Habakkuk 3:3-7, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Habakkuk 3:3-7
The Holy One Approaches and Creation Trembles
The Holy One comes from the south with hidden radiance
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. His brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power. Horns here is the difficult image often heard as rays from the hand. Power is shown and still not grasped.
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. 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.
Cushan and Midian tremble as memory, not as a route plan
I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Teman, Paran, Cushan, and Midian cue southern wilderness and older theophany memory. They do not predict a modern march.
Selah punctuates; its performance force is unknown. Plague belongs to the poem. It does not diagnose a present outbreak as this scene, and creation's trembling is not a warrant for readers to make war.
How this should shape us
Set present fear inside remembered holy power without turning poetry into a map. Teach the southern names as ancient cues. Do not forecast an invasion from Teman, and do not call today's disease this pestilence.
Teach it back
Explain Habakkuk 3:3-7 in your own words. Include its place in Habakkuk's complaint-answer-woe-prayer movement, the unit's main turn, one material uncertainty, and one misuse the context rules out.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Line divisions, rays or horns, the force of several verbs, geographic traditions, and compositional layers are debated. The poetic movement from divine approach to creation-wide trembling is strong.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and canonical verse coverage.
Habakkuk 3:3-7, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated terms, clause relationships, and base forms behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Hab.xml, 3:3-7
Supports: Verse-level translation, Hebrew, text-critical, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Habakkuk PDF, printed pp. 1774-1775, translation and notes on 3:3-7
Supports: Whole-book setting, complaint-and-answer structure, 2:4, five woes, chapter 3 theophany, and closing trust.
Gowan, 'Habakkuk,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 601-604
Supports: Book movement, complaint and oracle forms, Chaldean horizon, 2:4, five woes, 2:20 transition, theophany, salvation, and the closing confidence.
Thompson, 'Prayer, Oracle and Theophany,' pp. 42-43
Supports: Ancient unit delimiters, structural alternatives, poetic inclusios, prayer and theophany movement, textual uncertainty, and final trust.
Prinsloo, 'Reading Habakkuk 3,' pp. 4-5 and Addendum
Supports: Controlled English access to the Old Greek form and its material differences from the Masoretic tradition.
NETS, The Twelve Prophets, printed pp. 807-810, Habbakoum 3:3-7
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and canonical verse coverage.
Exact location: Habakkuk 3:3-7, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Habakkuk
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated terms, clause relationships, and base forms behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Hab.xml, 3:3-7
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Habakkuk with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, Hebrew, text-critical, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Habakkuk PDF, printed pp. 1774-1775, translation and notes on 3:3-7
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Habakkuk
Donald E. Gowan
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book setting, complaint-and-answer structure, 2:4, five woes, chapter 3 theophany, and closing trust.
Exact location: Gowan, 'Habakkuk,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 601-604
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
Prayer, Oracle and Theophany: The Book of Habakkuk
Michael E. W. Thompson
Tyndale Bulletin 44.1, 1993
Supports: Book movement, complaint and oracle forms, Chaldean horizon, 2:4, five woes, 2:20 transition, theophany, salvation, and the closing confidence.
Exact location: Thompson, 'Prayer, Oracle and Theophany,' pp. 42-43
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
Reading Habakkuk 3 in the Light of Ancient Unit Delimiters
Gert T. M. Prinsloo
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 69.1, 2013
Supports: Ancient unit delimiters, structural alternatives, poetic inclusios, prayer and theophany movement, textual uncertainty, and final trust.
Exact location: Prinsloo, 'Reading Habakkuk 3,' pp. 4-5 and Addendum
Open source ↗ancient greek translation in modern english
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: The Twelve Prophets
George E. Howard
Oxford University Press / International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 2009, electronic corrections through 2021
Supports: Controlled English access to the Old Greek form and its material differences from the Masoretic tradition.
Exact location: NETS, The Twelve Prophets, printed pp. 807-810, Habbakoum 3:3-7
Open source ↗