Passage

Habakkuk 3.18

Book: Habakkuk · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

16. I heard, and my body trembled, My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble in my place; Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, For the coming up of the people that invadeth us. 17. For though the fig-tree shall not flourish, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls:

18. Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; And he maketh my feet like hinds' feet, And will make me to walk upon my high places. For the Chief Musician, on my stringed instruments. (Habakkuk 3:16-19, ASV)

WEB

16. I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us. 17. For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:

18. yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments. (Habakkuk 3:16-19, WEB)

KJV

16. When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. ^{invade: or, cut them in pieces} 17. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: ^{fail: Heb. lie}

18. Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. ^{stringed: Heb. Neginoth} (Habakkuk 3:16-19, KJV)

YLT

16. I have heard, and my belly trembleth, At the noise have my lips quivered, Rottenness doth come into my bones, And in my place I do tremble, That I rest for a day of distress, At the coming up of the people, he overcometh it. 17. Though the fig-tree doth not flourish, And there is no produce among vines, Failed hath the work of the olive, And fields have not yielded food, Cut off from the fold hath been the flock, And there is no herd in the stalls.

18. Yet I, in Jehovah I exult, I do joy in the God of my salvation.

Jehovah the Lord [is] my strength, And He doth make my feet like hinds, And on my high-places causeth me to tread. To the overseer with my stringed instruments! (Habakkuk 3:16-19, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

Speaker: Habakkuk, in the prayer of chapter 3, "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth" (3:1)
Audience: YHWH, with the prayer arranged for worship ("For the Chief Musician, on my stringed instruments," 3:19)
Location: Judah, presumably Jerusalem. The book names no town and gives no family line for the prophet.
Time period: Late seventh century BC, as the Chaldeans (the Neo-Babylonian empire) were rising (1:6). The book carries no regnal date; most place it within a few years either side of Babylon's victory at Carchemish in 605 BC.

Theological reading

"Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation." The book that opened with "how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?" (1:2) ends with this.

Everything gone. The verse before it lists six failures: the fig tree does not blossom, there is no fruit in the vines, the olive fails, the fields yield no food, the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls (3:17). That is the whole farming economy of Judah. The prophet has just said he must "wait quietly for the day of trouble" and that the invasion makes his body tremble (3:16). Nothing has improved.

Yet. The joy is not in the circumstances but "in Jehovah" and in "the God of my salvation." The two verbs, "rejoice" (Strong's H5937) and "joy" (H1523), are strong words of exultation, and "salvation" (H3468) is from the root of "save" (H3467) in the opening complaint, where the prophet said God "wilt not save" (1:2). The same prophet now names Him as the God of his salvation, before the salvation is visible.

Strength for high places. The next verse borrows from Psalm 18:33: "Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; And he maketh my feet like hinds' feet, And will make me to walk upon my high places" (3:19). The answer to the book's questions is not an explanation of every loss. It is a God who is enough while the losses stand.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD

Quoted in

Lexicon:

H3444 - yeshuah

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.