the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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THE MESSAGE
Habakkuk 3:1
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk. According to Shigionoth.
A prayer of Havakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet vpon Sigionoth.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
This is the prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on shigionoth.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to wild and enthusiastic music.
A prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet for the ignorances.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth:
This is my prayer:
This is a prayer of Havakuk the prophet about mistakes:
A Prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
The prayer of Habakkuk the prophet.
A PRAYER of Habakkuk the prophet:
This is a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk:
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet concerning erring ones:
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, put to Shigionoth.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. Upon Shigionoth.
A prayer of Habacuc the prophete for the ignoraunces.
A PRAYER OF THE PROPHET AMBACUM, WITH A SONG.
A PRAYER of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.
A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.
The preier of Abacuk, the profete, for vnkunnynge men. Lord, Y herde thin heryng, and Y dredde;
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet:
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth. [fn]
This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk:
Shigionoth tells of this prayer of Habakkuk, the man of God.
A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk according to Shigionoth.
A prayer by Habakkuk the prophet, - in the manner of an Ode.
A PRAYER OF HABACUC THE PROPHET FOR IGNORANCES.
A prayer of Habak'kuk the prophet, according to Shigion'oth.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet concerning erring ones:
A prayer of the prophet Abacuc for the ignoraunt.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
prayer: Psalms 86:1-17,*title Psalms 90:1-17, *title
upon Shigionoth: or, according to variable songs, or tunes, called in Hebrew, Shigionoth. Psalms 7:1-17, *title
Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 2:1 - prayed Isaiah 64:1 - that thou wouldest come
Cross-References
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
At that time God will unsheathe his sword, his merciless, massive, mighty sword. He'll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees, the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight. He'll kill that old dragon that lives in the sea.
"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.
Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.
The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. Of the name, character, and office of the prophet, :-. This chapter is entitled a "prayer" of his, a supplicatory one, put up in an humble and earnest manner, and in the exercise of faith, and under the influence of a spirit of prophecy. He before had a vision of the coming of Christ, and of what enemies would rise up, and obstruct his kingdom and interest in the world; and here lie prays that these obstructions might be removed, and that the kingdom of Christ, in its full extent and glory, might take place in the world; and is a prayer of faith, as he prayed it might be, he believed it would be; and left this prayer behind him, for the use and instruction of the church in all ages, until the whole should be accomplished. It seems to be composed after the manner of the psalms of David, to make it the more pleasant and agreeable; and that it might be the more regarded, and be more fitted for the public use and service of the sanctuary: this appears from the style of it, which is poetical, lofty, and sublime; from the frequent use of the word "Selah", peculiar to the psalms of David, Habakkuk 3:3 and from the direction of it to the chief singer on the stringed instruments, Habakkuk 3:19 and from the phrase "upon", or "according to Shigionoth" here, which the Septuagint version renders "with a song"; and so the Arabic version, "after [the manner] of a song"; for this word seems to be the plural of Shiggaion, the title of the seventh psalm Psalms 7:1; which was either the name, title, or first word of some song or songs, according to which this was to be sung; or the name of the tune with which it was to be sung; or of the instrument on which was to be sung: it very probably designs, and may called, an "erratic" or "wandering" song, because of the variableness of its metre, and of its tune. The Vulgate Latin version wrongly interprets it, "for ignorances"; as if this was a prayer of the prophet's for the pardon sins of error and ignorance committed by himself, or by others, or both; which sense is favoured by the Targum,
"a prayer which Habakkuk the prophet prayed, when it was revealed unto him concerning the length (of time) which (God) gave to the wicked; that, if they would return to the law with a perfect heart, they should be forgiven all the sins which they had committed before him as ignorance:''
but there does not appear throughout the whole prayer one single petition for the pardon of any sin at all.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
A prayer of Habakkuk - o. The “prayer” of the prophet, in the strictest sense of the word, is contained in the words of Habakkuk 3:2. The rest is, in its form, praise and thanksgiving, chiefly for God’s past mercies in the deliverance from Egypt and the entering into the promised land. But thanksgiving is an essential part of prayer, and Hannah is said to have “prayed,” whereas the hymn which followed is throughout one thanksgiving . In that also these former deliverances were images of things to come, of every deliverance afterward, and, especially, of that complete divine deliverance which our Lord Jesus Christ performed for us from the power of Satan 1 Corinthians 10:11, the whole is one prayer: “Do, O Lord, as Thou hast done of old; forsake not Thine own works. Such were Thy deeds once; fulfill them now, all which they shadowed forth.” It is then a prayer for the manifestation of God’s power, and therewith the destruction of His enemies, thenceforth to the Day of Judgment. Cyril: “Having completed the discourse about Babylon, and having fore-announced most clearly, that those who destroyed the holy city and carried Israel captive shall be severely punished, he passes suitably to the mystery of Christ, and from the redemption which took place partially in one nation, he carries on the discourse to that universal redemption, whereby the remnant of Israel, and no less the whole world has been saved.”
