Habakuk 3:4

3:4 He is as bright as lightning; ¹ 

a two-pronged lightning bolt flashes from his hand. ² 

This is the outward display of his power. ³ 

Habakuk 1:11

1:11 They sweep by like the wind and pass on. ⁴ 

But the one who considers himself a god will be held guilty.” ⁵ 

Habakuk 3:19

3:19 The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. ⁶ 

He gives me the agility of a deer; ⁷ 

he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. ⁸ 

(This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.) ⁹ 

Habakuk 1:4

1:4 For this reason the law lacks power, ¹⁰ 

and justice is never carried out. ¹¹ 

Indeed, ¹²  the wicked intimidate ¹³  the innocent. ¹⁴ 

For this reason justice is perverted. ¹⁵ 

Habakuk 1:6

1:6 Look, I am about to empower ¹⁶  the Babylonians,

that ruthless ¹⁷  and greedy ¹⁸  nation.

They sweep across the surface ¹⁹  of the earth,

seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

Habakuk 3:14

3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors ²⁰  with a spear. ²¹ 

They storm forward to scatter us; ²² 

they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. ²³ 

Habakuk 3:16

Habakkuk Declares His Confidence

3:16 I listened and my stomach churned; ²⁴ 

the sound made my lips quiver.

My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, ²⁵ 

and I shook as I tried to walk. ²⁶ 

I long ²⁷  for the day of distress

to come upon ²⁸  the people who attack us.

[3:4]  ¹ tn Heb “[His] radiance is like light.” Some see a reference to sunlight, but the Hebrew word אוֹר (’or) here refers to lightning, as the context indicates (see vv. 4b, 9, 11). The word also refers to lightning in Job 36:32 and 37:3, 11, 15.

[3:4]  ² tn Heb “two horns from his hand to him.” Sharp, pointed lightning bolts have a “horn-like” appearance. The weapon of “double lightning” appears often in Mesopotamian representations of gods. See Elizabeth Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art (AnOr), 70-73.

[3:4]  ³ tn Heb “and there [is] the covering of his strength”; or “and there is his strong covering.” The meaning of this line is unclear. The point may be that the lightning bolts are merely a covering, or outward display, of God’s raw power. In Job 36:32 one reads that God “covers his hands with light [or, “lightning”].”

[1:11]  ⁴ tn The precise meaning of v. 11a is uncertain. The present translation assumes the first line further describes the Babylonian hordes, comparing them to a destructive wind. Another option is to understand רוּחַ (ruakh) as “spirit,” rather than “wind,” and take the form וְאָשֵׁם (vÿ’ashem) with what precedes (as suggested by the scribal punctuation). Repointing this form as a geminate verb from שָׁמַם (shamam, “be astonished”), one could then translate the line, “The spirit passed on and departed, and I was astonished.” In this case the line would describe the cessation of the divine revelation which began in v. 5. For a detailed defense of this view, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 97-100.

[1:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “and guilty is the one whose strength is his god.” This assumes that אָשֵׁם (’ashem) is a predicate adjective meaning “guilty” and that it relates to what follows.

[3:19]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “is my wall,” that is, “my protector.”

[3:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “he makes my feet like those of deer.”

[3:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “he makes me walk on my high places.”

[3:19]  sn Difficult times are coming, but Habakkuk is confident the Lord will sustain him. Habakkuk will be able to survive, just as the deer negotiates the difficult rugged terrain of the high places without injury.

[3:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “For the leader, on my stringed instruments.”

[1:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the law is numb,” i.e., like a hand that has “fallen asleep” (see Ps 77:2). Cf. NAB “is benumbed”; NIV “is paralyzed.”

[1:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “never goes out.”

[1:4]  ¹² tn Or “for.”

[1:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “surround” (so NASB, NRSV).

[1:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “comes out crooked.”

[1:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “raise up” (so KJV, ASV).

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “bitter.” Other translation options for this word in this context include “fierce” (NASB, NRSV); “savage” (NEB); or “grim.”

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “hasty, quick.” Some translate here “impetuous” (so NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “rash,” but in this context greed may very well be the idea. The Babylonians move quickly and recklessly ahead in their greedy quest to expand their empire.

[1:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the open spaces.”

[3:14]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.

[3:14]  ²³ tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”

[3:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “my insides trembled.”

[3:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “decay entered my bones.”

[3:16]  ²⁶ tc Heb “beneath me I shook, which….” The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (’asher) appears to be a relative pronoun, but a relative pronoun does not fit here. The translation assumes a reading אֲשֻׁרָי (’ashuray, “my steps”) as well as an emendation of the preceding verb to a third plural form.

[3:16]  ²⁷ tn The translation assumes that אָנוּחַ (’anuakh) is from the otherwise unattested verb נָוָח (navakh, “sigh”; see HALOT 680 s.v. II נוח; so also NEB). Most take this verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) and translate, “I wait patiently” (cf. NIV).

[3:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to come up toward.”