Grace Theological Journal
8.2 (1987) 163-94.
[Copyright © 1987
Grace Theological Seminary; cited with permission;
digitally prepared for use at
Gordon and
THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK
RICHARD D. PATTERSON
Thematically,
textually, and literarily, the psalm of Habakkuk
(3:3 -15) differs
markedly from the material in the rest of the book.
Translation and
subsequent analysis of the psalm reveal that it is a
remnant of epic literature, and as such it focuses on the theme of
the
heroic. Throughout the passage, God is the hero whose actions
divide
the psalm into two parts. The first poem (vv 3-7) relates the
account
of an epic journey as God guides his people toward the land of
promise. In the second poem (vv 8-15), God's miraculous acts in the
conquest period are rehearsed. The singing of these two epic songs
was designed to evoke in the listeners a response of submission
to
the proper movement toward
* * *
INTRODUCTION
AN
enigmatic psalm of praise occupies the greater portion of the
third chapter of Habakkuk's prophecyl
and exhibits striking
differences from the preceding two chapters.
Thematically, the first
two chapters are largely narrative, recording
Habakkuk's great per-
plexities (1:2-4, 12-17) and
God's detailed responses (1:5-11; 2:1-20);
whereas, with the third chapter, a positive tone
emerges in the
l W. F. Albright,
"The Psalm of Habakkuk," in Studies
in Old Testament Prophecy
Dedicated to T: H.
Robinson,
ed. H. H. Rowley (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1950) 1,
notes, "The Psalm of Habakkuk, with its
magnificent but often obscure imagery has
attracted many generations of scholars to its
study." Despite scholarly scrutinizing,
Habakkuk
3 has defied a final solution. B. Margulis, "The
Psalm of Habakkuk: A
Reconstruction
and Interpretation," ZAW 82
(1970) 411, well remarks, "The numerous
treatments of the problems involved, in whole or in
part, attest scholarly interest while
the serious divergences of opinion and conclusion
indicate the need and desirability of
a new approach." (Note that Margulis includes an excellent bibliography of studies on
Habakkuk
3, pp. 440-41.) Although the observations that follow make no claim to be
a final solution of all the problems in the
tantalizingly difficult poetic material in Hab
3:3-15,
it is hoped that they will demarcate some elements that will point toward their
final solution.
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prophet's great prayer of praise of God. The first
two chapters are
written in the usual classical Hebrew that was
prevalent in the seventh
century B.C., whereas the psalm of chap. 3
utilizes older literary
material that had been passed down since Moses'
day. Furthermore
these two sections are written in distinctively
different literary vehicles.
The
first two chapters were composed largely in literary forms that
are typical of prophecy such as oracles, laments,
and woes. However,
the psalm of Hab 3:3-15
is written in an older poetic format that
contains some very difficult Hebrew grammatical
constructions and
very rare words.
These factors, plus the inclusion of several
musical notations
(3:
1, 3, 9, 13, 19) and the exclusion of the third chapter from the
Pesher Habakkuk of the Qumranic
corpus, convinced many liberal
scholars that Habakkuk 3 is not an authentic work
of the prophet but
is made up of several independent units that had
been united with the
prophet's own writings.2 However,
although it may deny the unity of
Habakkuk,
current critical scholarship tends to consider the resultant
canonical book of Habakkuk to be the work of the
prophet. Thus,
Eissfeldt remarks,
We must therefore regard
the book of Habakkuk as a loose
collection of a group of songs of
lamentation and oracles (i, 2-ii, 4), a
series of six cries of woe
(ii, 5-20), and the prayer of iii, which all stem
from the same prophet
Habakkuk, probably a cult-prophet, and origi-
nated in approximately the
same period.3
Leaving aside matters of authorship, date, and composition,
this
article will address specifically Habakkuk's
psalm in 3:3-15. Having
looked at the text and noted some of its distinctive
difficulties, an
analysis of its grammatical, literary,
historical, and theological fea-
tures will be undertaken. A discussion
of the identity of the literary
2 See J. A. Bewer,
The Literature of the Old Testament (3rd
ed.;
at times, as being genuine, some going as far as
Marti who felt that only seven verses in
the entire book were genuinely the work of the
prophet (cf. H. D. Hummel, The Word
Becoming Flesh [
Introduction to the Old
Testament
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969) 932-37.
