Habakkuk 3:7

3:7 I see the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble; ¹ 

the tent curtains of the land of Midian are shaking. ² 

Habakkuk 3:16

Habakkuk Declares His Confidence

3:16 I listened and my stomach churned; ³ 

the sound made my lips quiver.

My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, ⁴ 

and I shook as I tried to walk. ⁵ 

I long ⁶  for the day of distress

to come upon ⁷  the people who attack us.

[3:7]  ¹ tn Heb “under trouble I saw the tents of Cushan.”

[3:7]  ² tn R. D. Patterson takes תַּחַת אֲוֶן (takhat ’aven) in the first line as a place name, “Tahath-Aven.” (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [WEC], 237.) In this case one may translate the verse as a tricolon: “I look at Tahath-Aven. The tents of Cushan are shaking, the tent curtains of the land of Midian.”

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

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “decay entered my bones.”

[3:16]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “to come up toward.”