Upon Shigionoth - The title, “Shiggaion,” occurs only once besides Psalms 7:0. Upon, in the titles of the Psalms, is used with the instrument , the melody , or the first words of the hymn, whose melody has been adopted The two first are mentioned by a Jewish Commentator (Tanchum) with others, “in his delight,” or “his errors,” in the sense, that God will forgive them. This, which the versions and Jewish commentators mostly adopt, would be a good sense, but is hardly consistent with the Hebrew usage. “Shiggaion of David,” as a title of a Psalm, must necessarily describe the Psalm itself, as “Mismor of David,” “Michtam of David,” “Tephillah of David,” “Maschil of David.” But “Shiggaion,” as a “great error,” is not a title: nor does it suit the character of the Psalm, which relates to calumny not to error.
It probably, then, means a psalm with music expressive of strong emotion, “erratic” or “dithyrambic.” Habakkuk’s title, on Shigionoth (plural) then would mean upon, or (as we should say,) “set to” music of psalms of this sort The number “three” remarkably predominates in this psalm (Habakkuk 3:6 has 15 words, in five combinations of three words; Habakkuk 3:3, Habakkuk 3:10 have 12 words, in four 3’s: Habakkuk 3:4, Habakkuk 3:9, Habakkuk 3:19 have 9 words in three 3’s: Habakkuk 3:5, Habakkuk 3:12, Habakkuk 3:15, Habakkuk 3:18 have 6 words in two 3’s: Habakkuk 3:17 is divided into 4-3-3-4-3-3; Habakkuk 3:8 is 3-3-3-3-2; Habakkuk 3:11 is 4-3-3; Habakkuk 3:16 is 3-3-3-2-2-2-3. This forces itself on every reader. Delitzsch quotes the Meor. Enaim, i. 60, “The prayer of Habakkuk goeth on three’s”) yet so that long measures are succeeded by very short.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER III
The prophet, being apprised of the calamities which were to be
brought on his country by the ministry of the Chaldeans, and
the punishments which awaited the Chaldeans themselves, partly
struck with terror, and partly revived with hope and confidence
in the Divine mercy, beseeches God to hasten the redemption of
his people, 1, 2.
Such a petition would naturally lead his thoughts to the
astonishing deliverance which God vouchsafed to the same people
of old; and the inference from it was obvious, that he could
with the same ease deliver their posterity now. But, hurried
on by the fire and impetuosity of his spirit, he disdains to
wait the process of connecting these ideas, and bounds at once
into the midst of his subject: "God came from Teman," c., 3.
He goes on to describe the majesty and might which God
displayed in conducting his people to the land of promise,
selecting the most remarkable circumstances, and clothing them
in the most lofty language. As he goes along, his fancy becomes
more glowing, till at length he is transported to the scene of
action, and becomes an eyewitness of the wonders he describes.
"I beheld the tents of Cushan in affliction," 4-6.
After having touched on the principal circumstances of that
deliverance which he celebrates, he returns to what passed
before them in Egypt his enthusiasm having led him to begin
in the midst of his subject, 7-15.
And at last he ends the hymn as he began it, with expressing
his awe of the Divine judgments, and his firm trust in the
mercy and goodness of God while under them; and that in terms
of such singular beauty, elegance, and sublimity, as to form a
to proper conclusion to this admirable piece of Divinely
inspired composition, 16-19.
It would seem from the title, and the note appended at the
end, that it was set to music, and sung in the service of the
temple.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse Habakkuk 3:1. A prayer of Habakkuk - upon Shigionoth. — See the note on the title of Psalms 7:1, 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 has nothing but merely, A prayer of Habakkuk. And the Septuagint, instead of Shigionoth, have μεταωδης, with a hymn, which is copied by the Arabic.
I suspect that the title here given is of a posterior date to the prophecy. It appears to interrupt the connection between this and the termination of the preceding verse. See them together: -
Habakkuk 2:20: "But the Lord is in his holy temple: Be silent before him, all the earth.
Habakkuk 3:2: O Lord, I have heard thy speech: I have feared, O Lord, thy work.
As the years approach thou hast shown; As the years approach thou makest known.
In wrath thou rememberest mercy."
The prophet may here refer to the speech which God had communicated to him, Habakkuk 1:1-11; Habakkuk 2:4-20, and the terror with which he was struck, because of the judgments denounced against Jerusalem. I have followed the version of Apb. Newcome in this first verse. The critical reader may consult his notes, and the various readings of Kennicott and De Rossi.
