Habakkuk
Habakkuk 3
1A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.
For the music director, on my stringed instruments.
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5 commentators · 70 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
This chapter is entitled a prayer of Habakkuk. It is a meditation with himself, an intercession for the church. Prophets were praying men; this prophet was so (He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, Gen 20:7); and sometimes they prayed for even those…
It has been the usual practice of God's people, when they have been in distress and ready to fall into despair, to help themselves by recollecting their experiences, and reviving them, considering the days of old, and the years of ancient times (Psa 77:5)…
Within the compass of these few lines we have the prophet in the highest degree both of trembling and triumphing, such are the varieties both of the state and of the spirit of God's people in this world. In heaven there shall be no more trembling, but…
John Gill19
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. Of the name, character, and office of the prophet; see Gill on Habakkuk 1:1. This chapter is entitled a "prayer" of his, a supplicatory one, put up in an humble and earnest manner, and in the exercise of…
O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid,.... Or, "thy hearing" (p); which the Lord had caused to be heard from and of himself; the report that had been made to him, and other prophets before him, particularly Isaiah, who says, "who hath believed our…
God came from Teman,.... Or, "may God come from Teman" (t); since it is part of the prayer of Habakkuk: or, as "from Teman" (u); as he of old came from thence, a city in the land of Edom, Jeremiah 49:7 it was five miles from Petra, in Idumea, where was Mount…
Adam Clarke18
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
A prayer of Habakkuk - upon Shigionoth - See the note on the title of Psalm 7 (note), where the meaning of Shiggaion is given. The Vulgate has, pro ignorantiis, for ignorances, or sins committed in ignorance; and so it is understood by the Chaldee. The Syriac…
In the midst of the years - בקרב שנים bekereb shanim, "As the years approach." The nearer the time, the clearer and fuller is the prediction; and the signs of the times show that the complete fulfillment is at hand. But as the judgments will be heavy, (and…
God came from Teman - Bp. Lowth observes: "This is a sudden burst of poetry, in the true spirit of the ode; the concealed connection being that God, who had formerly displayed such power in delivering the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, might succor their…
Keil & Delitzsch12
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
The song has a special heading, after the fashion of the psalms, in which the contents, the author, and the poetical character of the ode are indicated. The contents are called tephillâh, a prayer, like Psa 17:1-15; 86; 90; 102, and Psa 142:1-7, not merely…
"Jehovah, I have heard Thy tidings, am alarmed. Jehovah, Thy work, in the midst of the years call it to life, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy." שׁמעך is the tidings (ἀκοή) of God; what the prophet has heard of God, i.e., the…
Coming of the Lord to judge the nations and to redeem His people. The description of this theophany rests throughout upon earlier lyrical descriptions of the revelations of God in the earlier times of Israel. Even the introduction (Hab 3:3) has its roots in…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown18
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
I have heard thy speech--Thy revelation to me concerning the coming chastisement of the Jews [CALVIN], and the destruction of their oppressors. This is Habakkuk's reply to God's communication [GROTIUS]. MAURER translates, "the report of Thy coming,"…
God--singular in the Hebrew, "Eloah," instead of "Elohim," plural, usually employed. The singular is not found in any other of the minor prophets, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel; but it is in Isaiah, Daniel, Job, and Deuteronomy. from Teman--the country south of…
as the light--namely, of the sun (Job 37:21; Pro 4:18). horns--the emblem of power wielded by "His hand" [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU]. "Rays" emanating from "His hand," compared by the Arabs to the horns of the gazelle (compare "hind of the morning," Psa 22:1, title…
World English Bible — Public domain