Habakuk 1:7

1:7 They are frightening and terrifying;

they decide for themselves what is right. ¹ 

Habakuk 1:9

1:9 All of them intend ²  to do violence;

every face is determined. ³ 

They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. ⁴ 

Habakuk 3:4

3:4 He is as bright as lightning; ⁵ 

a two-pronged lightning bolt flashes from his hand. ⁶ 

This is the outward display of his power. ⁷ 

[1:7]  ¹ tn Heb “from him his justice, even his lifting up, goes out.” In this context שְׂאֵת (sÿ’et) probably has the nuance “authority.” See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 150.

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “come.”

[1:9]  ³ tn Heb “The totality of their faces is to the east” (or “is forward”). The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מְגַמַּת (megammat) is unclear. For a discussion of options see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 93. NEB has “a sea of faces rolls on”; NIV “their hordes advance like a desert wind”; NRSV “with faces pressing forward.”

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he gathers like sand, prisoners.”

[3:4]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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”].”