Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 6 July 2025
Omitting greyed-out sections should reduce presentation time down to around 40 minutes.
In Chapter 3, Habakkuk is responding in prayer and worship to God’s promises to punish evil in Israel and in Babylon and to God’s promise that those who are made right with Him will live by faith.
At the beginning of Habakkuk’s prayer in chapter 3, he remembers God’s past deliverances of His people from danger and God’s past demonstrations of His presence with – and revelations of His glory to – His people.
And in verse 5, Habakkuk switches from remembering God’s past deliverances of His people, to remembering God’s past judgments upon those who were not His people – namely against Egypt in Exodus, and against Cushan-Rishathaim and Midian in the book of Judges.
Verses 9-16 continue down that path.
Please
follow along in your Bible as I read my translation of Habakkuk
3:8-15:
“Was it with the rivers that Yahweh was incensed -
whether Your anger was at the rivers, or whether Your venting was at
the sea - when You rode Your vehicles of salvation on Your horses?
Your bow was raised up, uncovered; the oaths of the tribes of lore.
SELAH.
You split open the earth
into
rivers. The mountains saw You; they churned. Storm waters swept by.
The deep gave out its sound; it lifted high its waves. The sun came
to a standstill in heaven – as did the moon. At the light of Your
arrows they proceeded – at the brightness of the lightning-bolt of
Your spear. In rage You stepped into the earth, in anger You
threshed nations. You went forth for the salvation of Your people –
to save Your anointed one. You struck through the head from the
house of the wicked one, You stripped him bare, bottom to neck.
SELAH.
You had designated by name his distinguished head among
his tribes. They had stormed in to scatter me. Their exuberance was
like that of devouring a lowly man in their hideout. You stepped
into the sea [with] your horses; great waters became a clump.”
Habakkuk is really dramatic here in recalling events in the past where God intervened to save His people. The good news of God’s salvation is a dramatic story, one we need to remember and to share.
Verse nine consists of three phrases, each three words long in Hebrew, the last two divided by a Selah/pause.
The first phrase in Hebrew reads literally, “Nakedness, Your archery-bow will be aroused.” That gets translated a lot of different ways into English.
The two ideas of “stripping down” and of “readying the bow for shooting” are both there1, (although nowhere else in the Bible is “bareness/nakedness” associated with a “bow”).
There aren’t any events in Biblical history prior to Habakkuk associated with God having a “bow” and arrows, but
David does refer to God’s justice against David’s enemies in a general way using this metaphor in Psalm 7:12-13 “God is one who judges righteously, and God is one who pronounces curses [זֹעֵם] during every day. Since He does not turn back, He will whet His sword; He will bend His bow and set it at the ready. And for His use He set at the ready deadly weapons – He worked up His arrows [חִצָּי] for those in hot pursuit.” (NAW)
That also reflects what God had said in the covenant curses against Israel itself in Deuteronomy 32:23 if they were to break His covenant: “I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows [חִצַּי] on them.” (NKJV)
The Hebrew of the second phrase in v.9 literally reads “fulnesses, rods, speech” – three nouns in a row without any verb, so translators throughout history have had to scramble to put that together: “fulnesses, rods, speech.” Nowhere else in the Bible do even two of these three words occur together in the same verse.
Part of the challenge is that, in Hebrew, the word for “tribes” is the same as the word for “rods,” and the word for “oaths” is the same as the word for “seventy” or “a full amount,” so there is room for a variety of translations.
The NASB (and AJV & NKJV) went with “The rods [of chastisement] were sworn,” as in, God was dedicating certain instruments – in this case the Chaldean army – to use as a means of disciplining His people,
much as a babysitter might ask permission from a child’s parents to spank a very unruly child.
I think that translation makes good sense, but the downsides are that it turns the Hebrew noun for “oaths” into a verb and ignores the third noun concerning “speech.”
Most contemporary versions followed the Peshitta and the NIV with “You called for many arrows2,” which also makes sense, but they have to change all three of the Hebrew words to get that translation, the most significant being that Hebrew word for “rods/tribes” is never used to denote “arrows3” anywhere else in the other 250 times it occurs in the Bible4.
I think the best translation is the traditional one. The KJV followed the Targums5 and Vulgate to the effect: “...take up thy bow: [according to the] oaths of the lore,”
basically saying that God will have to punish the Jews for their disobedience, according to the covenant curses He had enumerated at the end of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
This does not require changing the meanings of any of Habakkuk’s words, even though it does require adding a preposition to the beginning.
But, whether you go with “The rods of chastisement were sworn out,” or “You called for many arrows,” or “According to the oaths of lore,” all the English translations of this passage in Habakkuk get at the same point that God is being purposeful as He prepares to punish His people.
The third and final phrase in v.9 is “You cleave the earth into rivers”
There are three passages in the Bible where this same verb for “cleave” is used to describe God parting the Red Sea and the Jordan River (Isa. 63:12-13, Psalm 74:12-15, and Neh. 9:11), but here it is not rivers being divided but the earth that is being broken open into rivers, so most folks consider that to be referring to when Moses struck the rock in the wilderness so that water poured out of it. Psalm 78:15-16 “He split the rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink in abundance like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers.” (NKJV, cf. Psalm 105:41, Micah 1:4)
God brings down the wicked and raises up new leaders. He is already preparing the next steps in world justice that He has planned, including saving and refining His own people as well as catastrophe against the wicked, like He did at Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea.
And we see in...
One look at their Divine Creator and the “mountains churn/writhe/quake/tremble” – as they did on many occasions that God brought judgments upon the earth.
Judges 5:5 “The mountains gushed before the LORD... Sinai, before the LORD God of Israel.” (NKJV)
Nahum 1:5 “The mountains bucked away from Him, and the hills dissolved. The very earth heaves away from His face, indeed the world and all the inhabitants in it!” (NAW)
Habakkuk 3:6 “He stood and measured the earth. He looked and undid nations. Even the longstanding mountains were broken to bits; the everlasting hills sagged low. The ways that are everlasting belong to Him.” (NAW, cf. Jer. 4:22-29)
One look at their Divine Creator, and the “overflowing/downpour/torrents of/raging/storm waters sweep through,” “roaring” and “lifting high its hands/waves.”
