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Habakkuk

About this book
Chapter 3

1 This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet: 2 Lord, I have heard the report of what you did; I am awed, Lord, by what you accomplished. In our time repeat those deeds; in our time reveal them again. But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy!⁠ 3 God comes from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran.⁠ Selah. His splendor has covered the skies,⁠ the earth is full of his glory.⁠ 4 His brightness will be as lightning;⁠ a two-pronged lightning bolt flashing from his hand. This is the outward display of his power.⁠ 5 Plague will go before him; pestilence will march right behind him.⁠ 6 He took his battle position and shook the earth; with a mere look he frightened the nations. The ancient mountains disintegrated; the primeval hills were flattened.⁠ His are ancient roads.⁠ 7 I saw the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble; the tent curtains of the land of Midian were shaking. 8 Was the Lord mad at the rivers? Were you angry with the rivers? Were you enraged at the sea?⁠ Such that you would climb into your horse-drawn chariots, your victorious chariots?⁠ 9 Your bow is ready for action; you commission your arrows. Selah. You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface.⁠ 10 When the mountains see you, they shake. The torrential downpour sweeps through. The great deep shouts out; it lifts its hands high.⁠ 11 The sun and moon stand still in their courses;⁠ the flash of your arrows drives them away, the bright light of your lightning-quick spear.⁠ 12 You furiously stomp on the earth; you angrily trample down the nations. 13 You march out to deliver your people, to deliver your special servant. You strike the leader of the wicked nation,⁠ laying him open from the lower body to the neck. Selah.⁠ 14 You pierce the heads of his warriors with a spear. They storm forward to scatter us; they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. 15 But you trample on the sea with your horses, on the surging, raging waters.⁠ 16 I listened and my stomach churned; the sound made my lips quiver. My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, and I shook as I tried to walk. I long for the day of distress to come upon the people who attack us. 17 When the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines; when the olive trees do not produce and the fields yield no crops; when the sheep disappear from the pen and there are no cattle in the stalls— 18 I will rejoice because of the Lord; I will be happy because of the God who delivers me! 19 The Sovereign Lord is my source of strength. He gives me the agility of a deer; he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain.⁠ (This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)

Texts in conversation

Compare Habakkuk 3:11 and Zechariah 9:14

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Habakkuk 3 and Zechariah 9 describe God at war using arrows and lightning, connecting the sun, moon, and storm to battle. The images follow ancient Near Eastern traditions where storm gods fight with thunder and hail.

Passages

Habakkuk 3:11

Hebrew Bible
9 Your bow is ready for action; you commission your arrows. Selah. You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface. 10 When the mountains see you, they shake. The torrential downpour sweeps through. The great deep shouts out; it lifts its hands high. 11 The sun and moon stand still in their courses; the flash of your arrows drives them away, the bright light of your lightning-quick spear. 12 You furiously stomp on the earth; you angrily trample down the nations. 13 You march out to deliver your people, to deliver your special servant. You strike the leader of the wicked nation, laying him open from the lower body to the neck. Selah.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Habakkuk

Zechariah 9:14

Hebrew Bible
12 Return to the stronghold, you prisoners, with hope; today I declare that I will return double what was taken from you. 13 I will bend Judah as my bow; I will load the bow with Ephraim, my arrow. I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and I will make you, Zion, like a warrior’s sword. 14 Then the Lord will appear above them, and his arrow will shoot forth like lightning; the Sovereign Lord will blow the trumpet and will proceed in the southern storm winds. 15 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will guard them, and they will prevail and overcome with sling stones. Then they will drink and will become noisy like drunkards, full like the sacrificial basin or like the corners of the altar. 16 On that day the Lord their God will deliver them as the flock of his people, for they are the precious stones of a crown sparkling over his land.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Zechariah

References

"... Other Ancient Near Eastern divine warriors also used hail against their enemies. Sargon declared, “Adad, the violent, the powerful son of Anu, let loose his fierce tempest against them and, with bursting cloud and thunderbolt (literally “stones of heaven”), totally annihilated them.” Shalmaneser III boasted that he “rained down upon them [the western kings] destruction (literally “flood”) as the god Adad would.” The Sefire treaty also included hail among the curses, depicting the attacks that the divine warrior would send against those who broke the treaty. In the seventh plague, YHWH sent hail against the Egyptians that was worse than any hail they had ever seen (Exodus 9:13–32). Lightning and thunder were quintessential tools of a storm god. Thunder provided rain for crops (KTU 1.5 v.64–73), but often served as a weapon. While Baal used thunder and lightning to wage war and to proclaim his coronation (KTU 1.4 vii 30–31), Marduk employed thunderbolts in his battle against Tiamat (Enuma Elish iv.39). The Egyptian god Seth was associated with the use of thunder and rainstorms in war. The Hittite storm-god struck a city with a lightning bolt and caused the enemy king to stop fighting. Herodotus ascribed to the gods a storm that destroyed many Persian ships (Histories 8.13). Thunder and lightning were also common divine weapons in the Hebrew Bible and often denoted the presence of YHWH. (compare Exodus 19–20; Ezekiel 1:13; Habakkuk 3:11; Zechariah 9:14) ..."
Charlie Trimm, "YHWH Fights for Them!": The Divine Warrior in the Exodus Narrative (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2014), 48–49.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Habakkuk 3:11 and Zechariah 9:14

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