Habakkuk 3:1-2

Habakkuk’s Vision of the Divine Warrior

3:1 This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet: ¹ 

3:2 Lord, I have heard the report of what you did; ² 

I am awed, ³  Lord, by what you accomplished. ⁴ 

In our time ⁵  repeat those deeds; ⁶ 

in our time reveal them again. ⁷ 

But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy! ⁸ 

[3:1]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text adds עַל שִׁגְיֹנוֹת (’al shigyonot, “upon [or, “according to”] shigyonot”). The meaning of this word is uncertain. It may refer to the literary genre of the prayer or to the musical style to be employed when it is sung. The NEB leaves the term untranslated; several other modern English versions transliterate the term into English, sometimes with explanatory notes (NASB, NRSV “according to Shigionoth”; NIV “On shigyonoth”).

[3:2]  ² tn Heb “your report,” that is, “the report concerning you.”

[3:2]  ³ tn Heb “I fear.” Some prefer to read, “I saw, Lord, what you accomplished” (cf. NEB).

[3:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “your work.”

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the midst of years.” The meaning of the phrase, which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain (cf. NIV “in our day”; NEB, NASB “in the midst of the years”).

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “revive it” (i.e., “your work”).

[3:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “make known.” The implied object is “your deeds”; the pronoun “them,” referring to “deeds” in the previous line, was employed in the translation to avoid redundancy. The suffix on the form חַיֵּיהוּ (khayyehu, “revive it”) does double duty in the parallelism.

[3:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “in turmoil remember [to show] compassion.”