Habakkuk 3:14

Hab 3:14 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.

Ver. 14. Thou didst strike through with his staves, the heads of his villages] Heb. Thou didst pierce, or bore through, as with an auger, with his staves (a metaphor from shepherds, according to that, Psa 23:4, "thy rod and thy staff"), or, with his tribes (the Dωδεκαφυλον, Act 26:7), that entered the land of promise; with these men, or with these weapons, though never so unlikely, thou didst, by the hand of David, wound the hairy scalp of thine enemies, those pagans and persecutors; and much more wilt, by the Son of David, subdue Satan and his complices.

They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me] Heb. They tempested, they raised a hurly-burly, being turbulent spirits, as the devil is, to disperse me, as the dust of the mountains is scattered before a whirlwind.

Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor] i.e. Poor me, they devoured in secret, as if God had been nothing aware of their doings; and this was their exultation, or rejoicing; they took pleasure in their cruelty, and promised themselves impunity.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. The enemy was overwhelmed completely when his warriors were cut to pieces.

With his staves — Or, spears; R.V., “with his own staves”; that is, the staves of the enemy. His own weapons, now directed by Jehovah, will be used by the destroyers (compare Eze_38:21; Zec_14:13). It is not impossible, however, that for “his” we should read “thy,” that is, the staves or spears of Jehovah (compare Hab_3:11).

The head of his villages — R.V., “the head of his warriors.” The doubtful word is found only here; LXX. renders “princes.” The use of other words derived from the same root would favor the meaning “inhabitants of the plain,” in distinction from those living in walled towns; hence the translation of A.V., “villages.” From the meaning people scattered over the plain the more general “crowd” or “multitude” (compare margin, “hordes”) is derived, and since the poet deals with war, a “horde of warriors”; and this seems to be the meaning most suitable in this place, Jehovah pierced the heads of the hostile warriors.

They came out as a whirlwind — These words are better connected with the preceding as a relative clause, “who came out as a whirlwind,” that is, with the swiftness and violence of a storm.

To scatter me — In the vividness of the description the poet transposes himself into the midst of the events and includes himself among the people threatened by the enemy.

Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly — Again better taken as a relative clause, “whose rejoicing.… “ The thought of the line seems to be that, while the enemies were advancing, they rejoiced at the thought of the helplessness of Israel, and they looked forward with exultation to the moment when they would have the poor, helpless people at their mercy, to devour them at their leisure (compare Exo_14:3; Exo_15:9). The figure is taken from the practice of a wild beast to seize the prey and carry it to its den, there to devour it (Psa_10:9; Isa_5:29). While this seems to be the general thought, it is difficult to get it from the present Hebrew text. Marti alters the text of Hab_3:14 so as to read, “thou didst pierce with thy weapons his head; his princes scattered like chaff; to scatter me came their army, to devour the poor in secret.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God destroyed his enemies both great and small with their own weapons, though they were never so fierce against his Church.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

strike . . . with his staves--with the "wicked" (Hab 3:13) foe's own sword (MAURER translates, "spears") (Jdg 7:22).

head of his villages--Not only kings were overthrown by God's hand, but His vengeance passed through the foe's villages and dependencies. A just retribution, as the foe had made "the inhabitants of Israel's villages to cease" (Jdg 5:7). GROTIUS translates, "of his warriors"; GESENIUS, "the chief of his captains."

to scatter me--Israel, with whom Habakkuk identifies himself (compare Hab 1:12).

rejoicing . . . to devour the poor secretly--"The poor" means the Israelites, for whom in their helpless state the foe lurks in his lair, like a wild beast, to pounce on and devour (Psa 10:9; Psa 17:12).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. Thou didst strike through] The Hebrew will bear this sense: "Thou hast pierced amidst their tribes the head of their troops," referring to Pharaoh and his generals, who came like a whirlwind to fall upon the poor Israelites, when they appeared to be hemmed in by sea, and no place for their escape. If we follow the common reading, it seems to intimate that the troops of Pharaoh, in their confusion (for God shone out upon them from the cloud) fell foul of each other; and with their staves, or weapons, slew one another: but the head of the villages or towns, i.e., Pharaoh, was drowned with his army in the Red Sea.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

At the beginning of this verse the Prophet pursues the same subject—that God had wounded all the enemies of his people; and he says that the head of villages or towns had been wounded, though some think that פרזים, perezim, mean rather the inhabitants of towns; for the Hebrews call fortified towns or villages פרזות, perezut, and the word is commonly found in the feminine gender; but as it is here a masculine noun, it is thought that it means the inhabitants. At the same time this does not much affect the subject; for the Prophet simply means, that not only things had been overthrown by God’s hand, but also all the provinces under their authority; as though he had said that God’s vengeance, when his purpose was to defend his people, advanced through all the villages and through every region, so that not a corner was safe. But we must also notice what follows—with his rods. The Prophet means that the wicked had been smitten by their own sword. Though the word rods is put here, it is yet to be taken for all kinds of instruments or weapons; it is the same as though it was said that they had been wounded by their own hands.