30.
Eissfeldt, The Old Testament: An
Introduction, trans. Peter R. Ackroyd (New
Habakkuk's
authorship of the entire three chapters thematically, historically, and
contextually. See the remarks in the
Introduction to the "Commentary on Habakkuk"
in the forthcoming Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, ed. W. Elwell
(Grand
Rapids:
Baker). In the translation and discussion below, recourse will be made at times
to the principle of the phonetic consonantism of the MT. For details as to phonetic
consonantism, see F. J. Cross, Jr., Studies in Ancient Yahwistic
Poetry (
Johns
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 165
genre of Habakkuk's psalm will follow, together with
an examination
of its literary dependence on other poetic works
of the same genre
in the literature of the ancient Near East. The
closing summation
and conclusions will consider the significance of
the psalm for the
prophet.
TRANSLATION AND NOTES
Translation
3. Eloah came from Teman,
The Holy One from
His glory covered the heavens
And his praise filled the earth.
4. His brightness was like the light;
Rays (flashed) from his very own hand
That were from the inner recesses
of his strength.
5. Plague went before him
And pestilence went out from his feet.
6. He stood and shook the earth;
He looked and made the nations to tremble.
The everlasting hills were shattered;
The eternal hills were made low
--His eternal courses.
7. I looked on Tahath-Aven
The tents of Cushan
were trembling,
The tent curtains of the
8. Oh, Lord, were you angry with the rivers,
Or was your wrath against the streams,
Or your fury against the sea
When you were mounted upon your horses,
Your chariots of
salvation?
9. You laid bare your bow;
You were satisfied with the club which you
commanded.
10. The earth was split with rivers;
The mountains saw you, they trembled.
Torrents of water swept by;
The deep gave its voice;
It lifted its hands on high.
11. Sun
and moon stood still in their lofty height;
They proceeded by the light of your arrows,
By the flash of the
lightning, your spear.
12. In indignation you tread upon the earth;
In anger you trampled the nations.
13. You went out to save your people,
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To deliver your
anointed.
You smashed the head of the house of evil;
You stripped him from head to foot;
14. You split his head with his own club.
His leaders stormed out;
To scatter the humble was their boast,
Like devouring the poor
in secret.
15. You tread upon the sea with your
horses,
Heaping up the many
waters.
Notes
Verse
Three
The interchangeability of the three OT words for
God lxe, Myhilox<,
and haOlx< makes any precise
distinction to be difficult at best. The use
of the last word was predominant in the earlier
periods, particularly
in connection with Edomite
Ternan as shown by the frequency of its
employment in the dialogue between Job and Eliphaz. Accordingly,
Hummel
may be correct in suggesting an association of this name for
God
particularly with that region.4 It occurs
in other early literature
in Deut 32:15, 17 and Ps
One might also construe the second line of v 3
as reading "and
the holy ones from
with wdq, thus reading Mywidq;, and utilizing the
preposition of line
one for line two, as well.5 "Holy
One" is a common epithet for
Yahweh (cf. Job
(e.g.,
6:3) and has already been employed by Habakkuk (
Teman names the southernmost of
itself is also called Teman
(Obad 9), the name stemming from a
grandson of Esau (Gen 36:11, 15, 42; Jer 49:7,20) whose descendants
inhabited the area. (For the relationship Esau =
25:25,
3.0.)
14:6.)
All three terms appear to be used as parallel names for the
southern area that stretched as far as the
33:1-2a
reads: "Yahweh came from Sinai; he beamed forth from Seir;
4 Hummel, The Word Becoming Flesh, 461. See further, H. D. Preuss,
TDOT
1.272; J. Scott, TWOT 1.43.
5 For the presence of God's angels/holy
ones in the movement from the south, see
Deut
33:2b-3; for the use of double duty prepositions, see M. Dahood,
Psalms (AB;
Garden
City; Doubleday, 1970) 3.435-37.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 167
he shone from
also mentioned in Judg
5:4-5,
"O Lord, when you went out from Seir,
When you marched from the
The earth shook, the heavens poured,
The clouds poured down water.
The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of
Sinai,
Before the LORD, the God
of
and Ps 68:7-8 (Heb. 8-9),
"When you went out before your people, O
God,
When you marched through the wasteland,
The earth shook,
The heavens poured down rain."
The
motif seems to be a key one in
Cross
points out,
The relation of this motif, the march of
Conquest, to the early Israelite
cultus has been insufficiently
studied. The last-mentioned hymn, Exodus
15, is rooted in the liturgy of the spring
festival ("Passover" or Massot),
and it may be argued that
it stems originally from the Gilgal cultus as
early as the twelfth century
B.C. It rehearses the story of the Exodus in
the primitive form, the
march of Conquest (13-18), and after the
"crossing
over," the arrival at the sanctuary (verses 13, 17).6
Otl.AhiT; is sometimes translated
"splendor" rather than "praise"
(see BDB, 240).
Verse
Four
Myinar;qa/ 'rays' comes from a root meaning "to shine." The
noun is
used primarily for the horns of various animals and
hence becomes
employed figuratively as a symbol for strength or
power. The juxta-
position of radiance and power can be seen in the
incident of the
outshining of God's power through Moses' face (Exod 34:29). Both
radiance and power seem to be clearly intended
here. The dual form
also controls the verb hyAhA which takes the t-form
common to older
poetry.
6 F. M. Cross, Jr., "The Divine
Warrior in
ed. Alexander Altmann
(Cambridge: Harvard University, 1966) 25. Cross links this
motif with the idea of kingship and suggests that
both were utilized in the royal cultus
(pp.
27-33). See further, R. Patterson, "The Song of Deborah," in Tradition and
Testament: Essays in
Honor of Charles Lee Feinberg, eds. John S. Feinberg and Paul
D.
Feinberg (Chicago: Moody, 1981) 130-31.
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NOyb;H, is hapax
legomenon from the root hbAHA / 'to hide'. The
whole line is extremely difficult and has occasioned
many suggestions
and emendations. Some meaning, such as "secret
place," "inner
recesses," or "source," has
usually been put forward here. Likewise,
the preceding word Mw can be variously
pointed as MwA / 'there', MWe /
'name', or MyWi / 'set'. Thus, the line
could be translated variously:
(1)
"There was the hiding place of his might," (2) "(Its) name was
'The
ing the preposition from
the preceding line] the inner recesses of his
strength." The suggestion that would point
the word as "name" would
be in keeping with the ancient Near Eastern
practice of naming
weapons and essential features.7 The
word may also be divided by adding
the m to the following word,
yielding a still different result (see below).
It may be added that NOyb;H, has often been related
to the root.
hpAHA / JpaHA / 'cover' and accordingly is translated "covering.”8
Thus,
the line would be translated, "And there is
the covering of his power,"
or "The name of the covering is His
Strength." If this latter sugges-
tion is followed, the
covering could be understood as an entourage.
Thus,
a smooth transition with v 5 could be gained by translating the
troublesome line, "And his mighty ones were
there as a covering"
(i.e., encircling the divine king). So constructed, the
thought parallels
that of Deut 33:2, "He came with myriads of
holy ones" (cf. Ps 68:18
[Heb.]). It is of interest to note that Cross
employs the term bbaHA in
this passage as a parallel to Mywidq; / 'his holy ones.' If
this meaning is
allowed, then perhaps NOyb;H, could be normalized NOBHa with a meaning
something like "splendor" (cf. Akkadian ebebu / 'be pure, clean',
ebbu / 'polished, pure,
shining, lustrous'). Hence, the line could be
read in parallel with the preceding two, "There
is the splendor of his
might." However, since the Deuteronomy passage
is beset with great
difficulty and Cross's own handling of the text is
colored by numerous
conjectural emendations, this last translation must
remain a pure
conjecture. Hab 3:4b
stands as a crux interpretum. Ultimately, one
must determine (1) whether the line is best
understood as a strict
parallel to the previous two lines or as
transitional between them and
the two lines that follow, and (2) whether the
contextual emphasis
centers on the frequently stressed idea of the
veiled presence of God9,
7 See further, R. Patterson, "A
Multiplex Approach to Psalm 45," GTJ
6 (1985)
29-48.
