Habakkuk 3:8

3:8 Is the Lord mad at the rivers?

Are you angry with the rivers?

Are you enraged at the sea? ¹ 

Is this why ²  you climb into your horse-drawn chariots, ³ 

your victorious chariots? ⁴ 

Habakkuk 3:15

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

on the surging, raging waters. ⁵ 

Habakkuk 3:10

3:10 When the mountains see you, they shake.

The torrential downpour sweeps through. ⁶ 

The great deep ⁷  shouts out;

it lifts its hands high. ⁸ 

[3:8]  ¹ sn The following context suggests these questions should be answered, “Yes.” The rivers and the sea, symbolizing here the hostile nations (v. 12), are objects of the Lord’s anger (vv. 10, 15).

[3:8]  ² tn Heb “so that.” Here כִּי (ki) is resultative. See the note on the phrase “make it” in 2:18.

[3:8]  ³ tn Heb “you mount your horses.” As the next line makes clear, the Lord is pictured here as a charioteer, not a cavalryman. Note NRSV here, “when you drove your horses, // your chariots to victory.”

[3:8]  ⁴ tn Or “chariots of deliverance.”

[3:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “the foaming of the mighty [or “many”] waters.”

[3:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.

[3:10]  ¹⁰ sn The great deep, which is to be equated with the sea (vv. 8, 15), is a symbol of chaos and represents the Lord’s enemies.

[3:10]  ¹¹ sn Lifting the hands here suggests panic and is accompanied by a cry for mercy (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19). The forces of chaos cannot withstand the Lord’s power revealed in the storm.