This language matches the Biblical descriptions of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan River6:
Exodus 14:22 “So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” (NKJV)
Joshua 4:23 "for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over,” (NKJV)
Psalm 78:13 “He divided the sea and caused them to pass through; And He made the waters stand up like a heap.” (NKJV)
Isaiah 51:10 “Were you not the one that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep – the one that set a way (in the) depths of the sea for the redeemed ones to pass over?” (NAW)
But there are also passages that speak of God’s sovereignty over the waters at other times of judgment, such as: Psalm 98:7-9 “Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell in it; Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the LORD, For He is coming to judge the earth...” (NKJV7)
God uses earthquakes and floods in His judgments; mountains and seas do His bidding.
The final phrase in v. 10 pictures the “deep” water “lifting its hands high” – and the NIV interprets its “hands” as “waves.” When I looked for what it means in the Bible to lift up – not just one hand but – both hands, I noticed an interesting pattern: here are all five times in the Bible that Habakkuk’s words for “lift up” and “hands” (plural) occur:
Lev. 9:22 “...Aaron raised his hands toward the people and prayed-blessing over them…” (NAW)
Psalm 28:2 “Give heed to the voice of my supplication while I am crying out to You, while I am raising my hands...” (NAW)
Psalm 134:2 “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the LORD.” (NKJV)
Luke 24:50 “...[Jesus] lifted up His hands8 and blessed them… and [then He was] carried up into heaven.” (NKJV)
1 Tim. 2:8 “I desire... that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands…” (NKJV)
The pattern is unmistakable; “lifting up hands” is an outward action of prayer – the deep water is praising God in (its own way) even as it rushes forth to execute the destructive judgment commanded by its divine Maker! And then...
As Habakkuk’s mind runs along this theme of God’s sovereignty, he realizes that, not only the “earth” and “seas” but also the heavens operate under the authority of our God.
He remembers how God stopped the sun and the moon in the midst of where they were supposed to be in the sky at Joshua’s request.
How did God do that? Did He stop the earth’s rotation? That would have caused all sorts of mayhem to our geology. Really, the more we know scientifically the more awesome we realize that miracle was!
There are only two verbs in v.11; they are the basic Hebrew verbs for “stand” and “go,” and their meanings are dramatically opposite. Modern English translations use more complicated words to translate that second verb like “went away,” “flying” and “sped” but the idea is very simple, that God made the sun and moon “stand still,” and then he made them “go” again.
And that is utterly astounding! Who has the power and authority to signal two octillion tons of ten thousand degree Sun-Helium hurtling at five hundred thousand miles per hour through space to stop immediately on command… and then make this object (which is 300,000 times the size of the earth) just take off again at mach 600... That is so stupid big and so stupid fast I cannot comprehend it! But apparently God can, because it’s right there in the book of Joshua chapter 109! And Habakkuk says you’d better remember that, next time somebody is mean to you and you wonder whether God can hold that mean person accountable! Yeah, if He can stop the entire solar system in its tracks for half a day, I reckon He can do anything!
What was the signal which God used to stop the world? Habakkuk says it was “the light/glint of [God’s] arrows” and “the shining/lightning/flash/radiance/brightness of [God’s] glittering/ gleaming/flashing/lightning-bolt spear.”
These words for “bright/shining/radiance” and “glittering/flashing/lightening” are frequently associated with God’s presence in the Bible, for instance:
we see it in the “rays flashing from God’s hand” in Habakkuk 3:4,
in the “lightning” on Mt. Sinai when God came down in Exodus 19:16,
and in Ezekiel’s vision of heaven in Ezekiel chapter one.
We also see these words in the accounts of Israel’s crossing the Red Sea10 in Psalms, like Psalm 18:6-15 “Out of the brightness corresponding to Him, His storm-clouds passed hail-stones 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, cf. 77:18)
And we see the same words in God’s promises to defend His covenant people against their enemies in places like Deut. 32:39-43 “...there is no God besides Me… My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, And repay those who hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood... Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.” (NKJV, cf. Ps. 144:6)
God’s agents of light – sun, moon, stars, lightening – all of them await His command to do His bidding to save those He loves and to punish those He condemns in judgment. (Job 36:29-31 “...the spreading of clouds, The thunder from His canopy… Look, He scatters His light upon it, And covers the depths of the sea. For by these He judges the peoples…” ~NKJV) All these mighty things and more are at the disposal of our holy God who loves us. His mere presence is light and is enough to signal the sun and moon to stand still or to go ahead.
Nothing is safer than being in God’s hands, even when it feels very vulnerable because of the way so many evil men rage against God and His people. But if God ‘has your back,’ there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of – not creepy men, not sinister conspirisists, not nuclear bombs, not all the demons of hell; you are safe in His hands.
Now Habakkuk turns from considering God’s instruments of judgment to consider God’s motivation for judgment.
By placing the words for “rage/fury/wrath/indignation” and “anger” first in the Hebrew phrases of v.12, Habakkuk emphasizes this emotion of anger which motivates God to follow through with justice.
Evil upsets our God. He is not like the implacable Buddha which nothing can disturb.
Yahweh gets mad when people sin, and that’s a good thing because His rage insures that He will do something about injustice.
Political theorists say that rage is the most effective emotion to stir up in a voting body if you want them to get out and vote. That’s why they do so much ‘mud-slinging’ in election campaigns: They want you to get you hopping mad so that you will not be indifferent on the issues, but will vote.
God’s wrath insures that He will not ignore injustice but will deal out justice with enthusiasm.
It was “anger” and “indignation” which carried God’s justice out in the 10 Plagues against Egypt’s oppression of the Hebrews, according to Psalm 78:49-51 “He cast on them the fierceness of His anger, Wrath, indignation, and trouble, By sending angels of destruction… He... gave their life over to the plague, And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt…” (NKJV)11
It was God’s “rage” and “anger” which motivated Him to destroy the oppressive Assyrian empire in Nahum 1:6 “Who will stand before His rage? And who will rise up during the fierceness of His anger? His fury is rained down like fire...” (NAW)
And it was God’s “anger” and “fury” which would motivate God to “cut off” idolatry in Micah 5:15 “...I will cut off witchcrafts from your hand, and fortune-tellers… And I will cut off your idols… Indeed, I will uproot your Asherim from your midst when I destroy your cities. Thus will I execute vengeance in anger and in fury...” (NAW)
According to 1 Peter 4:17 “judgment begins at the house of God” So, God’s wrath against evil begins against the wickedness among His own people (e.g. Zeph. 3:7-8), but then it goes after all the rest of the bad guys in the world (e.g. Mic. 4:12-13).