8 See R. L. Smith, Micah-Malachi (Word Biblical Commentary;
1984)
112; cf. M. O'Connor, Hebrew Verse
Structure (
1980) 234.
9 See S. L. Terrien,
The Elusive Presence (San Francisco: Harper
& Row, 1978) 69;
.cf.
C. F. Keil, Biblical
Commentary on the Minor Prophets (
1954)
2.99-100.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 169
or is a literary borrowing of the familiar theme
of the divine warrior
moving amidst his heavenly armies that is adapted for
Israelite cultic
purposes,10 or is simply an
expression of God's power as manifested
in the natural world.
The translation followed here takes this line as
parallel to the
preceding two and views it as primarily a poetic
expression of God's
power in the natural world. The rendering given above
is gained by
separating the m from the word and
viewing the remaining w as a
relative particle preceded by a pleonastic waw. The
resultant tense
stresses that the brilliant theophany
originated in the inner recesses of
the strength of him who is light (cf. 1 John .1:5).
Verse
Five
The parallel lines here have often been taken as
evidence for
viewing Debir as an
epithet or alternate name of Reshef, the well-
known Canaanite god of pestilence and sterility.11
Dahood calls
attention to the set pairs Nr,q, / MynipA in vv 4-5.12 O'Connor translates
vynApAl; "at his
face."13
Verse
Six
dd,moy;va has customarily been
translated either "he measured" (RSV,
KJV,
NKJV; cf. NASB, "surveyed") or "shook" (NIV; cf. LXX
e]saleu<qh).
The inappropriateness of the former meaning has led
most critical expositors to favor the latter meaning
here. Scholars
haye suggested various byforms and alloforms to account
for this
understanding of ddm: (1) dUm = FUm / 'crumble', 'set in reeling mo-
tion' (Keil),
(2) dUm = ddanA / dUn / 'move', (cf. FFamA
/ FUm / 'crumble,'
FFanA
/ FUn) / 'shake' [Margulis]), and (3)
Arabic ** (mada)
/ 'was con-
vulsed' (Driver).
Likewise, rTey.ava has occasioned several
translations: die<takh
/
'melt' (LXX), "drove asunder" (KJV),
"startled" (NASB, NKJV),
"shook" (RSV), and "made to tremble" (NIV). If
the previous line is
to be rendered "shook," the NIV
translation is certainly most appro-
priate. If the traditional
understanding of ddamA
/ 'measure'
is retained,
perhaps a root fur / 'spy out, survey' might be
suggested for the form
10 See F. M. Cross, Jr., Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (
University,
1973) 100-105.
11 See W. F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of
1969) 186. For the proposed Eblaite
evidence, see the comments of Dahood in G.
Pettinato, The Archives of
12 M. Dahood,
"Ugaritic-Hebrew Parallel
Loren
R. Fisher and Stan Rummel (Rome: Pontificium
Institutum Biblicum, 1972)
1.331.
13 O'Connor, Hebrew Verse Structure, 235.
170
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
here. The force of the following couplet and the
dire effects of the
preceding two probably best favor a translation
similar to that of the
NIV for these two lines.
Ol
MlAOf tOkyliHE. The line is difficult.
