--- title: "Habakkuk 3 - Study King James Bible with keil and delitzsch old testament commentary" description: "Read Habakkuk 3 with keil and delitzsch old testament commentary commentary. 1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. 2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years," image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk/3" --- [ Read](/kjv/habakkuk/3)[ Commentary](/study/habakkuk/3)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/habakkuk/3) Audio 1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.* 2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, *and* was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.** 3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.* 4 And *his* brightness was as the light; he had horns *coming* out of his hand: and there *was* the hiding of his power.* 5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.* 6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways *are* everlasting. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: *and* the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.** 8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? *was* thine anger against the rivers? *was* thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses *and* thy chariots of salvation?* 9 Thy bow was made quite naked, *according* to the oaths of the tribes, *even thy* word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.* 10 The mountains saw thee, *and* they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, *and* lifted up his hands on high. 11 The sun *and* moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, *and* at the shining of thy glittering spear.* 12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. 13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, *even* for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.* 14 Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing *was* as to devour the poor secretly.* 15 Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, *through* the heap of great waters.* 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.* 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:* 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 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.** [Habakkuk 2](/study/habakkuk/2) [Zephaniah 1](/study/zephaniah/1) ## Commentary To verse 1 The song has a special heading, after the fashion of the psalms, in which the contents, the author, and the poetical character of the ode are indicated. The contents are called *t e phillâh*, a prayer, like [Psalms 17:1-15](/kjv/psalms/17/1-15); 86; 90; 102, and [Psalms 142:1-7](/kjv/psalms/142/1-7), not merely with reference to the fact that it commences with a prayer to God, but because that prayer announces the contents of the ode after the manner of a theme, and the whole of the ode is simply the lyrical unfolding of that prayer. In order, however, to point at the same time to the prophetic character of the prayer, that it may not be regarded as a lyrical effusion of the subjective emotions, wishes, and hopes of a member of the congregation, but may be recognised as a production of the prophets, enlightened by the Spirit of Jehovah, the name of the author is given with the predicate “the prophet;” and to this there is added על שׁגינות , to indicate the poetico-subjective character, through which it is distinguished from prophecy in the narrower sense. The expression “upon Shigionoth” cannot refer to the contents or the object of the ode; for although *shiggâyōn*, according to its etymon *shâgâh* = *shâgag*, to transgress by mistake, to sin, might have the meaning transgression in a moral sense, and consequently might be referred to the sins of transgressors, either of the Judaeans or the Chaldaeans, such an assumption is opposed both to the use of *shiggâyōn* in the heading to Psalm 7, and also to the analogy between *‛al shigyōnōth*, and such headings to the psalms as *‛al haggittı̄th*, *‛al n e gı̄nōth*, and other words introduced with *‛al*. Whilst *shiggâyōn* in [Psalms 7:1](/kjv/psalms/7/1) indicates the style of poetry in which the psalm is composed, all the notices in the headings to the psalms that are introduced with *‛al* refer either to the melody or style in which the psalms are to be sung, or to the musical accompaniment with which they are to be introduced into the worship of God. This musico-liturgical signification is to be retained here also, since it is evident from the subscription in [Habakkuk 3:19](/kjv/habakkuk/3/19), and the repetition of *Selah* three times ([Habakkuk 3:3](/kjv/habakkuk/3/3), [Habakkuk 3:9](/kjv/habakkuk/3/9), [Habakkuk 3:13](/kjv/habakkuk/3/13)), that our hymn was to be used with musical accompaniment. Now, as *shâgâh*, to err, then to reel to and fro, is applied to the giddiness both of intoxication and of love ([Isaiah 28:7](/kjv/isaiah/28/7); [Proverbs 20:1](/kjv/proverbs/20/1); [Proverbs 5:20](/kjv/proverbs/5/20)), *shiggâyōn* signifies reeling, and in the terminology of poetry a reeling song, i.e., a song delivered in the greatest excitement, or with a rapid change of emotion, *dithyrambus* (see Clauss on [Psalms 7:1](/kjv/psalms/7/1); Ewald, Delitzsch, and others); hence על שׁגינות , after dithyrambs, or “after the manner of a stormy, martial, and triumphal ode” (Schmieder). ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk/3#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk/3#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk/3","name":"Habakkuk 3 - Study King James Bible with keil and delitzsch old testament commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk/3#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Habakkuk 3 with keil and delitzsch old testament commentary commentary. 1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. 2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk/3#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk/3"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk/3#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary","name":"keil and delitzsch old testament commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk","name":"Habakkuk"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk/3","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/keil-and-delitzsch-old-testament-commentary/habakkuk/3","name":"3"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```