God expressed His “wrath” and “anger” against Israel for their unfaithfulness to Him and send them into exile in Babylon, but then restored Israel and turned His wrath against Babylon and the other nations that oppressed them.
For instance, Isaiah 28:26-28, Isaiah says that God “disciplines him [Israel] toward justice; his GOD teaches him... He will thresh him - although not to be threshed for always...” and then in Isaiah 25:9-10 “...This is Yahweh; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation. For the hand of Yahweh will settle down on this mountain, and Moab will be threshed under it, as straw is trampled down in muddy water.” (NAW12)
For those of you who aren’t agriculturalists, remember that threshing is the process of volently crushing grain stalks and heads to separate the grain seeds from all the straw and chaff that is on the plant.
In verses 13-15, Habakkuk really highlights the drama of God’s justice and salvation:
In the first phrase of v.13, “people” is in parallel with “anointed13” – so they are probably referring to the same entity – the “people” of God which have received the “anointing” of God’s Holy Spirit and which are in mystical union with Jesus the Messiah through God’s love, “salvation” and inheritance (Eph. 1:3-14).
It is for this people that God “went forth” from His heavenly throne as a king unto battle, in order to save them. Jesus came to earth in humility 600 years after Habakkuk “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), and Jesus will come again in the future “in glory” (Col. 3:4) to finish the job.
All the poetic imagery which Habakkuk has marshaled in chapter 3 describes times when God intervened in earth history to punish evil and to save the Jews, but it also points us to the larger picture of God’s character throughout all the rest of history to intervene for justice and salvation on behalf of His church. (Isa. 51:5)
There are only three other passages in the Bible which contain the phrase “smite through” and “head,” and they are:
Judges 5:26 When Jael drove a tent peg through the head of the Canaanite general Sisera while he was sleeping. “She stretched her hand to the tent peg, Her right hand to the workmen's hammer; She pounded Sisera, she pierced his head, She split and struck through his temple.” (NKJV)
and in the prophecies of future judgments against wicked world leaders in the Psalms:
Psalm 68:21 “But God will wound [strike through] the head of His enemies, The hairy scalp of the one who still goes on in His trespasses.” (NKJV)
Psalm 110:4-6 “...The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute [strike through] kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute [strike through] the heads of many countries.” (NKJV)
The “house of the wicked/evil one” (which the NIV mistakenly translates “land of the wicked”) designates the world system which stands in rebellion against God.14
The “wicked one” is singular, and is reminiscent of the way the phrase “the Evil One” so often refers to “Satan” in the New Testament15.
By knocking out the “head” of the “house of evil,” God will secure victory against the entire system of wickedness.
We do not live in a dualistic universe where evil cannot be eliminated because evil always has to exist in tension with good. NO! God will follow through on the promise He made to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15 that He will “crush16 the head” of the serpent. He will deal with the ringleader of the world’s evil, “cast[ing him] into the lake of fire… for ever,” as it says in Revelation 20:10.
The final phrase in v.13 gets translated in a variety of ways. I think it is a picture of what happens after the bad guy falls in battle: The victorious warrior comes up to take a good look at his mortally-wounded enemy to make sure that the bad guy will never hurt anybody else again. That may involve a coup de grâce to put the foe out of his misery, or, I think more likely, taking all his clothes and valuables - “stripping him from [head] to [toe]” - so that he passes away in shame and poverty.17
Verse 13 is the perfect plot of every film in the “Western” genre; the bad guy is harming the people, so the good guy swoops in and saves the people by killing the bad guy and putting him to shame.
That is worth writing songs about:
all the old Western movies had a ballad-song that told their story, right?
Habakkuk is doing it here too – this whole chapter was written to be sung in church!
Moses did it too in Exodus 15:2 “The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him.” (NKJV)
Sing songs about Jesus saving you; it’s the greatest story there is!
Now, part of the drama in every Western is the intensity of the threat against the good guys. The worse the bad guy is, the better the story when the good guys win!
Most English translations render the beginning of v.14 “Thou didst strike through/pierce with his own spears/arrows/staves the head of his throngs/warriors/villages,” and this is consistent with they way they handle v.9 with God “calling for many arrows” and certainly with v.13 where God “strikes the head of the house of evil.”
I would like to mention, however that the first two words in v. 14 have other dictionary meanings, and those other meanings are the meanings generally accepted in the only other verse in the Bible which contains those same two words at the opening of Habakkuk 3:14. In 1 Chronicles 12:31 the Israelites are gathering together to crown David king after Saul died, and there the Hebrew word for “spears/arrows” goes by its other dictionary meaning of “tribe,” and the word for “pierce” goes by its other dictionary meaning of “designate by name,” so 1 Chronicles 12:31 reads “...the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand... designated by name to come and make David king.” Now, if we plug those word meanings into Habakkuk 3:14, we get, “You had designated by name his distinguished head among his tribes.” The “him” then in v.14, could be the “anointed one” from v.13 instead of the “evil one.”
Because of the poetic nature of Habakkuk’s song, it’s okay if we see different possible scenarios of interpretation as long as we are using Scripture to make informed guesses.
The picture that this passage forms in my mind, informed by the rest of scripture, is that of Israel escaping from Egypt.
God had “struck” dead the firstborn of every Egyptian “household,” including that of Pharaoh, and the Israelites had hurried out of Egypt,
now they were trapped at the edge of the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army of “noblemen” on horses and chariots hemming them in from behind. It looked like God’s people were about to get massacred.
But God “set apart” Moses to lead the “tribes” of Israel, and God “divided the waters of the sea” and made the water “heap up” and congeal, creating an unexpected new dry-land escape-route for the people of Israel! So they start getting away across the ocean floor.
The Egyptians, however, decided to “storm in and scatter” and “devour” the Israelites, so in they went on their chariots, but God let loose with the water and drowned them, and so God’s people were saved.