We now perceive the import of this clause—that God not only put forth his strength when he purposed to crush the enemies of his people, but that he had also smitten them with infatuation and madness, so that they destroyed themselves by their own hands. And this was done, as in the case of the Midianites, who, either by turning their swords against one another, fell by mutual wounds, or by slaying themselves, perished by their own hands. (Judges 7:2.) We indeed often read of the wicked that they ensnared themselves, fell into the pit which they had made, and, in short, perished through their own artifices; and the Prophet says here that the enemies of the Church had fallen, through God’s singular kindness, though no one rose up against them; for they had transfixed or wounded themselves by their own staff. Some read—“Thou hast cursed his sceptres and the head of his villages;” but the interpretation which I have given is much more appropriate.

He adds, that they came like a whirlwind. It is indeed a verb in the future tense; but the sentence must be thus rendered—“When they rushed as a whirlwind to cast me down, when their exultation was to devour the poor in their hiding-places.” It is indeed only a single verb, but it comes from סער, sor, which means a whirlwind, and we cannot render it otherwise than by a paraphrase. They rushed, he says, like a whirlwind. The Prophet here enlarges on the subject of God’s power, for he had checked the enemies of his people when they rushed on with so much impetuosity. Had their advance been slow God might have frustrated their attempts without a miracle, but as their own madness rendered them precipitate, and made them to be like a whirlwind, God’s power was more clearly known in restraining such violence. We now understand the import of what is here said; for the Prophet’s special object is not to complain of the violent and impetuous rage of enemies, but to exalt the power of God in checking the violent assaults of those enemies whom he saw raging against his people.

He subjoins, their exultation was to devour the poor. He intimates that there was nothing in the world capable of resisting the wicked, had not God brought miraculous help from heaven; for when they came to devour the poor, they came not to wage war, but to devour the prey like wild beasts. Then he says, to devour the poor in secret. He means, that the people of God had no strength to resist, except help beyond all hope came from heaven.

The import of the whole is—that when the miserable Israelites were without any protection, and exposed to the rage and cruelty of their enemies, they had been miraculously helped; for the Lord destroyed their enemies by their own swords; and that when they came, as it were to enjoy a victory, to take the prey, they were laid prostrate by the hand of God: hence his power shone forth more brightly. It follows—

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(14) Thou dost strike through with his staves . . .—Better, Thou dost pierce with his (scil., thine anointed people’s) spears the head of his (the enemy’s) princes, when they sweep by to scatter me abroad, when they exult as if to devour the afflicted secretly. The first clause is very obscure. Matteh means not only “spear,” but also “rod,” “stem,” “tribe” (see on Hab_3:9); and the word which we translate “princes” may also, perhaps, mean “villages.” (See on Jdg_5:7.) It is also uncertain to whom the possessive pronouns attached to these substantives refer the last clause we are reminded of several passages in the Psalms, notably, Psa_10:9; Psa_14:4; Psa_17:12.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. Thou didst strike through] Thou hast pierced through with thy spears the head of his warriors. The Heb. text reads his spears or staves, which would mean that the weapons of the enemy were turned against himself. But though the idea is not uncommon (Eze_38:21; Zec_14:13; cf. 1Sa_14:20) that the enemies of God’s people shall be thrown into a panic and mutually destroy each other, there is nothing in the present passage to suggest that idea. The term rendered warriors with Vulgate (A.V. villages) does not occur again; Sept. princes.

They came out] which were come out as a whirlwind.

