebellion against Him.
- What is that one thing? What is it?
  - Mercy! Mercy! To be compassionate.
- That is the emphatic thing which Habakkuk begs God to “remember” (cf. Ps. 25:6),
- the one thing that will restrain God’s wrath against the remnant of His people so that they are not completely destroyed, but are “kept alive” in the judgment (Dan. 9:16),
- and “mercy” is that “work” of God which is His “glory,” which should be made known throughout the whole earth so the “earth will be filled to know the glory of God!”
“When ‘in the midst of the years’ of the captivity God miraculously owned the three children in the fiery furnace, and humbled Nebuchadnezzar, this prayer was answered... ‘In wrath remember mercy, and make that known.’ ... Even those that are under the tokens of God's wrath must not despair of his mercy; and mercy, mere mercy, is that which we must flee to for refuge...” ~M. Henry
- Jeremiah 31:20 “Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD.”
- Isaiah 54:8 “With flood of wrath [קצף] I caused my face to be hidden from you for a moment, but with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion/mercy on you, says Yahweh your Redeemer.” (NAW)
- Isaiah 14:1-5 “For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will settle them on their own ground... And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess themselves upon the ground of Yahweh... And in the day Yahweh causes you to settle down from your pain and from your turmoil and from the hard service which you were served, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon and say: ‘How the oppressor has ceased, the exactress ceased! Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers…’” (NAW)
This ties in with the word “revive/renew” – a word used to describe the Reconstruction of the remnant of Israel after the Babylonian Exile⁶ and used to describe God’s saving work among Christians in the New Testament.
So, when Habakkuk prays at the end of v.2, “in wrath/turmoil remember mercy,” He is asking God to protect himself and the rest of the remnant who still believe God and who “live by faith.” I think he is even praying beyond the present into the future, praying also for those who have not yet trusted the LORD, but who, like us, were yet to come and yet to believe. Here is a great example of how you yourself can pray for mercy for others.
In verse three and following, Habakkuk takes a turn away from supplication and towards remembering God’s great works in history. Why?
- Because, for one thing, it was what God commanded of His people in the law: Deuteronomy 8:2 “...thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness… 8:18 ...thou shalt remember the LORD thy God… 15:15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee…” (KJV)
- And so David commanded the faithful to review God’s mighty acts in praise: Psalm 150:1-2 “Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary... Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!” (NKJV)
- And the command to remember is carried on by Jesus⁸ and the apostles:
  - “Therefore remember that you… who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:11-13, NKJV)
  - “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead…” (2 Tim. 2:8, NKJV)
  - “... keep remembering the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:17, NAW)
  - “Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent...” (Rev. 3:3, NKJV)
- So, in Habakkuk’s prayer time, he begins in...

v. 3 – Remembering God’s Mercies under Moses and David

The key to understanding the beginning of verse 3 lies in recognizing that it is a quote from Moses’ blessing on the nation of Israel in the wilderness in Deuteronomy 33:1-2, before they entered the Promised Land. Moses said, “The LORD came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came with ten thousands of saints; From His right hand Came a fiery law [אשׁדת] for them.” (NKJV)
- The “Selah” after this quote in Habakkuk is generally agreed to be a musical term used in the Psalms, although there are a lot of different opinions as to what exactly it meant. My favorite definition comes from William Plumer’s commentary on the Psalms: The Selah is “designed to fix the minds of the godly on the matter which has just been spoken of… as well as to regulate the singing in such a manner as to make the music correspond to the … sentiment.” So let’s “fix our minds” on that quote from Deuteronomy for a moment:
- This may be speaking of God’s appearance on Mt. Sinai and giving the 10 Commandments, or it may be speaking of the Hebrews marching through the wilderness, from Egypt, by Mount Sinai, through the wilderness of Paran, past the Edomite capitol of Teman, and up to the border of Canaan.⁹
- Moses could call these Jews “saints” because they had been sanctified by their separation from pagan Egypt, by their covenant with Yahweh at Mt. Sinai (including circumcision), and by their sanctification through years of dependence on God while wandering in the desert.
- And, as Moses said, God “came with” them, showing His presence through the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire each night.
Although some scholars think this is referring to a future event¹⁰, I, along with most of the commentators I follow, think this is a historical event that Habakkuk is recalling.
- The approach of myriads of Hebrews was terrifying to the pagan city-states of Canaan. One of the residents of Jericho told the Israelite spies in Joshua 2:9-11 “...the terror of you has fallen on us, and... all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites... as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” (NKJV)
- Interestingly, an archaeological find from the 19^th century independently corroborates Rahab’s statement. In the year 1887, a collection of letters (written by the kings of several Canaanite cities) was discovered in an ancient administrative building in Amarna, Egypt. These letters date back to the time of Joshua. Several of these letters complain about a group of people, whom they called the Habiru, which was systematically conquering all of Canaan, and they ask for military aid from Pharaoh, whom they called their “king”! For instance, letter number EA 299, written by the governor of Gezer reads, “To the king, my lord … [s]ince the Habiru are stronger than we, may the king, my lord, give me his help, and may the king, my lord, get me away from the Habiru lest the Habiru destroy us.”¹¹ Not everyone agrees that these Habiru were actually the Hebrew people under Joshua, but it certainly seems to fit the Biblical account.
In the second half of v.3, Habakkuk affirms that God’s “majesty/splendor/glory has, in the past, “covered” the heavens.”
- This completes the statement about the universality of God’s glory from chapter 2, verse 14, that “the land will be filled to know the glory [כבד] of Yahweh like the waters cover over the sea.” (NAW, cf. Num. 14:21)¹²
- But even this phrase is connected to the past. There was certainly a great deal of splendor displayed in the earth and heavens at God’s coming to give the law on Mt. Sinai, but the vocabulary Habakkuk uses does not actually match the account of that even¹³, but rather matches the Psalms of David during the Golden Age of Israel:
  - 1 Chron. 29:11 “To You, Yahweh, belongs the greatness and the mightiness and the beauty and the prominence and the majesty, indeed everything in the heavens and in the earth! To You, Yahweh, belongs the kingship, and you are lifted up above all as head.”
  - Psalm 147:7-8 “Sing praises [זמר] to our God, who covers the heavens with clouds… 148:13 “Let them praise [הלל] the name of the LORD, For His name alone is exalted; His glory[majesty] is above the earth and heaven." (NKJV, cf. 8:1)
  - There are only two other verses in the Bible besides Habakkuk 3:3 with the words “filled” and “praise,” and they are both in the Psalms: Psalm 71:8 “My mouth will be filled with your praise – your beauty – all day long.” and Psalm 48:10 “In proportion to Your reputation, God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth. It is with righteousness that Your right hand is full.” (NAW)
  - The Psalms also talk of the earth being “full” of God’s lovingkindness (Psalm 33:5, 119:64) and full of His “glory” (‎Psalm 72:19).¹⁴
Verse 4 seems to reach further back in David’s life past the “Golden Age” to the troubled beginning of his career, when God repeatedly brought deliverance from His enemies:

v. 4 – Remember God’s Power – Both Displayed & Hidden

In the first part of v.4, Habakkuk recalls God’s power displayed as “light… brightness/ radiance/splendor” (cf. v.11)
- I think that he is alluding to David’s Psalm 18:6-15 “ During my distress, I would call Yahweh, yes to my God I would holler. From His temple He would hear my voice, and my hollering would get to His attention, into His ears. Then the earth crashed and buckled, and foundations of mountains trembled. They crashed themselves because he was angry. Smoke went up in his anger and fire from His mouth was consuming; coals were kindled from it! He parted the heavens and came down, and the fog was under His feet. He also rode upon a cherub and flew and swooped upon wings of wind. He arranged for darkness to be His concealment [סתר]. His tabernacle surrounding Him was the darkness of waters, the density of stormclouds. Out of the brightness corresponding to Him, His storm-clouds passed hail-stones and coals of fire. And Yahweh caused it to thunder in the heavens, yes the Most High put forth His voice - hailstones and coals of fire! And He sent His arrows and caused them to be scattered. He even shot out lightenings and made a commotion among them. Then the beds of the waters could be seen, and foundations of the world were laid bare from Your rebuke, Yahweh, from the breath of wind from Your nose.” (NAW)
- Some scholars just think this is describing a thunderstorm rolling by, but I believe it is recalling the times when God answered the prayers of Israelites in distress with earthquakes and storm-like conditions:
  - The plagues of Egypt included “darkness” and storms and “hail mixed with fire,” and through these natural disasters, God brought deliverance for the enslaved children of Israel (Ex. 9:24).
  - Also, at the parting of the Red Sea, when God arranged the final step of deliverance from the Egyptian army, there was an earthquake, according to Psalm 77:15-20.
  - Later, during the time of Joshua, God sent a great hailstorm to help the Israelites conquer an alliance of five Amorite kings (Joshua 10:11).
  - And in the time of the Judges, God sent an earthquake to help the Israelites under Deborah and Barak to route their Canaanite enemies (Judges 4:14-15 & 5:4).
  - Even later, during David’s lifetime, God sent a great earthquake to throw the Philistines into confusion, as the Israelites under King Saul and Prince Jonathan fought to defend themselves against the Philistines. (1 Sam. 14:12-16)
- I think Habakkuk is bringing back to mind all these times in history when God displayed supernatural power to punish evil and save His people.
In verse 4, Habakkuk portrays God as being a source of light, not only burning His enemies in judgment, but also enlightening the objects of His mercy.
- Proverbs 4:18 “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (KJV)
- Isaiah 4:5 “Then Yahweh will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy.” (NAW)
- 2 Samuel 23:4 David’s “last words” included "...A ruler among mankind is righteous when he is ruling /in\ the fear of God, and the sun will rise like the light of morning – a morning without fog, /like\ grass from the ground glistening from rain…" (NAW)
- Isaiah 60:3, 19-20 “...nations will walk toward your light and kings toward the brightness of your rising… Never again will the sun be for you for daily light, and the brightness of the moon will not shine for you, but Yahweh will become for you everlasting light, and your God your beauty! Never again will your sun go, and your moon will not withdraw itself, for it will be Yahweh who becomes for you everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be completed.” (NAW)
- Jesus’ disciples caught a preview of the radiant glory of Jesus on the mount of transfiguration in Matthew 17:1-2 “...Jesus took along Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up to a high mountain by themselves. Then He was transformed in front of them: and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light...” (NAW)
- And we see in the book of Revelation that Christ will be the source of all our light in heaven! Revelation 21:23 “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light... 22:5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever." (NKJV)
- So Habakkuk was right, as he prays, to think about God’s power displayed as brilliant light, and the LORD as the source of that light – and the power and glory it represents.
In the second part of v.4, he speaks of it coming “from [God’s] hand.”
- The KJV pictures “horns” coming out of His hand, because “horn” is the way this Hebrew word keren is usually translated. Horns were a symbol of “power/victory¹⁵,” but here in Habakkuk, all the other English versions translate it “rays,” since the context has to do with “brightness” and “light” (although this is the only place in the Bible where anybody translates this word as “rays”).
- Some envision it as lightning bolts in the hands of God which He uses to punish the wicked,
  - like the “lightening” in Psalm 18 that He shot out like “arrows” at His enemies¹⁶.
  - But it should be noted that the Hebrew verb here in Hab. 3:3 is the verb of being. The verb “flashing” does not exist in the original text; it was added to English versions around the middle of the 20^th century. Nevertheless, it is not an un-Biblical concept, as
  - Ezekiel 1:14 also mentions lightening in its depiction of God in heaven.
- In support of “horns,” however, consider Revelation 5:6 “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” (NKJV)
  - All the English versions translate it “horns” in Revelation 5:6, and it is the same word translated “rays” in the Septuagint of Habakkuk 3:4.
  - In Revelation, they are something “spiritual” that goes “out” of Jesus “into all the earth,” so it could be the same thing that Habakkuk was envisioning¹⁷.
The third and final phrase of v.4 is interesting. I do not see a direct allusion to any other scripture, but it is consistent with what the Bible teaches elsewhere about God hiding His power in interactions with mankind:
- God told Moses in Exodus 33:20 “...You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” (NKJV)
- And the Apostle John wrote in the first chapter of his Gospel that, “No one has ever seen God; God the only-child who exists in the bosom of the Father…” (John 1:18, NAW)
  - So, in Exodus 33, God provided a covering of rock to protect Moses from being killed by the glory of His presence when He revealed Himself,
  - and in Psalm 18, God is covered by “dark rainclouds,”
  - but in Psalm 104:2 it appears that God uses light to cover/hide what humans would be destroyed by seeing: “Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment...” (NKJV)
- In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul picks up on the same words for “light” and “power” found in the Greek translation of Habakkuk 3:4 when he wrote about God in 1 Timothy 6:16 “who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.” (NKJV)
  - So Jesus hid/veiled His glory in human flesh (Heb. 10:20) and often refused to do miracles¹⁸, but hid His power.
  - This should only increase our awe of him. If we have never seen the full magnitude of His glory and power, how much more awesome must He be than anything we have ever experienced!¹⁹
  - As Job put it in Job 26:14 “Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power [גבורתו] who can understand?” (NKJV)

Conclusion

So, as Habakkuk prays, he brings to mind of God’s deliverances of His people from danger and of God demonstrating His presence with His people and of God revealing His glory to His people.
“[I]t behoved the people to feel assured that he was the same God who had given to their fathers such clear evidence of his power, and that he is also at this time, and to the end of the world, endued with the same power, though it be not rendered visible… God... remained ever like himself… He could deliver them from the hand of their enemies, as he had formerly delivered their fathers from Egypt… In short, the Prophet intended by all means to raise up to confidence the minds of the godly... for there is no other support under adverse, and especially under despairing circumstances, than that the faithful should know that they are still under the protection of that God who has adopted them. This is the reason why the Prophet amplifies, in so striking a manner, on the subject of God’s power… God’s power has ever been the same from the creation of heaven and earth... it has never been lessened or undergone any change... we ought hence to learn that we have no reason to despair, though he may for a time conceal his hand; for he is not on that account deprived of his right. He ever retains the sovereignty of the world.” ~J. Calvin
“[T]hese former deliverances were images of things to come, of every deliverance afterward, and especially, of that complete Divine deliverance which our Lord Jesus Christ wrought for us from the power of Satan (1 Cor. 10:11)… All God’s dealings with His people, His Church, each single soul, are part of [that] one great work...” ~E. B. Pusey, AD 1880

Habakkuk 3:1-6 – Side-by side comparison of versions^{^A}

Douay^B (Vulgate)	LXX^C	Brenton^D (Vaticanus)	KJV^E	NAW	Masoretic Hebrew^F
1 A PRAYER OF HABACUC THE PROPHET FOR ~~IGNOR~~~~ANCES~~.	1 Προσευχὴ Αμβακουμ τοῦ προφήτου μετὰ ᾠδῆς^G.	1 A PRAYER OF THE PROPHET AMBACUM, WITH A SONG.	1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.	1 A prayer in the reel-genre, by Habakkuk the prophet.	⁽א) תְּפִלָּה^H לַחֲבַקּוּק הַנָּבִיא עַל שִׁגְיֹנוֹת^I.
2 O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, [and] was afraid. O Lord, thy work, in the midst of the years bring it to life: In the midst of the years thou shalt make it known: when thou art angry, thou wilt remember mercy.	2 Κύριε, εἰσακήκοα τὴν ἀκοήν σου [καὶ] ἐφοβήθην, ~~κατενόησα~~ τὰ ἔργα σου ~~καὶ ἐξέστην~~. ἐν μέσῳ ~~δύο ζῴων~~^J ~~γνωσ~~~~θήσῃ~~, ἐν τῷ ἐγγίζειν τὰ ἔτη ἐπιγνωσ~~θήσῃ~~, [ἐν τῷ παρεῖναι τὸν καιρὸν ἀναδειχθήσῃ, ἐν τῷ ταραχθῆναι τὴν ψυχήν μου] ἐν ὀργῇ ἐλέους μνησθήσῃ.	2 O Lord, I have heard thy report, [and] was afraid: ~~I considered~~ thy works, ~~and was amazed~~: ~~thou shalt be known~~ between ~~the two living crea~~~~tures~~, thou shalt be acknowledged [when the years draw nigh; thou shalt be manifested when the time is come; when my soul is troubled,] thou wilt in wrath remember mercy.	2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive X thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.	2 Yahweh, I have listened to Your briefing; I have been afraid. Yahweh, Your work, in the midst of the years, keep it alive - in the midst of the years, make it known. During the turmoil, let it be mercy that You remember.	(ב) יְהוָה שָׁמַעְתִּי ^Kשִׁמְעֲךָ ^Lיָרֵאתִי^M יְהוָה פָּעָלְךָ בְּקֶרֶב שָׁנִים חַיֵּיהוּ בְּקֶרֶב^N שָׁנִים תּוֹדִיעַ^O בְּרֹגֶז^P רַחֵם^Q תִּזְכּוֹר.
3 God will come from the south, and the holy one from mount Pharan: X His glory covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.	3 ὁ θεὸς ἐκ Θαιμαν^R ἥξει, καὶ ὁ ἅγιος ἐξ ὄρους κατασκίου [δασέος]^S. διάψαλμα. ἐκάλυψεν οὐρανοὺς ἡ ἀρετὴ^T αὐτοῦ, καὶ αἰνέσεως αὐτοῦ πλήρης ἡ γῆ^U.	3 God shall come from Thaeman, and the Holy One from the [dark shady] mount Pharan. Pause. 4 His excellence covered the heavens, and the earth ~~was~~ full of his praise.	3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth ~~was~~ full of his praise.	3 God comes from Teman – even the Holy One from Mount Paran. SELAH His majesty has covered the heavens, and His praise filled the earth.	⁽ג) אֱלוֹהַ^V מִתֵּימָן^W יָבוֹא וְקָדוֹשׁ מֵהַר פָּארָן^X סֶלָה^Y כִּסָּה שָׁמַיִם הוֹדוֹ וּתְהִלָּתוֹ מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ.
4 X His brightness shall be as the light: horns are in his hand[s]: X There is [his] strength hidX X:	4 καὶ φέγγος αὐτοῦ ὡς φῶς ἔσται, κέρατα ἐν χερσὶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔθετο ~~ἀγάπησιν~~ ^Z[κραταιὰν] ἰσχύος [αὐτοῦ].	And his brightness shall be as light; there were horns in his hand[s], and he ~~caused~~ a [mighty] ~~love~~ of [his] strength.	4 And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of [his] power.	4 Indeed, rays from His hand become bright as light for Him, yet a hiding of strength is there.	(ד) וְנֹגַהּ כָּאוֹר^AA תִּהְיֶה^AB קַרְנַיִם^AC מִיָּדוֹ לוֹ^AD וְשָׁם^AE חֶבְיוֹן^AF עֻזֹּה.
5 Death shall go before his face. And the ~~devil~~ shall go forth before his feet.	5 πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ πορεύσεται ~~λόγος~~^AG, καὶ ἐξελεύσεται, ~~ἐν πεδίλοις~~ ^AH οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ.	5 Before his face shall go a ~~report~~, and it shall go forth ~~into the plains~~ … at his feet	5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.	5 Before His face goes disease, and fever goes forth at His feet.	(ה) לְפָנָיו יֵלֶךְ דָּבֶר^AI וְיֵצֵא רֶשֶׁף^AJ ^AKלְרַגְלָיו.
6 He stood and measured the earth. He beheld, and melted the nations: and the ancient mountains were crushed to pieces. The hills of the world ~~were~~ bowed down by the journeys of his eternity.	6 ἔστη, καὶ ἐσαλεύθη ἡ γῆ· ἐπέβλεψεν, καὶ διετάκη ἔθνη. διεθρύβη τὰ ὄρη βίᾳ, ἐτάκησαν βουνοὶ αἰώνιοι. 7 πορείας αἰωνίας αὐτοῦ	6 the earth X stood … and trembled: he beheld, and the nations melted away: the X mountains were violently burst through, the everlasting hills melted at his everlasting going forth.	6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.	6 He stood and measured the earth. He looked and unloosed nations. Even the longstanding mountains were broken to bits; the everlasting hills sagged low. The ways that are everlasting belong to Him.	(ו) עָמַד וַיְמֹדֶד^AL אֶרֶץ רָאָה וַיַּתֵּר^AM גּוֹיִם וַיִּתְפֹּצְצוּ^AN הַרְרֵי עַד^AO שַׁחוּ גִּבְעוֹת עוֹלָם^AP הֲלִיכוֹת^AQ עוֹלָם לוֹ.

1Psalm 7:1 “/A reel by David, which he sang to Yahweh over the words of the Cush Benjamite.\ Yahweh, my God, in You I have taken refuge. Cause to save me from all my pursuers, and cause to deliver me.” (NAW) The only difference is that in Psalm 7, it is singular and here in Habakkuk it is plural.

2Underlined text in scripture quotes indicates words that are also in this sermon passage.

3David Firth’s suggestion, in his commentary, that it is “justice” that Habakkuk wants God to make known seems quite out of context.

