Habakuk 3:13-15

3:13 You march out to deliver your people,

to deliver your special servant. ¹ 

You strike the leader of the wicked nation, ² 

laying him open from the lower body to the neck. ³  Selah.

3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors ⁴  with a spear. ⁵ 

They storm forward to scatter us; ⁶ 

they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. ⁷ 

3:15 But you trample on the sea with your horses,

on the surging, raging waters. ⁸ 

[3:13]  ¹ tn Heb “anointed one.” In light of the parallelism with “your people” in the preceding line this could refer to Israel, but elsewhere the Lord’s anointed one is always an individual. The Davidic king is the more likely referent here.

[3:13]  ² tn Heb “you strike the head from the house of wickedness.”

[3:13]  ³ tn Heb “laying bare [from] foundation to neck.”

[3:14]  ⁴ tn Some take “warriors” with the following line, in which case one should translate, “you pierce [his] head with a spear; his warriors storm forward to scatter us” (cf. NIV). The meaning of the Hebrew term פְּרָזוֹ (pÿrazo), translated here “his warriors,” is uncertain.

[3:14]  ⁵ tc Heb “his shafts.” Some emend to “your shafts.” The translation above assumes an emendation to מַטֶּה (matteh, “shaft, spear”), the vav-yod (ו-י) sequence being a corruption of an original he (ה).

[3:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.

[3:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”

[3:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “the foaming of the mighty [or “many”] waters.”