Their rejoicing was] exulting as about to devour the afflicted in secret places; lit. their exulting was as to devour. The figure is taken from the wild beast who devours his prey in his covert (Psa_10:7-9; Psa_17:12). The enemy exulted or raised a cry of exultation, feeling that their prey, the afflicted, that is the people Israel, was within their grasp. Comp. Exo_14:3; Exo_15:9, “The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages,.... Of his warriors, mighty men, princes; so the Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; or of his armies, as Jarchi and Kimchi; which some interpret of Pharaoh and his host, who were destroyed by the steps and methods which they themselves took, going into the sea of themselves, and so were struck through with their own staves: others of the princes and armies of the Canaanites, who destroyed one another with their own weapons of war, as the Midianites did; though we have no instance of it on record: others of Goliath, as Burkius, called before "the head out of the house of the wicked", with respect to his rise from Gath; here, "the head of his Pagans", as he renders it, or Gentiles, with respect to his preeminence over the common soldiers, and all the Philistines: others of Sennacherib and his army, as Jarchi; but Kimchi's sense is much better, who interprets it of Gog and his army; and which, if understood of the Turk, the eastern antichrist, is not amiss; and so, as the western antichrist and his destruction are pointed at in the preceding verse Hab 3:13, the ruin of the other is intimated here; whose armies are expressed by a word which sometimes has the signification of villages; because he said, "I will go up to the land of unwalled villages", Eze 38:11 in the land of Judea about Jerusalem, where he will distribute and quarter his soldiers; and where he and they at the head of them in these villages will be cut to pieces with their own weapons; as it is said, "every man's sword shall be against his brother", Eze 38:21, Cocceius and Van Till render the words, "thou hast designed", marked out, or expressed by name, "in his tribes, the head of his villages"; and understand them, not of the enemy, but of Christ the anointed One, and his people; the Protestants, or reformed churches, who, being separated from antichrist, are represented as divided into tribes, and as dwelling in villages alone, and in separate states and kingdoms; and suppose that God has designed in his purposes and decrees some particular place, called the head or beginning of these villages, where his great and glorious work in the latter day will first appear; but what and where that place is is not said:

they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me; the prophet representing the true Israel, or the whole church of Christ: it is not unusual for mighty armies to be compared to a whirlwind coming forth with great force, suddenly and swiftly; see Jer 4:13 and particularly it is said of the army of Gog or the Turk, which shall invade Judea, in order to dispossess the Jews of their land, when converted and returned to it; "thou shall ascend and come like a storm, thou shall be like a cloud, to cover the land, thou and all thy bands, and many people with thee", Eze 38:9 who will think to scatter the people of the Jews again among the nations, as they have been:

their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly; the poor people of the Jews, to strip them of their substance, to carry off their gold and silver, their cattle and their goods; and which they thought they should as easily accomplish as a rich man gets the mastery over a poor man, and ruins him, that has none to help him; and that they should do this in a still, private, secret manner, so as that the Christian princes should have no knowledge of it, and come in to their assistance; and this they rejoiced at in themselves, and pleased themselves with it; see Eze 38:10. The above interpreters render this clause as a prayer, "let them tremble for fear": or be filled with horror, who come "to scatter me, whose rejoicing is as to devour the poor in secret"; which is interpreted of the Papists being terrified by some Christian princes, since the Reformation, from carrying some of their designs into execution; and of the clandestine arts and secret methods the Jesuits particularly use to do injury to the interest of Christ and true religion.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages - The destruction comes not upon himself only, but upon the whole multitude of his subjects; and this not by any mere act of divine might, but “with his own staves,” turning upon him the destruction which he prepared for others. So it often was of old. When the Midianites and Amalekites and the children of the east Jdg 6:3-4 wasted Israel in the days of Gideon “the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host” Jdg 7:22; and when God delivered the Philistines into the hand of Jonathan 1Sa 14:12, 1Sa 14:16, 1Sa 14:20 so it was with “Ammon Moab and the inhabitants of Mount Seir,” at the prayer of Jehoshaphat and his army 2Ch 20:22-23. And so it shall be, God says, at the end, of the army of God; “every man’s sword shall be against his brother,” Eze 38:21. and Isaiah says, Isa 9:20, “every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm,” and Zechariah Zec 14:13, “a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay every man hold on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.”

So Pharaoh drove Israel to the shore of the sea, in which he himself perished; Daniel’s accusers perished in the den of lions, from which Daniel was delivered unharmed; Dan 6:24. and so Haman was hanged on the gallows which he prepared for Mordecai Est 7:10. So it became a saying of Psalmists (Psa 7:5, add Psa 9:15; Psa 10:2; Psa 35:8; Psa 57:6; Psa 94:23; Psa 141:10; Pro 5:22; Pro 26:27; Ecc 10:8.) “He made a pit and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made; his mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate:” and this from above, sent down by God. The pagan too observed that there was “no juster law than that artificers of death by their own art should perish.” This too befell him, when he seemed to have all but gained his end. “They came (out) as a whirlwind to scatter me,” with whirlwind force, to drive them asunder to all the quarters of the heavens, as the wind scatters the particles of Job 37:11. cloud, or (Jer 13:24, add Jer 18:17; Isa 41:16, Delitzsch) “as the stubble which passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.” Pharaoh at the Red Sea or Sennacherib, sweep all before them. Pharaoh said Exo 15:9. “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.”