4Partly for this reason, Keil interpreted the “work” which Habakkuk prays for here exclusively as God’s work of judgment, but God calls that his “strange work” in Isaiah 28:21.

5Psalm 44:1 “...we've heard with our own ears; our fathers recounted for us the accomplishment You accomplished in their days in the early days.” (NAW, cf. Ps. 138:8) Calvin and Henry and Pusey related this ultimately to the Church.

6See, for instance: Psalm 71:20 “You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.” 85:6 “Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?” 119:88 “Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.” 138:7 “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me.” (NKJV) Lehman quoted Rashi as saying, “May God reproduce His redemptive power in the years of crisis which are upon them.”

7Ποιημα, compare with the synonym ἔργα in the LXX of Hab. 3:2. (Although ergon is usually used to describe what humans do – either good or bad, it is still occasionally used to describe God’s salvific work in places like Rom. 14:20, 15:18, Phil. 1:6, 2 Thess. 1:11, and Rev. 15:3.)

8Viz. Mat. 16:9, Mark 8:18, Luke 17:32, John 15:20

9Cf. Lehrman “Recalling the acts of God in the redemption of Israel from Egypt…” Calvin’s and Henry’s interpretation that it referred to God’s revelation of Himself on Mt. Sinai is reasonable, but Sinai is not mentioned, nor is Habakkuk’s vocabulary used in the descriptions of that event. Pusey suggested that Sinai is omitted to direct us “to another Lawgiver,” but how would Habakkuk’s audience have picked up on such an obscure point? Keil and Pusey posited that it was God Himself in a theophany, coming in the future from the South, Firth agreed, explaining that the Edomite geography simply meant that He was getting close to Israel, but we know of no such future event, only of the Exodic sojourn of God and Israel through that area.

10Keil foremost among them. A point in favor of his position that I have to concede is that Habakkuk did change the Perfect tense verb “Yahweh came” in Deut. 33 to Imperfect tense (“God comes/will come”).

11https://armstronginstitute.org/881-the-amarna-letters-proof-of-israels-invasion-of-canaan

12Pusey commented, “so the earth was full of His praise, i.e. the Church militant spread throughout the world, as in the Psalm (8:1) The Lord’s name is praised from the rising up of the sun unto the going down of the same...”

13“...nor is His glory any lightning at Mount Sinai, but the boundless Majesty of God…” ~E.B. Pusey

14Psalm 33:5 “He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the lovingkindness of Yahweh!”
‎Psalm 72:19 “...His glory fills all the earth…”
Psalm 119:64 “Your lovingkindness, Yahweh, has filled the earth, Your statutes have taught me.” (NAW)

15cf. commentaries of Calvin, St. Jer. Dion., and Pusey. Pusey noted that the hand is also a symbol of power, that this is “not [a symbol] of lightening,” that the prepositional phrase miyad usually denotes “giving,” not punishing, and that it comports with the “fiery law” coming from God’s “hand” in the passage Habakkuk just quoted in Deuteronomy.

16Keil, however argued that “flashes of lightning darting out of God's hand (Schnur., Ros., Hitzig, Maurer, etc.), is... untenable. According to Hebrew notions, flashes of lightning do not proceed from the hand of God... and קַרְנַיִם does not occur either in Arabic or the later Hebrew in the sense of flashes of lightning, but only in the sense of the sun's rays.”

17Kimchi, however, saw this as describing the radiance which came from Moses’ face after meeting with God, but this passage is talking about God, not Moses, and this radiance is from God’s “hand,” not Moses’ face. Henry, supported “rays” but gave a tip of the hat toward the theory that the horns were the 2 tablets of the Decalogue specifically mentioned as coming from God’s hand in Deut. 33:1-2.

18For instance, in Matt. 16:4, Mark 6:5, 8:12, Luke11:16, 23:8. Also consider the way He even hid the powerful truths He was communicating in parables.

19cf. M. Henry “The operations of his power, compared with what he could have done, were rather the hiding of it than the discovery of it.”

AMy original chart includes the following copyrighted English versions: NASB, NIV, ESV, Bauscher’s version of the Peshitta, and Cathcart’s version of the Targums, but I remove these columns from my public, non-copyrighted edition of this chart so as not to infringe on their copyrights. NAW is my translation. When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use ~~strikeout~~. And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea Scrolls containing Habakkuk 3 are the Nahal Hever Greek scroll (containing parts of vs. 8-15 and dated around 25BC) and the Wadi Muraba’at Scroll (containing parts of verses 1-19 and dated around 135 AD). Where the DSS is legible and in agreement with the MT, the MT is colored purple. Where the DSS supports the LXX/Vulgate/Peshitta with omissions or text not in the MT, I have highlighted with yellow the LXX and its translation into English, and where I have accepted that into my NAW translation, I have marked it with /forward and backward slashes\.

BDouay Old Testament first published by the English College at Douay, A.D. 1609, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword.

C“Septuagint” Greek Old Testament, edited by Alfred Rahlfs. Published in 1935. As published on E-Sword.

DEnglish translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, 1851, “based upon the text of the Vaticanus” but not identical to the Vaticanus. As published electronically by E-Sword.

E1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published electronically by E-Sword.

FFrom the Wiki Hebrew Bible https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%94_%D7%90/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA.
DSS text comes from https://downloads.thewaytoyahuweh.com

GAquila, Symmachus, and “E” instead read επι αγονηματων (“for ignorances” - like the Vulgate and Targums). Theodotian, on the other hand, translated shigaion as εκουσιασμων (“for those who are willing”).

