The Book of Habakkuk · Chapter 3 of 3

Habakkuk 3

Habakkuk 3 is chapter 3 of 3 in the Book of Habakkuk. Here are all 19 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

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Bishop Challoner wrote no summary for this chapter.

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A Prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet on Behalf of Those Who Are Ignorant.†
Oratio Habacuc prophetæ, pro ignorantiis.
2
Lord, I heard what has been said about you, and I was afraid. Lord, your work, in the midst of years, revive it. In the midst of years, you will make it known. When you have become angry, you will remember mercy.†
Domine, audivi auditionem tuam, et timui. Domine, opus tuum, in medio annorum vivifica illud; in medio annorum notum facies: cum iratus fueris, misericordiæ recordaberis.
3
God will come from the south, and the Holy One from mount Pharan. His glory has covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.†
Deus ab austro veniet, et Sanctus de monte Pharan: operuit cælos gloria ejus, et laudis ejus plena est terra.
4
His brightness shall be like the light; horns are in his hands. There, his strength has been hidden.†
Splendor ejus ut lux erit, cornua in manibus ejus: ibi abscondita est fortitudo ejus.
5
Death will go forth before his face. And the devil shall depart before his feet.†
Ante faciem ejus ibit mors, et egredietur diabolus ante pedes ejus.
6
He stood, and measured the earth. He looked, and dissolved the Gentiles. And the mountains of ages past have been shattered. The hills of the world became curved by the journeys of his eternity.†
Stetit, et mensus est terram; aspexit, et dissolvit gentes, et contriti sunt montes sæculi: incurvati sunt colles mundi ab itineribus æternitatis ejus.
7
I saw the tents of Ethiopia for their iniquity; the tent-skins of the land of Midian will be thrown into confusion.†
Pro iniquitate vidi tentoria Æthiopiæ; turbabuntur pelles terræ Madian.
8
Could you have been angry with the rivers, Lord? Or was your fury within the rivers, or your indignation in the sea? He will ascend upon your horses, and your four-horse chariots are salvation.†
Numquid in fluminibus iratus es, Domine? aut in fluminibus furor tuus? vel in mari indignatio tua? Qui ascendes super equos tuos, et quadrigæ tuæ salvatio.
9
Being stirred up, you will take up your bow, the oaths you have spoken to the tribes. You will split apart the Rivers of the earth.
Suscitans suscitabis arcum tuum, juramenta tribubus quæ locutus es; fluvios scindes terræ.
10
They saw you, and the mountains grieved. The great body of waters crossed over. The abyss uttered its voice. The pinnacle lifted up its hands.
Viderunt te, et doluerunt montes; gurges aquarum transiit: dedit abyssus vocem suam; altitudo manus suas levavit.
11
The sun and the moon have stood firm in their dwelling place; with the light of your arrows, they shall go forth in the splendor of your flashing spear.
Sol et luna steterunt in habitaculo suo: in luce sagittarum tuarum ibunt, in splendore fulgurantis hastæ tuæ.
12
With a roar, you will trample the earth. In your fury, you will cause the nations to be stupefied.
In fremitu conculcabis terram; in furore obstupefacies gentes.
13
You have gone forth for the salvation of your people, for salvation with your Christ. You struck the head of the house of the impious. You have laid bare his foundation all the way to the neck.†
Egressus es in salutem populi tui, in salutem cum christo tuo: percussisti caput de domo impii, denudasti fundamentum ejus usque ad collum.
14
You have cursed his scepters, the head of his warriors, those who approached like a whirlwind so as to scatter me. Their exultation was like one who devours the poor in secret.
Maledixisti sceptris ejus, capiti bellatorum ejus, venientibus ut turbo ad dispergendum me: exsultatio eorum, sicut ejus qui devorat pauperem in abscondito.
15
You made a way in the sea for your horses, in the mud of great waters.†
Viam fecisti in mari equis tuis, in luto aquarum multarum.
16
I heard, and my stomach became troubled. My lips trembled at the voice. Let decay enter into my bones and gush forth from within me. Then I may rest in the day of tribulation, so that I may ascend to our people well-prepared.†
Audivi, et conturbatus est venter meus; a voce contremuerunt labia mea. Ingrediatur putredo in ossibus meis, et subter me scateat: ut requiescam in die tribulationis, ut ascendam ad populum accinctum nostrum.
17
For the fig tree will not flower, and there will be no bud on the vines. The labor of the olive tree will be misleading, and the farmland will produce no food. The sheep will be cut off from the sheepfold, and there will be no herd at the manger.
Ficus enim non florebit, et non erit germen in vineis; mentietur opus olivæ, et arva non afferent cibum: abscindetur de ovili pecus, et non erit armentum in præsepibus.
18
But I will rejoice in the Lord; and I will exult in God my Jesus.
Ego autem in Domino gaudebo; et exsultabo in Deo Jesu meo.
19
The Lord God is my strength. And he will set my feet like those of the stag. And he, the victor, will lead me beyond my high places while singing psalms.
Deus Dominus fortitudo mea, et ponet pedes meos quasi cervorum: et super excelsa mea deducet me victor in psalmis canentem.

Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain · Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592)

Bishop Challoner’s notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750). They comment on its older English wording, which can differ from the CPDV above; the verse numbers are matched to the CPDV.

Verse 1
That is, for the sins of his people. In the Hebrew, it is Sigionoth: which some take to signify a musical instrument, or tune; with which this sublime prayer and canticle was to be sung.
Verse 2
That is, thy oracles, the great and wonderful things thou hast revealed to me; and I was struck with a reverential fear and awe.-- Ibid.
Verse 2
The great work of the redemption of man, which thou wilt bring to life and light in the midst of the years, when our calamities and miseries shall be at their height.
Verse 3
“God will come from the south” … God himself will come to give us his law, and to conduct us into the true land of promise: as heretofore he came from the South (in the Hebrew Theman) and from mount Pharan to give his law to his people in the desert. See Deut. 33. 2.
Verse 4
“Horns” … That is, strength and power, which, by a Hebrew phrase, are called horns. Or beams of light, which come forth from his hands. Or it may allude to the cross, in the horns of which the hands of Christ were fastened, where his strength was hidden, by which he overcame the world, and drove out death and the devil.
Verse 5
Both death and the devil shall be the executioners of his justice against his enemies: as they were heretofore against the Egyptians and Chanaanites.
Verse 6
One look of his eye is enough to melt all the nations, and to reduce them to nothing. For all heaven and earth disappear when they come before his light. Apoc. 20. 11. Ibid.
Verse 6
By the mountains and hills are signified the great ones of the world, that persecute the church, whose power was quickly crushed by the Almighty.
Verse 7
“Ethiopia” … the land of the Blacks, and Madian, are here taken for the enemies of God and his people: who shall perish for their iniquity.
Verse 8
“With the rivers” … He alludes to the wonders wrought heretofore by the Lord in favour of his people Israel, when the waters of the rivers, viz., of Arnon and Jordan, and of the Red Sea, retired before their face: when he came as it were with his horses and chariots to save them when he took up his bow for their defence, in consequence of the oath he had made to their tribes: when the mountains trembled, and the deep stood with its waves raised up in a heap, as with hands lifted up to heaven: when the sun and the moon stood still at his command, etc., to comply with his anger, not against the rivers and sea, but against the enemies of his people. How much more will he do in favour of his Son: and against the enemies of his church?
Verse 13
Such was Pharao heretofore: such shall Antichrist be hereafter.
Verse 15
To deliver thy people from the Egyptian bondage: and thou shalt work the like wonders in the spiritual way, to rescue the children of the church from their enemies.
Verse 16
Viz., the evils that are now coming upon the Israelites for their sins; and that shall come hereafter upon all impenitent sinners; and the foresight that I have of these miseries makes me willing to die, that I may be at rest, before this general tribulation comes, in which all good things shall be withdrawn from the wicked.-- Ibid.
Verse 16
That I may join the happy company in the bosom of Abraham, that are girded, that is, prepared for their journey, by which they shall attend their Lord, when he shall ascend into heaven. To which high and happy place, my Jesus, that is, my Saviour, the great conqueror of death and hell, shall one day conduct me rejoicing and singing psalms of praise, ver. 18 and 19.

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Habakkuk 3, Catholic Public Domain Version

Bishop Challoner’s notes