Another iteration of this drama of salvation was unfolding in Habakkuk’s time:
Israel was now safely in the Promised Land, but God had warned the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4:25-27 “When y'all... make carved idols of everything and do what is evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God and make Him angry... Yahweh will scatter y'all among the peoples, and y'all will be left few in number among the nations into which Yahweh will drive you.” (NAW, cf. 28:64, Neh. 1:8, Ezek. 20:23)
And now they Israelites had done the very thing God had warned them against18,
so Habakkuk knows that the Chaldean army is coming after his people and that his people deserve it and that it is God’s will that they be scattered. (Imagine the anxiety of knowing your country is about to be invaded!) Habakkuk had to cling to the promise of God’s word that He will preserve a remnant, that He will one day put a descendant on the throne of David who will reign forever, that God will crush the head of the serpent, that through the seed of Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed. Habakkuk sees no earthly way for all these promises to come true, so he clings to what he knows to be true from history that God arranges dramatic salvations, and that God will do it again somehow, and so God can be trusted, no matter how scary the circumstances are shaping up to be.
In Habakkuk 1:8, we saw that the enemy Chaldeans had horses, but in Habakkuk 3:8 we see that God also has “horses,” and that God’s horses are harnessed to “chariots of salvation.”
When Habakkuk mentions God’s “horses” again here (seven verses later), we should remember that God’s “horses” are a metaphor for the mind-boggling “horsepower” (as it were) by which God is capable of stopping the solar system in its tracks for a day. All that “horsepower” is at God’s beck and call to power His “vehicles of salvation” to rescue the people He loves.
In the case of the crossing of the Red Sea and of the Jordan River, which seem to be recalled repeatedly by Habakkuk in chapter 3, God’s power heaped up a stupendous tonnage of normally-unstable water into a stable “clot” in the middle of the sea (and in the middle of a major river at flood season), to provide a way for His people to escape from being destroyed by their enemies.
Now, if you can believe that, you can believe 1 Corinthians 10:13 “...God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tested above what you are able, but rather He will make together with the test also the way out for the ability to undergo [it].”
Most English versions don’t connect the “heaping of the mighty waters” in v.15 with the crossings of the Red Sea and the Jordan River19, but
the problems with translating “with your horses” as a parallel phrase to “in the mud/through the heap/on the surge of many waters” (as the Targums, Vulgate, King James, and New American Standard Bibles did),
and likewise the problems with translating “churning/surging great waters” as a parallel phrase with “You trampled on the sea” (as the LXX, Peshitta, NIV and ESV did),
is that they require adding or changing a word in the Hebrew text AND they provide no resolution to the story, before Habakkuk changes the subject in v.16. (The way most English versions read, the story ends in verses 15-16 with God charging into the fray and Habakkuk being afraid.)
I would like to suggest that the last phrase of v.15 can be interpreted as consequence of God’s charging “into the sea,” namely that the “great waters” of the Red Sea (and also of the Jordan River) became a “clump.”
And let me mention in passing that “clump” is a much better translation than “surge” or “churn,”20
and it matches Exodus 15:8 “And with the blast of Your nostrils The waters were gathered together; The floods stood upright like a heap [נד]; The depths congealed in the heart of the sea.” (NKJV, cf. Ps. 77:19-20)
Interpreting the last phrase of v.15 in terms of God parting the waters for Israel ends Habakkuk’s song more conclusively with the way of salvation by revealed by God’s intervention on behalf of His people.
By the way, God’s “horses” show up again in Revelation chapter 19, “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war... He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron…” (Rev. 19:11-15, NKJV) That’s Jesus! He will ever be the one who saves us and who judges evil. It is this dramatic vision of His salvation which we must keep before our minds if we are going to overcome the world by our faith.
Do you see the importance of remembering the drama of God’s salvation? It strengthens our faith to trust God in the midst of our circumstances, it helps us see where we are in history, and it gives us a story to tell others so that they might believe and be saved too. May God give you faith to embrace His dramatic story of salvation and may God give you the words to communicate the drama of His salvation to others21.
DouayB (Vulgate) |
LXXC |
BrentonD (Vaticanus) |
KJVE |
NAW |
Masoretic HebrewF |
8 Wast thou angry, O Lord, with the rivers? or was thy wrath upon the rivers? or thy indignation in the sea? Who will ride upon thy horses: [and] thy chariots are salvation. |
8 μὴ ἐν ποταμοῖς ὠργίσθης, κύριε, ἢ ἐν ποταμοῖς ὁ θυμός σου, ἢ ἐν θαλάσσῃ τὸ ὅρμημά σου; ὅτι ἐπιβήσῃ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἵππους σου, [καὶ] ἡ ἱππασία σου σωτηρία. |
8 Wast thou angry, O Lord, with the rivers? or was thy wrath against the rivers, or thine anger against the sea? for thou wilt mount on thine horses, [and] thy chariots are salvation. |
8
Was the LORD displeased
against the rivers? |
8 Was it with the rivers that Yahweh was incensed - whether Your anger was at the rivers, or whether Your venting was at the sea - when You rode Your vehicles of salvation on Your horses? |
(ח)הֲבִנְהָרִים חָרָה יְהוָה אִםG בַּנְּהָרִים אַפֶּךָ אִם בַּיָּםH עֶבְרָתֶךָI כִּיJ תִרְכַּב עַל סוּסֶיךָ Kמַרְכְּבֹתֶיךָ יְשׁוּעָה. |
9 Thou wilt surely take up thy bow: [according to the] oaths [which] thou hast spoken [to the] tribes. X Thou wilt divide the rivers [of] the earth. |
9
|
9
Surely thou didst |
9
Thy bow |
9 Your bow was raised up, uncovered; the oaths of the tribes of lore SELAH. You split open the earth into rivers. |
(ט) עֶרְיָה תֵעוֹרM קַשְׁתֶּךָ שְׁבֻעוֹתN מַטּוֹתO אֹמֶרP סֶלָה נְהָרוֹת תְּבַקַּע אָרֶץ. |
10
The mountains saw thee, [and] were
grieved: the great body
of waters passed away. The deep put forth its voice: |
10
ὄψονταί σε [καὶ]
ὠδινήσουσιν
|
10
The |
10 The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. |
10 The mountains saw You; they churned. Storm waters swept by. The deep gave out its sound; it lifted high its waves. |
(י) רָאוּךָ יָחִילוּR הָרִים זֶרֶםS מַיִם עָבָרT נָתַן תְּהוֹם קוֹלוֹ רוֹםU יָדֵיהוּ נָשָׂא. |
11
The sun [and]
the moon stood still in
|
11 ἐπήρθηW ὁ ἥλιος, καὶ ἡ σελήνη ἔστη ἐν τῇ τάξειX αὐτῆς· εἰς φῶς βολίδες σου πορεύσονται, εἰς φέγγος ἀστραπῆς ὅπλωνY σου. |
11 The sun [was exalted, and] the moon stood still in her course: thy dartsZ shall go forth at the light, at the brightness of the gleaming of thine arm[s]. |
11
The sun and
moon stood still in
|
11 The sun came to a standstill in heaven – as did the moon. At the light of Your arrows they proceeded – at the brightness of the lightning-bolt of Your spear. |
(יא) שֶׁמֶשׁ יָרֵחַ עָמַד זְבֻלָהAA לְאוֹר חִצֶּיךָ יְהַלֵּכוּ לְנֹגַהּ בְּרַק חֲנִיתֶךָAB. |
12 In [thy] anger thou wilt tread the earth under foot: in thy wrath thou wilt astonish the nations. |
12
ἐν ACἀπειλῇ
|
12
Thou wilt
|
12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. |
12 In rage You stepped into the earth, in anger You threshed nations. |
|
13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people: for salvation with thy Christ. Thou struckest the head of the house of the wicked: thou hast laid bare his foundation even to the neck. X |
13
ἐξῆλθες εἰς σωτηρίαν
λαοῦ σου τοῦ σῶσαι
AHτοὺς
χριστ |
13
Thou wentest forth for the salvation
of thy people, to save thine anointed: thou shalt
bring |
13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. |
13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people – to save Your anointed one. You struck through the head from the house of the wicked one, You stripped him bare, bottom to neck. SELAH. |
(יג) יָצָאתָ לְיֵשַׁע עַמֶּךָ לְיֵשַׁע אֶתAO מְשִׁיחֶךָ מָחַצְתָּAP רֹּאשׁ מִבֵּית רָשָׁע עָרוֹת יְסוֹד עַד צַוָּאר סֶלָה. |
14 Thou hast cursed his sceptres, the head of his warriors, them that came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their joy was like that of him that devoureth the poor man in secret. |
14
διέκοψαςAQ
ἐν |
14
Thou didst
cut
asunder
the head[s]
of princes
with |
14
Thou didst
strike
through
with his staves
the head of his villages:
they
came out as a whirlwind to
scatter me: their rejoicing
was as
to devour the poor X secret |
14 You had designated by name his distinguished head among his tribes. They had stormed in to scatter me. Their exuberance was like that of devouring a lowly man in their hideout. |
(יד) נָקַבְתָּ בְמַטָּיוAY רֹאשׁAZ פְּרָזוֹBA יִסְעֲרוּBB לַהֲפִיצֵנִי BCעֲלִיצֻתָם כְּמוֹ לֶאֱכֹל עָנִי BDבַּמִּסְתָּר. |
15
Thou |
15
[καὶ]
BE |
15
[And]
thou dost |
15 Thou didst walk through the sea [with] thine horses, through the heap of great waters. |
15 You stepped into the sea [with] your horses; great waters became a clump. |
(טו) דָּרַכְתָּ בַיָּם סוּסֶיךָ חֹמֶרBF מַיִם רַבִּים. |
1Lehrman: “The bow is bared of its cover when it is put to use. The simile is of the flashing thunderbolts which God hurls upon the earth to herald His coming (Ibn. Ezra).” In my other sermons on Habakkuk, I incorporated comments from the commentaries of Calvin, Henry, Pusey, Keil and Firth, but I did not have time to do so with this sermon.
2Cf. Peshitta “the arrows will be filled with [your] glorious Word”
3See Psalm 7 and Deut. 32 above, as well as Hab. 3:11 for the regular Hebrew word for “arrows.”
4The other two changes involve turning turning the noun for “speech” into a verb (from a completely different Hebrew root): “you called for” (Habakkuk’s word is אֹמֶר, but the Hebrew word for “call” is קרה.), and changing the noun for “fullness” into the adjective “many,” which is also from a completely different Hebrew root. (The Hebrew word Habakkuk used is שְׁבֻעוֹת, but the Hebrew word for “many” in this case would have been רבים.)
5Lehrman affirmed that this was an “unsolved enigma” but that “classic Jewish exegetes” supported the Targum’s interpretation.
6Lehrman quoted Kimchi attributing this verse in Habakkuk to “when the waters of the Jordan were split… The heap of waters of the Jordan are pictured as uplifted hands.”
7See also Psalms 93:1-3, 77:11-16, Isa. 28:1-2, and Ezek. 27:15-20.
8The traditional Greek translation of Habakkuk got garbled, changing “hands” to “form,” so it can’t be used for comparison, but this New Testament Greek passage does use the standard Greek word for “hands.”
9Joshua 10:12-13 “Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: ‘Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.’ So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, Till the people had revenge Upon their enemies…. and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day." (NKJV)
10Kimchi and Abarbanel saw it as figurative of the hailstones the God cast down upon the Canaanites in the war against the Gibeonites in Joshua 10:11.
11The word Habakkuk used for “march/step” also appears in Judges 5:4-5 & Psalm 68:7 in the context of God’s presence with the Hebrews through their wilderness wanderings between Egypt and Canaan.
12See also Isa. 10:5 & 25, 41:15, Jer. 51:33.
13cf. Psalm 20:6 “Now I know that Yahweh causes to save His anointed one; He will answer him from the heavens of His holiness with the saving mightinesses of His right hand.” and 28:8 “Yahweh is the strength of His people, and He is the source of strength behind the salvations of His anointed one. (NAW)
14Prov. 14:11 “The house of the wicked will be overthrown, But the tent of the upright will flourish.” Prov. 3:33 “The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the just.” Prov. 21:12 “The righteous God wisely considers the house of the wicked, Overthrowing the wicked for their wickedness.” (NKJV) Micah 6:10 “Is there still a house of a wicked man, treasuries of wickedness, or an upsettingly-short-changed bushel?” (NAW)
15Mat. 5:37, 6:13, 13:19, 13:38, Luke 11:4, John 17:15, Eph. 6:16, 2 Thess. 3:3, 1 John 2:13-14, 3:12, 5:18-19.
16שׁוּף, a synonym to Habakkuk’s verb נקב.
17Lehrman, following Kimchi, on the other hand saw this as a “house from which the top has been struck away (Amos 9:1)… The house will be completely demolished, so that the foundations are exposed.” This might correlate with Micah 1:6 except that Micah’s prophecy was against Samaria whereas Habakkuk is prophesying against Jerusalem and Babylon.