HCalvin understood this “prayer,” not as Habakkuk’s composition, but as a template for prayer revealed by the Holy Spirit. His own English editor disagreed, commenting in a footnote that the lamed preposition indicated that the prayer was “by” Habakkuk, just as it means “by David” in the Psalms.

Icf. Hab. 1:1 “The judgment-prophecy [המשׂא] which Habakkuk the prophet saw.” (NAW)
The superscription of Psalm 7:1 contains the only other comparable word in the Hebrew Old Testament (HOT), but there is is singular, whereas here it is plural.
Vulgate, Symmachus, Aquila, Calvin, and Targums, interpreted it in the sense of “erring” as “ignorance.” Targums read quite a lot into that one word rendering it, “[when it was revealed to him concerning the extension of time which he gives to the wicked, that if they return to the law with a perfect heart they shall be forgiven and all their sins which they have committed before him shall be] as sins of ignorance.” (Cathcart) But Keil noted that “such an assumption is opposed both to the use of shiggâyōn in the heading to Psalm 7, and also to the... other words [in the Psalms] introduced with ‛al.”
Calvin’s English Editor, Owen, commented, “Drusius has suggested, and adopted by Grotius, Marckius, and Henderson, and that is, that it refers to a peculiar metre, a kind of composition, which from its irregularity is called erratica cantio, an erratic verse... irregular ode; or, as it is in the margin of our Bibles, ‘According to variable songs.’” Pusey agreed, “set to music of psalms … expressive of strong emotion… dithyrambic… long measures are succeeded by very short.” Keil concurred, commenting, “[S]hâgâh, to err, then to reel to and fro, is applied to the giddiness both of intoxication and of love (Isa. 28:7; Prov. 20:1; 5:20), shiggâyōn signifies reeling, and in the terminology of poetry a reeling song, i.e., a song delivered in the greatest excitement, or with a rapid change of emotion... or ‘after the manner of a stormy, martial, and triumphal ode’ (Schmieder).”
Lehrman, however, followed Elijah of Wilna and Heidenheim in thinking that it meant that it was to be played on multiple instruments called shigayon, and Calvin found that theory attractive.

JAquila = εν τω ενγγιζειν τα ετη ζωωσον αυτο (“as the years of his living draw near”), Theodotian = εν μεσω ετων ζωωσον αυτον (“in the midst of the years of his living”), Symmachus = εντος των ενιαυτων αναζωωσον αυτον (“within the span of years of his living”), all of which correct the LXX toward the MT.

K“[T]he general sentiment, that the faithful were terrified at the report of God, would be frigid. It ought rather to be applied to the Prophecies which have been already explained...” ~J. Calvin
“The prophet owns the receipt of God's answer to his former representation...” ~M. Henry
“[T]he prophet expresses the feelings which the divine revelation of judgment described in ch. 1 and 2 had excited in his mind, and ought to excite in the congregation of believers...” ~ C.F. Keil

LVulgate, LXX, and Peshitta (followed by BHS notes, KJV, NASB, and ESV) all insert a conjunction here (“and”), but DSS and Targums support the MT without it (thus the NIV). Interestingly, the DSS (W.M.), although it supports the MT concerning the nonpresence of a conjunction, nevertheless inserts the letter vav (used for the conjunction when at the beginning of a word) later on in the word where it does not exist in the MT, perhaps making the word passive, but it doesn’t significantly change the meaning.

MMT Cantillation places disjunctive punctuation here, which the Vulgate, LXX, Peshitta, Targums, Geneva, KJV, and NASB observed, disallowing the interpretation which the NIV, NET, ESV, and NLT came up with of “I fear your work/deeds.”

Ncf. “the appointed time” in Hab. 2:3. Calvin (and Bengel) advanced the idea that this meant the middle age of the OT covenant people, between Abraham and Jesus, but even his English translator disagreed with him (as did Keil), positing what almost all other commentators say, that it refers to the “years of calamity” when the Jews were in Babylonian exile. Pusey added the application that “the years include all the long period of waiting for our Lord’s first Coming before He came in the Flesh; and now for His second Coming and the restitution of all things.” Keil, however, had a different interpretation: “[T]he prophet prays to the Lord that He will carry out this work of His ‘within years’ ... God would show mercy by softening the cruelty of the Chaldaeans... [and wrath] by accelerating their overthrow, and putting a speedy end to their tyranny.” This is a terribly limited view of wrath and mercy as well as a strange conception of speed.

OLXX & Peshitta render as indicative and passive (“you will be known”) but Vulgate (followed by English versions), renders imperative and active-causative (“make known”), but all the morphologists (Beal/Banks/Smith, Owens, OSHB, Westminster) agree that it is a Hiphil Imperfect (“you will make known”).

PRare noun found elsewhere in the HOT only in Job 3:17 & 26, 14:1, 37:2, 39:24, and Isa. 14:3, where it is translated “turmoil, rage, fear, trouble, thunder, roar, and excitement.” Nowhere do any of the English versions translate it “wrath” in any of those other settings. Its verbal form is more common, denoting shaking/quivering, often under the influence of a strong emotion like fear or anger.

QThis object is in an emphatic position.

RAmong the 2^nd C. Greek translators, Aquila, Symmachus, & E support “Teman,” while Theodotian supported “south.”