Their rejoicing - It is no longer one enemy. The malice of the members was concentrated in the head; the hatred concentrated in him was diffused in them. The readiness of instruments of evil to fulfill evil is an incentive to those who conceive it; those who seem to ride the wave are but carried on upon the crest of the surge which they first roused. They cannot check themselves or it. So the ambitious conceiver of mischief has his own guilt; the willing instruments of evil have theirs. Neither could be fully evil without the other. Sennacherib had been nothing without those fierce warriors who are pictured on the monuments, with individual fierceness fulfilling his will, nor the Huns without Attila, or Attila without his hordes whose tempers he embodied. Satan would be powerless but for the willing instruments whom he uses. So then Holy Scripture sometimes passes from the mention of the evil multitude to that of the one head, on earth or in hell, who impels them; or from the one evil head who has his own special responsibility in originating it, to the evil multitude, whose responsibility and guilt lies in fomenting the evil which they execute.

Their rejoicing - He does not say simply “they rejoice to,” but herein is their exceeding, exulting joy. The wise of this earth glories in his wisdom, the mighty man in his might, the rich in his riches: the truly wise, that he understandeth and knoweth God. But as for these, their exultation is concentrated in this, savagery; in this is their jubilation; this is their passion. Psalmists and pious people use the word to express their exulting joy in God: people must have an object for their empassioned souls; and these, in cruelty.

As it were to devour the poor secretly - From the general he descends again to the individual, but so as now to set forth the guilt of each individual in that stormy multitude which is, as it were, one in its evil unity, when each merges his responsibility, as it were, in that of the body, the horde or the mob, in which he acts. Their exultation, he says, is that of the individual robber trod murderer, who lies wait secretly in his ambush, to spring on the defenseless wanderer, to slay him and devour his substance. Premeditation, passion, lust of cruelty, cowardice, murderousness, habitual individual savagery and treachery, and that to the innocent and defenseless, are all concentrated in the words, “their exultation is, as it were, to devour the poor secretly,” i. e. “in their secret haunt.”

Pharaoh had triumphed over Israel. “They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in” Exo 14:3. He rejoiceth in having them wholly in his power, as a lion has his prey in his lair, in secret, unknown to the Eyes of God whom he regarded not, with none to behold, none to deliver. Dion.: “They gloried in oppressing the people of Israel, even as the cruel man glories in secretly rending and afflicting the needy, when without fear they do this cruelty, nor heed God beholding all as Judge. The invisible enemies too rejoice very greatly in the ruin of our souls “Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him: for if I be cast down, they that trouble me will rejoice at it Psa 13:4. “O Lord and governor of all my life, leave me not to their counsels and let me not fall by them” (Ecclesiasticus 23:1). Yet God left them not in his hands; but even “brake the head of Leviathan in pieces.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Sceptres. The nobles were drowned (Haydock) with their king, (Calmet) when they expected an easy prey, Exodus xiii. 9. (Haydock) --- Hebrew, "thou hast pierced the chief of their troops in the midst of tribes," or sticks, as the Egyptians perhaps slew each other. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thou, O God,

didst strike through with his staves; either meant of the staves or arms of the Canaanitish kings which they lifted up against Israel, thereby provoking Israel to fight, in which being overcome, they perished by their own arms taken from them; or it may be meant of the weapons of Joshua and Israel, called staves, for that they were arrows and spears, which are armed staves: or it might be translated tribes; so with the tribes of Israel, the tribes of God’s anointed, or by them, were these Canaanites destroyed.

The head of his villages; all the cities, and all the unwalled towns; for so Israel destroyed the daughters with the mothers, i.e. the villages with the cities.

They; the inhabitants of Canaan, but particularly the five kings, Hab 3:11; of whose conspiracy you read Jos 10, which see.

Came out as a whirlwind; with violence invading every side; a tempest made up of contrary winds and exhalations, moving as violently as irregularly.

To scatter; to disperse and drive away from the earth.

Their rejoicing was as to devour; the joy they took was such as is the joy of men who take the spoil of enemies, and come to feast, not fight; they dreamed of nothing else but eating up God’s people as they would eat bread.

The poor; helpless and friendless as they seemed to be, poor Israel.

Secretly; either by secret conspiracy, or by secret execution of the plot they laid against Israel.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thou didst strike through with his staves; thou didst pierce with his own spears. Thou dost turn on the Chaldeans and all thine enemies the destruction which they intended for others. The people meet with the same fate as the royal house (ver. 13); Vulgate, maledixisti sceptris ejus, which seems to be a mistranslation. The head of his villages (

There is a difficulty in arriving at the meaning of this last word. The LXX renders it, "mighty men;" Jerome, "warriors;" Chaldee, "army;" Delitzsch and many modern critics, "hordes" or "inhabitants of the plain;" others again, "rulers" or "judges." The most probable version is either "warriors" or "hordes." The head, i.e. collectively the heads of his warlike troops. They came out (or, who rush) as a whirlwind to scatter me (see the description of the Chaldees,. (Hab_1:6, etc.) The prophet identifies himself with his people. (For the figure of the whirlwind, comp. Jer_13:24; