Context at a Glance
Author:Traditional Attribution
Topic:habakkuk Chapter 3 Study
This chapter provides a foundational look at the theological themes of habakkuk, analyzed across multiple historic translations for maximum scholarly depth.
Habakkuk 3
New Revised Standard Version
1A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk according to Shigionoth.
2O LORD, I have heard of your renown, and I stand in awe, O LORD, of your work. In our own time revive it; in our own time make it known; in wrath may you remember mercy.
3God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
4The brightness was like the sun; rays came forth from his hand, where his power lay hidden.
5Before him went pestilence, and plague followed close behind.
6He stopped and shook the earth; he looked and made the nations tremble. The eternal mountains were shattered; along his ancient pathways the everlasting hills sank low.
7I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction; the tent-curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
8Was your wrath against the rivers, O LORD? Or your anger against the rivers, or your rage against the sea, when you drove your horses, your chariots to victory?
9You brandished your naked bow, sated were the arrows at your command. You split the earth with rivers.
10The mountains saw you, and writhed; a torrent of water swept by; the deep gave forth its voice. The sun raised high its hands;
11the moon stood still in its exalted place, at the light of your arrows speeding by, at the gleam of your flashing spear.
12In fury you trod the earth, in anger you trampled nations.
13You came forth to save your people, to save your anointed. You crushed the head of the wicked house, laying it bare from foundation to roof.
14You pierced with their own arrows the head of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter us, gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding.
15You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the mighty waters.
16I hear, and I tremble within; my lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones, and my steps tremble beneath me. I wait quietly for the day of calamity to come upon the people who attack us.
17Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls,
18yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will exult in the God of my salvation.
19GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights. To the leader: with stringed instruments. ZEPHANIAH
1890ZEPHANIAH Introduction Zephaniah's place in the canonical sequence is apparently chronological; along with its predecessors, Nahum and Habakkuk, it stems from the seventh century BCE. The superscription (1.1) traces Zephaniah's ancestry back to Hezekiah and dates his ministry to the reign of Josiah (640-609 BCE). Since the name of Hezekiah is uncommon in the Hebrew Bible, this unusually long genealogical note probably refers to the famous Judean king (727/715-698/687 BCE). Whether of royal descent or not, Zephaniah certainly was a Jerusalemite (1.10-11). His father's name, Cushi (1.1), could mean "the Cushite," and has prompted some speculation about African ancestry for the prophet (cf. 2.12; 3.10). Aside from his name (which means "Yahweh has protected") and these intriguing genealogical issues, nothing is known about the prophet. Zephaniah's condemnation of practices prohibited by Deuteronomy (1.4-6, 8-9, 12; 3.1-13, 7) suggest that he prophesied before Josiah's reforms of
621BCE (2 Kings 23). The oracles thus can be dated, perhaps, to 630-620 BCE, and are roughly contemporaneous with those in Nahum. The main motif of the collected oracles is the Day of the Lord. In the initial oracle (1.2-6), the Day of the Lord is described in terms of a global catastrophe brought on by worship of other deities (1.4-6). The next two oracles (or sections of the same oracle), 1.7-13; 1.14-2.3, maintain this tone of gloom. Invoking traditions about the ancient flood (see 1.2-3), for Zephaniah it is a case of "the fire next time" (1.18). Near the end of this section, the prophet gives a muted (perhaps, 2.3) call for repentance. The next section consists of oracles against Judah's rival nations (2.4-15), followed by the speeches that indict Jerusalem ZEPHANIAH
1891(3.1-8). Oracles of salvation (3.9-20) complete, and balance, the collection.