SAll the 2^nd Century Greek versions read instead with the proper name “Pharan.” As is often the case with an uncertainty in translation, the LXX set two words out to translate the name “Pharan.”

TAquila and Theodotian translated with the synonym ευπρεπειαν (“beauty”).

UAq. & Theod. translated with the synonym οικουμενη (“habitable world”).

VIn Deut. 33:2, the word is YHWH; here it is an unusual, singular form of “God.” Pusey raised the point that the singular sometimes refers to “Godhead,” but he dismissed any particular significance by declaring it “mostly a peculiarity of the book of Job; the other 16 cases are sporadic and in no one sense.”

WThe Aramaic and Latin versions translated this word “south,” which is its meaning in all but 10 verses in the Bible: it is the name of one of Esau’s sons in Genesis and Chronicles, and it is a city in Edom named after that prince in a quartet of prophecies against Edom by Amos (1:12), Jeremiah (49:7-22), Obadiah (1:9), and Ezekiel 25:12-14 “…Because of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended by avenging itself on them, therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘I will also stretch out My hand against Edom, cut off man and beast from it, and make it desolate from Teman; Dedan shall fall by the sword. I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, that they may do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance,’ says the Lord GOD.” (NKJV)

XMt. Paran is an ancient name for Mt. Sinai. The Sinai Peninsula is called the Wilderness of Paran in the book of Genesis (21:21). In Numbers (13:3,26) and Deuteronomy (1:1), it is the name of the area the Israelites went through to get from Egypt to the Promised Land, specifically past the wilderness of Sinai (Num. 10:12) and past Sinaitic Hazeroth (12:16). In Deut. 33:2, it is in parallel with Sinai and Seir (roughly the wilderness territory between Sinai and Edom, according to Easton’s Bible Dictionary). Pusey suggested it could instead be Mt. Serbal or Jebel Magrah, closer to the south of Israel, but then wrote, “Teman and Mount Paran are named probably, as the two opposed boundaries of the journeyings of Israel through the desert.” (They might be more precisely called the penultimate terminals on both sides of the journey.) Keil directly contradicted him by equating the two locations: “‘[F]rom Teman’ and ‘from the mountain of Paran’ are expressions denoting, not two starting-points, but simply two localities of one single starting-point for His appearance...”

YHere’s what commentators said about the SELAH when it first occurred in Psalm 3:
• Patrick: “…cannot be certainly known… omit this word”
• Calvin: “…denotes the lifting up of the voice in harmony...”
• Venema: elevation of the voice in singing the Psalm. (cf. Rabbi Kimchi)
• Wocher, Coxe: sursum corda — “up, my soul!”
• Altrug: repetition of the word immediately preceding.
• Mathewson: musical notation - perhaps “repeat.”
• Targums, Mishna, Aquila, Syriac: “forever”
• Augustine: “interval of silence”
• Ibn Ezra, Cohen: “pause”
• Alexander: “a pause in the sense as well as the performance"
• Luther: “silence”
• Herder: “change of note”
• Spurgeon: “re-tune the harps”
• Gesenius, Delitzsch: “Let the instruments play and the singers stop”
• Sommor: “trumpet blast” accompanies “appeal/summons to Jehovah”
• Plumer: “designed to fix the minds of the godly on the matter which has just been spoken of…
as well as to regulate the singing in such a manner as to make the music correspond to the … sentiment.”

ZSecond Century Greek versions corrected toward the MT with some form of the verb for hiding (-κρυπτ-) followed by the word for “strength” (‘ισχυ-). Here is an odd case where the meaning of the one Hebrew word for “strength” was not in question, but the LXX rendered it two different ways.

AAPusey considered this to be the “brightness... wherein God dwelleth… in inapproachable light.”

ABNET Bible’s translation, “He is as brilliant as…,” is faulty because “is” is feminine, not masculine.

ACUsually translated “horns,” this word is not translated “rays” anywhere else in English translations, but it makes sense. Calvin suggested it meant “power,” but his English translator disagreed, citing Drusius, Marckius, Newcome, and Henderson [and I might add Keil] in support of “rays.” Pusey refuted Keil’s (and Delitzsch’s) suggestion that “from His hand” could be interpreted “at His side.”

ADThere is a major disjunctive punctuation here in the MT. The question is, to what does “[belonging] to him” attach? All the English versions attach it to the first word in this verse (even though there are four intervening words) and translate it “His brightness/radiance/splendor.” NET adds the word “coming” and NASB, NIV, & ESV add the word “flashing.”

AELXX and Peshitta interpreted as though this were the verb “to put,” which is a possibility in the unpointed Hebrew text. Vulgate and Targums (followed by the English versions) interpreted it according to the MT pointing as “there.”

AFHapex Legomenon; its verb form חבה appears in Josh. 2:16, 1Ki. 22:25, 2Ki. 7:12, Isa. 26:20, and Jer. 49:10, where it is consistently translated “hide.” LXX read as though there were an aleph prefixed to the Hebrew word, changing it to “love.”

AGThe Hebrew word (before the 9^th century Masoretic pointing) can mean “word/message,” but here the 2^nd C. Greek versions corrected the LXX with words like “pestilence” (Aquila = λοιμος) and “death” (Theod. & E = θανατος).

AHSecond Century Greek versions corrected toward the MT with πτεινον (“winged bird”?).