It has usually been translated
by the English versions "His ways are
everlasting/eternal." Albright
suggested that the l of the last word be
combined with the first two
words of v 7 to read NxtHtl, thus reading an energic feminine plural
of xtAHA with emphatic l.14 So
constructed, the newly constituted line
would be translated "Eternal orbits were
shattered." While this
suggestion is attractive and involves no
consonantal revision, it would
leave a metrical imbalance in vv 6b and 7, which
appear to be formed
as a
eternal courses." The meaning would be that
the ancient hills and
mountains, now convulsing before the approaching theophany, had
formed the time-honored paths of God (cf. Amos
poetic figure is most apropos for him who is called
"The Rider on the
Clouds"
(Ps 68:5 [Heb.]; cf. Isa 19:1) or "He who rides
the Heavens"
(Deut
33:26; cr. Ps 68:34 [Heb.]). The syntax of the line is reminiscent
of Num 23:22b: Ol
Mxer; tpofEOtK; (cf. Ps 18:8 [Heb.]: Ol
hrAHA-hKi UwfEgAt;y.iva).
Verse
Seven
The first line of v 7 is another extremely
difficult sentence to
interpret. The line has frequently been taken with
the first two words
of the second line, leaving the last word of line
two to be constructed
with line three. While this makes for a smooth
translation, "I saw the
tents of Cushan in affliction:
/ And the curtains of the
did tremble (NIV)," it leaves an unusually
long pair of lines: 5 / 4.
Despite
the difficulty of MT, it seems best to retain the more custo-
mary reading with its
translated by the usual "in distress/ affliction,"
but may perhaps be
better taken as a geographical name paralleling Cushan and Midian
in lines two and three. Perhaps it may have been a
name employed by
the Hebrew poet to describe the general area where
the enigmatic
Cushan (= Egyptian Kushu?)
and Midian were located, that is, tbe
southern part of the broad area that stretched
from the Sinai Penin-
sula northward into Transjordania. If so, the whole verse forms a
geographic inclusio with
v 3.15
14 Albright, "The
Psalm of Habakkuk," 15.
15 Note that tHt appears as a
geographical name in Num 33:26, 27. Nvx-type
forms
occur as personal names and geographical names in the
OT (e.g" Num 16:1; Ezra
Neh 6:2; 7:37; 11:35; Amos 1:5; cf. Gen 36:23;
38:4, 8, 9, etc.). If NvxtHt is to be taken
as a geographical name, Nvx- may be associated with
a noun meaning "vigor" or
"wealth" coming from a second homophonous root to that
of the usual noun translated
"trouble" or "wickedness" or "distress." The easy confusion between the two words
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 171
The
presence of ytiyxirA
here, a source of concern to many com-
mentators, may be explained by
recalling the similar employment of
this verb in the Balaam oracles (Num 23:9; 24:17).
Indeed, the poet
may have intended a deliberate pun or literary
allusion to Num 23:21,
"He
has not seen distress/wickedness in Jacob; / Nor has
he looked
upon trouble in
Verse
Eight
Many have pointed out the familiar Ugaritic parallelism here of
MyA/ rhAnA.16 The reason for their employment here is an interpretive
problem that will be discussed below.17
Dahood also calls attention to
the use of tObK;r;ma
/ sUs here.18 The final noun has been taken as
standing at the end of a broken construct chain
by Freedman.19
Verse
Nine
The question of whether rOfTe should be viewed as second mascu-
line singular or third feminine singular is
conditioned by the under-
standing of the parallel line. Albright decides
for the former and
translates "Bare dost Thou strip Thy
bow";20 Keil follows the latter
course: "Thy bow lays itself bare.”21
The second line is particularly
troublesome. Indeed, Margulis
laments, "The second hemistich is
patently impossible.”22 A perusal of
the various ancient and modern
versions, as well as the commentators, shows the
difficulties under
which the translators labored. No consensus as to the
translation has
been reached. Laetsch
points out that by his day Delitzsch had
counted more than one hundred different
interpretations of this diffi-
cult line.23
That the divine warrior's weapons are taken in
hand is clear from
the parallel pair tw,q, /