18Cf. prophecies in Jer. 9:13-16, 13:24, 18:17, Zech. 13:7, Ezek. 12:15, 22:15, 28:25. Indeed the “scattering” did come in 2 Kings 25:5, Zech. 7:14, and Ezek. 36:19.
19And, while it is true that Habakkuk’s word for “heap/surge/churn” does not appear in the history passages describing those events, Exodus 15:8 uses the synonymous noun נד (“heap”) and the synonymous verb קפאו (“clot/congeal”). Jewish tradition (incl. Kimchi) also has it that the crossings of the Red Sea and of the Jordan River are the subject of Habakkuk here.
20Of the 30 instances in the HOT (besides Hab. 3:13) of this word, all describe either clumps of clay or units of processed grain, the only exceptions being “piles” of dead animals in Exodus 8:14 and Num. 11:32.
21For another example of telling the story of salvation dramatically using Habakkuk’s vocabulary, consider 2 Sam. 22:10-17.
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 and/or ancient versions support a divergence from the MT, I have
highlighted with
yellow the versions and their translations into English, and
where I have accepted that divergence 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
GNASB followed the LXX, Vulgate, and Targums in interpreting this Hebrew particle as a conjunction (“or”), but this not a primary meaning of this particle. (It is usually translated “if” or “indeed,” and sometimes “whether.”) KJV, NIV, and ESV followed the Peshitta in dropping this word out entirely, but the one legible DSS supports the MT (W.M. supports the second ‘im explicitly, and the first ‘im implicitly in an illegible spot which is just the right size for this word). Cathcart suggested “indeed,” but it seems most unlikely that God’s anger was ever actually directed against His own inanimate creation. How one interprets this word is related to how one interprets the ki later in the verse – whether temporally (“when”) or causatively (“that/because”).
HAlthough there is no other verse in the HOT which combines any of these three words for “anger” with the word for “rivers,” the root of one of these three words for “anger” – aph – which literally means “nostrils” – is used in Exod. 15:8 and 2 Sam. 22:16 with the word for “sea” in a description of the “blast of breath from [God’s] nostrils” which parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to escape from slavery in Egypt. Likewise, nowhere else in the HOT do we find “chariots” or “horses” related to “salvation” in the same verse yet all three words, plus the words for “sea” and the “nostril/anger” word do show up together in the beginning of the triumph song that Moses and the Israelites sang after they escaped from Pharoah’s army across the Red Sea in Ex. 15:1-10. This suggests that the answer to Habakkuk’s question is, “No, it wasn’t because God was mad at the Red Sea that He blew against it and stopped it up, it was because He was acting to save His people.”
IBased on the verb for “pass over,” this noun pictures anger as an overflowing movement.
JIgnoring the Vulgate (interrogative “Who?”) and the Peshitta (which dropped out this Hebrew word), the debate over how to translate it is mostly between those who interpret it causatively (KJV & NASB following the LXX “that”) and those who interpret it temporally (“when” – NIV, ESV, Cathcart), but the meaning is not very different since both view the event as an actual past one.
KKJV & NIV follow the LXX and Vulgate, inserting a conjunction (“and”), while NASB and ESV follow the Aramaic, inserting a preposition (“on/upon”). The Targums and DSS support the MT, containing neither of these extra words.
LBHS suggests that a slightly different spelling of the Hebrew ערה תערה could yield the LXX text. Although none of the other versions came up with “stretch/bend,” they agreed on some form of preparing the bow for use.
MDavidson’s
Analytical Lexicon, followed by the Westminster morphology
and Beal/Banks/Smith Parsing Guide labeled this verb as
Niphal Imperfect 3fs (“Your bow will be raised/exposed” – cf.
KJV, NASB, Peshitta), but OSHB Parsing interpreted it as Piel 2ms
(“You were raised/exposed”), and NIV & ESV followed the LXX
& Vulgate in interpreting it as Qal 2ms (“You raised/exposed
Your bow…”). Unfortunately, Hebrew spells the 3fs and 2ms the
same way, so the Hebrew text leaves the debate over the subject
open, although the fact that this is a Niphal passive verb is not
really debatable. The two imperfect verbs (“raised
up/exposed/stripped” and “cleaved”) are assumed to be in the
same verbal chain begun in v.8 by the Perfect verb “raged/incensed”
and thus are interpreted as past tense.
Another interpretive
problem is that practically all the English versions translate this
verb as “bare/expose” here, but they translate it “awake/raise
up” everywhere else it occurs in the Bible (Job 14:12; Jer. 6:22;
25:32; 50:41; Joel 4:12; Zech. 2:17; 4:1), which is a different
meaning. Nowhere else in the Bible is “bareness/nakedness”
associated with a “bow.” The ancient Latin, Greek, and Aramaic
versions interpreted this verb more consistently in terms of
preparing the bow for use, not stripping it down. But the ancient
versions all still interpreted the noun at the beginning of the
verse as though it were a reduplication of the verb, making the verb
emphatic (“surely/certainly/indeed/quite”), which only the KJV
accepted. (The more-recent English versions simply dropped the first
Hebrew word out to make translation more convenient.)
The only
other HOT passages with any combination of the first three words of
this verse are Isaiah 41:2 and Zech. 9:13, both of which contain
“bow” and a form of the verb “raise up,” and describe events
future to Habakkuk.
NOmitted in the LXX, KJV & Targums translate as a noun “oaths/covenant” (as do Westminster morphology and OSHB parsing), but contemporary English versions translate as a verb: NASB = “sworn,” NIV & ESV = “called for.” Peshitta and (according to BHS) a Greek manuscript from the Vatican Barbariniani collection read “filled.”
ONowhere in the English versions outside this passage (and that in only the most-recent versions), is this noun for “tribes/rods” translated “arrows.”
PWhile the Vulgate, LXX, and Peshitta translate this with either the verb “says” or the noun “Your word,” the ESV apparently followed a Greek manuscript from the Vatican Barbariniani collection referenced by BHS which read φαρετρας (“sheath”). NASB seems to have dropped this word out, and the ESV & NIV seem to have rolled this word together with the word for “oath/covenant” to get “called for many.”