AIAll the ancient versions except for the LXX and Aquila rendered this word as “death.” It is used in Exodus 9:3 to refer to one of the 10 plagues of Egypt upon the livestock, and in Lev., Num., & Deut. to refer to one of the most-advanced covenant curses. This curse actually came about during David’s reign in 2 Sam. 24:15 (cf. Psalm 78:50), and again when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem (Jer. 21:6-9, etc.). In Jeremiah and Ezekiel it is repeatedly paired with the “sword” and “famine” in the prophecies concerning the overthrow of Jerusalem, so it seems to be common to war.

AJRare word with a root meaning of “burning” (thus Targums “flame” and KJV “coals”), used in only two other places to describe sickness (Deut. 32:24 – covenant curses, and Psalm 78:48 – Plague on Egyptian cattle). The other instances in the HOT are Job 5:7 (“sparks”), Ps. 76:4 (“arrows”), and Cant. 8:6 (“flame”). Peshitta was way off with “bird of prey,” as was the LXX, which transposed the last two letters of the Hebrew word to get “treading,” ESV followed NASB with “plague,” NIV rendered “pestilence,” Calvin correlated it with the “lightening” on Mt. Sinai, but that is a different word. I prefer the rendering of Pusey, Keil, and NKJV = “fever.”

AKLiterally “to his feet” (the only other instance of this noun with the same preposition is Job 18:11 “Terrors frighten him on every side, And drive him to his feet.” ~NKJV) Pusey, Keil, NASB, NIV, and ESV interpret figuratively as “following,” but Calvin commented, “By ‘God’s feet,’ he then means his going forth or his presence; for I do not approve of what some have said, that ignited coals followed, when pestilence had preceded; for both clauses are given in the same way,” and M. Henry agreed, “...at his feet, that is, at his coming, for they are at his command...”

ALVulgate, Peshitta, Rashi, Kimchi, Calvin, Geneva, KJV, and ESV interpreted it as from the Hebrew word “to measure” (thus the NASB “surveyed”), but NIV, AJV, NET, and NLT followed Keil, Delitzsch, Gesenius, the Targums, and LXX which invented a meaning “to shake” (perhaps based on an adaptation of מעד) found nowhere else in the Bible (and surprisingly accepted in the BDB and Holladay lexicons as a hapex legomenon – but Davidson expressed skepticism of that theory in his lexicon). Isaiah 40:12 has the same consonantal spelling (but different Masoretic pointing) for this verb, plus three more key words found in this passage, so it is worth considering for comparison, and there the concept of measurement is central. (Isaiah 40:12 “Who has spanned[measured] the waters with His palm, and with the arm measured [תִּכֵּן] the heavens, held in a bucket the dust of the earth; and weighed the mountains in the scale and the hills in balances?” ~NAW) “Shaking” however, is supported by other passages of scripture and would be more parallel to the idea of “springing/dislodging” nations. Calvin criticized the Jewish tradition that this refers to the “standing” of the ark of the Covenant in Gilead and the subsequent survey of Canaan that resulted in the allocation of land for the 12 tribes. He noted instead that “measuring” land in order to allot it to national parties was the prerogative of a sovereign king, and that eretz here must mean the whole “earth,” not just the “land” of Israel. Keil’s objection to “measured” due to there being “no thought of any measuring of the earth and it cannot be shown that madad is used in the sense of measuring with the eye” seems weak to me.

AMTargums = flooded (Cathcart), Bauschner’s rendering of Peshitta was “falsified,” but Lamsa’s was “drove asunder” (suspiciously identical to the KJV). Vulgate and LXX, however rendered it “melted.” Contemporary versions translated it “shook/made tremble/startled.” It is in the Hiphil stem here, as it is in all but two of the other occurrences of this word in the Bible: Lev. 11:21 (“feet to leap” Piel), 2 Sam. 22:33 (“makes perfect”), Job 6:9 (“let loose his hand”), 37:1 (“heart leaps” Qal), Ps. 105:20 (“released” ), 146:7 (“free the prisoners”), Isa. 58:6 (“spring the yoke”).
Note Hab. 1:5 has both “see” and “nations.” Ibn Ezra envisioned the “nations” as being the “hills” which “leap in terror” at a mere “glance” from God.

ANThis word only occurs two other places in the HOT: Job 16:12 (where Job says God grabbed him by the neck and shook him to pieces) and Jeremiah 23:29 (“Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock [‎סָלַע] in pieces?” ~NKJV) Westminster Morphology labels this as being in the Qal Passive stem.

AONowhere else in the HOT are “mountains” described as eternal (neither עַד nor ‎עוֹלָם).

APThe only other place that these “perpetual hills” show up in the HOT is in the blessings of Jacob and of Moses upon Joseph and his tribe in Gen. 49:26 and Deut. 33:15.
Pusey’s suggestion, following St. Bern, that these “hills” were penitent nations which “bow... under the yoke of Christ” instead of being “shattered” like the mountains seems unlikely, considering the nature of Hebrew Parallelism which would normally equate the “mountains” with the “hills.”

AQThis word for “goings” only occurs a few other places in the HOT besides here: Job 6:19 (“travellers from Sheba”), Ps. 68:25 (“sanctuary procession” – which Keil made much of), Prov. 31:27 (“the ways of her house”), and Nah. 2:6 (“nobles stumble on their way [to battle]”), so it is not a technical term used throughout the Bible (the LXX translation does not occur in the NT either).