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10 When the mountains see you, they shake.
The torrential downpour sweeps through.[a]
The great deep[b] shouts out;
it lifts its hands high.[c]
11 The sun and moon stand still in their courses;[d]
the flash of your arrows drives them away,[e]
the bright light of your lightning-quick spear.[f]
12 You furiously stomp on the earth;
you angrily trample down the nations.

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Footnotes

  1. Habakkuk 3:10 tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.
  2. Habakkuk 3:10 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. Habakkuk 3:10 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.
  4. Habakkuk 3:11 tn Heb “in their lofty dwelling places.”
  5. Habakkuk 3:11 tn Or “at the light of your arrows they vanish.”
  6. Habakkuk 3:11 tn Heb “at the brightness of the lightning of your spear.”

10     the mountains saw you and writhed.(A)
Torrents of water swept by;
    the deep roared(B)
    and lifted its waves(C) on high.

11 Sun and moon stood still(D) in the heavens
    at the glint of your flying arrows,(E)
    at the lightning(F) of your flashing spear.
12 In wrath you strode through the earth
    and in anger you threshed(G) the nations.

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