QThe LXX translator of Habakkuk seems to have been particularly fond of this word, this being the third time it occurs in the book of Habakkuk. The only other time the word occurs in the LXX is in Zech. 10:1, which might evidence that it was translated by the same person. The earlier instances of it in Habakkuk (2:18-19) describe the idolatrous false teacher. Perhaps here it is a result of mistaking the Hebrew “yad-” (hand) for “yatser-” (form)?
RAlthough neither the Targums nor the MT have an “and” between the two verbs, the Peshitta, LXX, and Vulgate insert “and” and all the English versions followed suite. No DSS containing this verse passage have survived for comparison. This verb only occurs in two other HOT passages with the subject “mountains,” both of which refer to the “birth” of the mountains with a Polel passive spelling, unlike this occurrence which has a Qal active spelling and refers to an act of judgment.
SDSS W.M. reads with an extra vav on the end of this word, changing the meaning from a noun to its related verb (“gushed”).
TDSS W.M. reads without the final resh of this word and with a plural feminine ending (ות-), changing the meaning from “passed over” to “rainclouds” – Targums read this way too, but the Vulgate, LXX, and Peshitta support the MT.
UThese three words “Lift hands high” do not occur together in one verse anywhere else in the HOT, but “lifting hands” is a phrase used throughout the HOT with three meanings: 1) making a promise/swearing an oath (Ex. 6:8, Num. 14:30, Deut. 32:40, Neh. 9:15, Psalm 106:26, Isa. 49:22, Ezek. 20:5-42, 36:7, 44:12, 47:14), 2) offering prayer/blessing (Lev. 9:22, Ps. 28:2, 134:2), and 3) attacking someone (2 Sam. 18:28, 20:21, Psalm 10:12 ). However, the only times when the dual form of “hands” occurs with “lift” are the instances of prayer/blessing (This is certainly the case with the Psalms, but in the case of Leviticus, “hands” is singular in the Kethib & KJV of Lev. 9:22, but dual in the Qere, Vulgate, LXX, Peshitta, NIV, NASB, NET, ESV, etc.). And, although the LXX lost its way in translating “hands” as “form,” the figure of speech with the same verb from the LXX combined with the plural “hands” holds true as being exclusively a figure for prayer/blessing in the Greek New Testament as well, occurring only in Luke 24:50 (“...He lifted up His hands and blessed them”) and 1 Timothy 2:8 (“I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands…” ~NKJV). Habakkuk’s addition of the word “high” seems to reinforce the idea that the deep water is worshiping the most High God.
VThe MT punctuation puts the disjunctive break here rather than earlier where the second comma is in Douay’s version, but such punctuation would not have been in the Hebrew text Jerome saw when he translated the Vulgate, so it is understandable that he might have lumped the previous word with this latter phrase instead.
WLXX divides the verse one word earlier in the Hebrew text, putting the last Hebrew word of v.10 (“raised”) into the beginning of v.11.
XNahal Hever is partially illegible, but it has about 26 characters/spaces fewer than the MT has, and it puts “brightness of the stars” here in the verse instead of “in their courses,” followed by the verb “they went.” The ESV tipped its hat the the LXX here by translating “went” as “sped” (a derivative of the Greek tachy-).
YSymmachus = οαρατος (“spear”), Theodotian = λογχη (“lance”). These more-specific words for spear-like armaments are closer to the meaning of the MT word than the more general term for “armor and arms” chosen by the LXX. The Peshitta is the only ancient document which supports the LXX plural, however.
ZBrenton got confused here. The LXX reads in agreement with the MT: “At the light of Thy darts they proceeded.”
AAThis word only occurs in a few places, two referring to Solomon’s temple (1 Ki. 8:13 & 2 Chr. 6:2) where it is translated “dwell inKJV/exaltedNKJV, ESV/loftyNASB/magnificentNIV/gloriousNLT,” two referring to mansions (here and Isa. 63:15), and one which is debated (Psalm 49:15) so I will leave it out of the discussion. The final letter is a directional he, which is the source of the English translation “in.” However, the LXX interpreted it as as a feminine singular possessive “her.” The skies are pictured as the glorious mansion of the sun and moon, so most English versions added the possessive pronoun “their,” even though the pronoun is not technically present in Hebrew.
ABThis phrase (“brightness of the lightening [בְּרַק] of Thy spear”) may be intended to parallel the description of the Shekinah cloud which led Israel through the wilderness as “the brightness of a flaming [לֶהָבָה] fire by night” in Isaiah 4:5 (a poetic expansion of Moses’ עמוד האשׁ “pillar of fire” in Ex. 13:21-22). It may also be an echo of Nahum’s Chaldean “horseman raising the lightening-bolt of the spear” against Nineveh in Nahum 3:3 – the only other place that this underlined phrase occurs in the HOT. This “brightness” is frequently associated with God’s presence (cf. Hab. 3:4), especially in Ezekiel 1, for instance v. 13 “...the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning” (KJV), and “lightening” was prominent when God appeared on Mt. Sinai in Ex. 19:16. Cf. Deut. 32:39-43 which describes God’s protection of His people using “lightening” and “arrows” and Psalm 18:6-15 and 77:18, which include God’s “brightness,” “lightenings,” and “arrows” in recounting the crossing of the Red Sea.
ACThe first two letters of the N.H. DSS are εμ- before it becomes illegible. Words in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon which mean “anger” and which start with those two letters include ἐμβριμάομαι (“snort with anger”) and ἐμμαίνομαι (“rage”).
ADOnce again it appears that the LXX translator misread (or misheard) the Hebrew word, mistaking תִּצְעַד (“march”) perhaps for מזער (“diminish”).
AEThe first letters of this word in N.H. are αλ?η- (where the question mark indicates an illegible letter). A search for words that mean “thresh” in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon which start with these letters yields only one result: ἀλοάω. This is further evidence that N.H. was an independent translation from the Septuagint.
AFThe verbs in v.12 (“march… thresh”) are Imperfect tense, normally expressing future (as the Vulgate, LXX, and Peshitta do here) or customary action (as the NET Bible does here), but most English versions construe these Imperfects in the past tense because of the Perfect verbs in the verses before and after (as they did in v.9, where the situation with the tenses is the same).
AGLXX & Peshitta insert a conjunction (“and”), but the Vulgate and Targums support the MT without a conjunction. Lacunae leave the DSS unable to settle the debate. (The Nahal Hever has enough space for a kai, but not enough space to kick the first word in the next line of text up to the end of the line if no conjunction were there, and the Wadi Murabbaat has the right spacing for the MT letters without a conjunction, although a vav is such a narrow letter that one could probably squeeze it in.)
