Habakkuk 3:5

New Revised Standard

Before him went pestilence, and plague followed close behind.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Plague goes before him,and pestilence follows in his steps.

Hebrew Names Version
Plague went before him, And pestilence followed his feet.

King James Version (1611)
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coales went forth at his feete.

King James Version
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.

English Standard Version
Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels.

New American Standard Bible
Before Him goes plague, And plague comes forth after Him.

New Century Version
Sickness goes before him, and disease follows behind him.

Amplified Bible
Before Him goes the pestilence [of judgment as in Egypt], And [the burning] plague [of condemnation] follows at His feet [as in Sennacherib's army].

Geneva Bible (1587)
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coales went forth before his feete.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Before Him goes pestilence, And plague comes after Him.

Legacy Standard Bible
Before Him goes pestilence,And plague comes after Him.

Berean Standard Bible
Plague went before Him, and pestilence followed in His steps.

Contemporary English Version
Dreadful diseases and plagues marched in front and followed behind.

Complete Jewish Bible
Before him goes pestilence, and close behind, the plague.

Darby Translation
Before him went the pestilence, And a burning flame went forth at his feet.

Easy-to-Read Version
The sickness went before him, and the destroyer followed behind him.

George Lamsa Translation
Before him went pestilence, and birds went forth before his feet.

Good News Translation
He sends disease before him and commands death to follow him.

Lexham English Bible
Before him went Disease, and Pestilence went out at his feet.

Literal Translation
A plague goes before Him, and lightning went forth at His feet.

American Standard Version
Before him went the pestilence, And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.

Bible in Basic English
Before him went disease, and flames went out at his feet.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Before him goeth the pestilence, and fiery bolts go forth at His feet.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coales went foorth before his feete.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Before his face shall go a report, and it shall go forth into the plains,

English Revised Version
Before him went the pestilence, and fiery bolts went forth at his feet.

World English Bible
Plague went before him, And pestilence followed his feet.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
There the strengthe of hym was hid, deth schal go bifore his face; the deuel schal go out bifore hise feet.

Update Bible Version
Before him went the pestilence, And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.

Webster's Bible Translation
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.

New English Translation
Plague goes before him; pestilence marches right behind him.

New King James Version
Before Him went pestilence, And fever followed at His feet.

New Living Translation
Pestilence marches before him; plague follows close behind.

New Life Bible
Disease goes before Him, and much trouble comes after Him.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Before him, marcheth pestilence, - and fever, goeth forth, at his feet:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Death shall go before his face. And the devil shall go forth before his feet.

Revised Standard Version
Before him went pestilence, and plague followed close behind.

Young's Literal Translation
Before Him goeth pestilence, And a burning flame goeth forth at His feet.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Destruccio goeth before him, and burnynge cressettes go from his fete.

Contextual Overview

³ God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. ⁴ The brightness was like the sun; rays came forth from his hand, where his power lay hidden. ⁵ Before him went pestilence, and plague followed close behind. ⁶ He stopped and shook the earth; he looked and made the nations tremble. The eternal mountains were shattered; along his ancient pathways the everlasting hills sank low. ⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction; the tent-curtains of the land of Midian trembled. ⁸ Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord ? Or your anger against the rivers, or your rage against the sea, when you drove your horses, your chariots to victory? ⁹ You brandished your naked bow, sated were the arrows at your command. Selah You split the earth with rivers. ¹⁰ The mountains saw you, and writhed; a torrent of water swept by; the deep gave forth its voice. The sun raised high its hands; ¹¹ the moon stood still in its exalted place, at the light of your arrows speeding by, at the gleam of your flashing spear. ¹² In fury you trod the earth, in anger you trampled nations.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

went: Exodus 12:29, Exodus 12:30, Numbers 14:12, Numbers 16:46-49, Psalms 78:50, Psalms 78:51, Nahum 1:2, Nahum 1:3

and: Psalms 18:7-13

burning coals: or, burning diseases, Deuteronomy 32:24

Reciprocal: Exodus 24:17 - like devouring fire 2 Samuel 22:9 - coals Job 41:21 - General Psalms 18:12 - At the Psalms 18:13 - coals Psalms 46:6 - earth Psalms 50:3 - a fire Psalms 97:3 - General Psalms 104:32 - looketh Amos 8:8 - the land

Cross-References

Genesis 2:17
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

Genesis 3:2
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;

Genesis 3:3
but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'"

Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.

