Habakkuk 3:9-11

3:9 Your bow is ready for action; ¹ 

you commission your arrows. ²  Selah.

You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface. ³ 

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

The torrential downpour sweeps through. ⁴ 

The great deep ⁵  shouts out;

it lifts its hands high. ⁶ 

3:11 The sun and moon stand still in their courses; ⁷ 

the flash of your arrows drives them away, ⁸ 

the bright light of your lightning-quick spear. ⁹ 

[3:9]  ¹ tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”

[3:9]  ² tn Heb “sworn in are the arrow-shafts with a word.” The passive participle of שָׁבַע (shava’), “swear an oath,” also occurs in Ezek 21:23 ET (21:28 HT) referencing those who have sworn allegiance. Here the Lord’s arrows are personified and viewed as having received a commission which they have vowed to uphold. In Jer 47:6-7 the Lord’s sword is given such a charge. In the Ugaritic myths Baal’s weapons are formally assigned the task of killing the sea god Yam.

[3:9]  ³ tn Heb “[with] rivers you split open the earth.” A literal rendering like “You split the earth with rivers” (so NIV, NRSV) suggests geological activity to the modern reader, but in the present context of a violent thunderstorm, the idea of streams swollen to torrents by downpours better fits the imagery.

[3:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.

[3:10]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[3:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “in their lofty dwelling places.”

[3:11]  ⁸ tn Or “at the light of your arrows they vanish.”

[3:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “at the brightness of the lightning of your spear.”