AHAquila and E translated the MT’s את as the preposition συν (“with”), whereas LXX and Theodotian interpreted it as a sign of the direct object (which does not translate into an English word).
AIPlural in LXX, but singular (“Anointed One”) in MT, Vaticanus, and Sinaiticus.
AJN.H. maintains the singular “head” which is in the MT, but LXX pluralizes “heads.”
AKN.H. translated this word with the synonym ασεβους (“ungodly”) – greyed-out letters are actually illegible but supplied by logical inference.
ALLXX appears to have misread מִבֵּית (“of the house”) as מִית (“death”). None of the other ancient versions or manuscripts did so. In fact, N.H. agrees with the MT with οικου (“of the house”).
AMTheodotian = εκοσμησας θεμελιον (“you having decorated the foundation”), and E (=Ν.Η) = εξεκενωσας θεμελιον (“you having emptied out the foundation”) have translations more like the MT. LXX apparently mistook the MT סוֹד (“foundation”) for סוּר (“bond”).
ANΝ.Η. transliterated this word σελε, rather than translating it as the LXX did.
AOThis word can mean either “with” or it can be an indicator that the next word is a direct object. The Vulgate, Aquila, E, and the Peshitta, followed by KJV (and BHS notes) read it as the preposition, while LXX, Theodotion, NIV, and Targums interpreted it as a direct object sign. The NASB and ESV read with the preposition “of,” which is not a meaning of the Hebrew word.
API can’t help but note that this verb shares the same root with the word for “arrow” in v.11, so I am inclined to translate with an action which would be characteristic of arrows, such as “smite through.”
AQN.H. uses a synonym perhaps based on the root διατρέχω (“run through”).
ARN.H. follows the MT with ραβδοις αυτου (“his rods”).
ASCf. Barbariani Greek manuscript in the Vatican δυναμεως , but N.H. = ατειχιστων (“unwalled”)
ATAq. and N.H. rendered [δια]σκορπισαι (“watch”).
AUN.H., Aq. & Sym. translated with a participle of the verb γαυριω (“exult proudly”).
AVAq. & Sym. translated with the close synonym φαγειν (“to eat”).
AWAq. translated with the close synonym πενητας (“poor/needy”).
AXN.H., Aq. & Sym. translated with the close synonym κρυφ- (“hidden”).
AYThe only other combination of this verb and noun in one verse uses different meanings for both words that the meanings chosen by English versions her in Habakkuk: 1 Chron. 12:31 “...the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, who were designated by name to come and make David king” [after Saul passed away]. The “him” could be the “anointed one” from v.13 or the evil one” from v.13. It is unlikely that the verb and noun are synonyms for the שׁבטים that Joab thrust [יתקעם] into Absalom, the “distinguished head” of an opposition movement against David, in 2 Sam. 18:14, because Joab thrust them into Absalom’s “heart,” not his head, and it doesn’t appear that they were Absalom’s javelins.
AZLXX, GBarb (αρχηωους – rulers), Peshitta, & Targums read plural “heads,” thus the ESV. Vulgate, KJV, NASB, & NIV follow the MT and DSS singular.
BAHapex Legomenon. Qere = פְּרָזָיו – pluralized form of the singular in the MT text (It’s also singular in the DSS). All the ancient versions and modern versions go with the plural. AJV = “rulers” Kimchi interpreted it as soldiers encamped in the open terrain around Jerusalem.
BBRelatively-rare
word found only here and in 2 Ki. 6:11 (of a king’s heart); Isa.
54:11 (of the Israelites in their difficult political
circumstances); Hos. 13:3 (wind that blows chaff off a threshing
floor); Jon. 1:11, 13 (this storm at sea is paired with the verb hlk
– perhaps distinguishing the blowing of the storm wind from the
rolling of the waves); and Zech. 7:14 (God’s dispersing of Israel
throughout the nations in judgment).
Paired with the next verb
“to scatter” – a connection with God’s judgment upon Israel
is evident, since “scattering” was one of the curses for
breaking the covenant in Deut.
4:25-27, 28:64, Neh. 1:8, Ezek. 20:23,
fulfilled in 2
Kings 25:5, Zech. 7:14,
Ezek. 36:19).
BCNIV
and ESV ignore the major punctuation here in the MT.
This noun
is a Hapex legomenon, based
on a verb which occurs 8x in the HOT: 1 Sam. 2:1 (“be exuberant”);
1 Chron. 16:32; Psalms 5:11 (“exult”); 9:2; 25:2 (“triumph”);
68:3; Proverbs 11:10; 28:12.
BDThe Hebrew Masoretic pointing makes this noun definite “THE secret place,” so I interpreted the definite article pronomially, “their secret place.” Other key passages which use this word: Psalm 10:2 “With arrogance a wicked man hotly-pursues a lowly man…. 8 He sits in ambush by the subdivisions. In the hiding-places he murders an innocent man. As for his eyes, they single out the weakest. He sets an ambush in the hiding-place like a lion in a den. He sets an ambush to nab a lowly one…” (NAW, cf. 17:12, 64:4, Lam. 3:10) and Jeremiah 49:10 “But I have made Esau bare [חשף]; I have uncovered [גלה] his secret places, And he shall not be able to hide himself.” (NKJV)
BEN.H. instead reads ενετει- (“command”?), not inserting the “and” which the LXX did. This is the last legible word of Habakkuk in that Dead Sea Scroll.
BFThe problems with translating “with your horses” as a parallel phrase to “in the mud/through the heap/on the surge of many waters” (as the Targums, Vulgate, KJV, and NASB did), and likewise the problems with translating “churning/surging great waters” as a parallel phrase with “You trampled on the sea” (as the LXX, Peshitta, NIV and ESV did) – are that they require adding or changing a word in the Hebrew text AND they provide no resolution to the story before Habakkuk changes the subject in v.16. The way most English versions read, story ends in verses 15-16 with God charging into the fray and Habakkuk being afraid. I suggest that the last phrase of v.15 could instead be translated in terms of the consequence of God’s charging into the water, namely that the great waters of the Red Sea and also of the Jordan River became a “pile/clot.” This would not require adding or changing words, and it would end the story with at least the way of salvation revealed. I realize that this idea has not been entertained by the vast majority of scholars, but I would like to tentatively offer it anyway.