Genesis 3:7
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Genesis 3:10
He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

Genesis 3:13
Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:14
The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel."

Genesis 3:22
Then the Lord God said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"—

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Before him went the pestilence,.... Either in the land of Egypt, when he marched through that, and slew all their firstborn,

Psalms 78:50 or rather which he sent before him, and Israel his people among the nations of the land of Canaan, with other diseases and judgments, and destroyed them to make way for his people, which may be here alluded to, Exodus 23:27 and may point at the judgments of God, and those pestilential diseases which seized upon the persecutors of the Christians, both among the Jews, as Herod, Acts 12:23 and among the Gentiles, as many of the Roman emperors, who died violent and grievous deaths; and particularly it may regard the pestilence, famine, and other sore judgments preceding the destruction of Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it, for their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah:

and burning coals went forth at his feet; which some understand of hailstones mingled with fire, to which the allusion may be, being one of the plagues of Egypt, Exodus 9:23. Some interpret it of hot diseases, burning fevers, so Kimchi; which are at the command of God, and sent forth by him when he pleases, to do his will. The ancient fathers expound all this of the destruction of death, and the devil, and his principalities, by Christ upon the cross; and the Targum is,

"from before him was sent forth the angel of death, and his word went forth in a flame of fire;''

but this seems to have respect to the burning of the city and temple of Jerusalem, which was done by the Romans as instruments, but according to the direction, order, and will of Christ, Matthew 22:7 see

Psalms 18:12.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Before Him went (goeth) the pestilence - then to consume His enemies. Exodus 23:27 : “I will send My fear before thee, and will destroy all the people, to whom thou shalt come,” and the lightnings are a token that, Psalms 68:1-2, “they which hate Him, flee before Him, and the wicked perish at the Presence of God.” So, on His Ascension, Herod and Pilate were smitten by Him, and Elymas and Simon Magus before His apostles, and whatsoever hath lifted itself up against Him hath perished, and antichrist shall perish, Psalms 11:4, “at the breath of His mouth,” and all the ungodly on the Day of Judgment.

And burning coals - rather, as English, “burning fever”, Deuteronomy 32:2. (where also it is singular, as only beside in רשׁף בני b^enēy resheph Job 5:7.) So A. E., “burning coals” is from Kimchi, Tanchum gives as different opinions “sparks” or “arrows” or “pestilence;” but the meanings “sparks, arrows,” are ascribed only to the plural. Psalms 76:4; 88:48; Song of Solomon 8:6. The central meaning is probably “burning heat.”

Went forth at his feet - i. e., followed Him. Messengers of death went as it were before Him, as the front of His army, and the rear thereof was other forms of death Death and destruction of all sorts are a great army at His command, going before Him as heralds of His Coming (such as are judgments in this world) or attendants upon Him, at the judgment when He appeareth 2 Tim. 6:1. in His kingdom, when, Matthew 13:51, Matthew 13:42, “they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 5. Before him went the pestilence — This plague was several times inflicted on the disobedient Israelites in the wilderness; see Numbers 11:33; Numbers 14:37; Numbers 16:46; and was always the proof that the just God was then manifesting his power among them.

Burning coals event forth at his feet. — Newcome translates, "And flashes of fire went forth after him." The disobedient Israelities were consumed by a fire that went out from Jehovah; see Leviticus 10:2; Numbers 11:1; Numbers 16:35. And the burnt-offering was consumed by a fire which came out from before Jehovah, Leviticus 11:24.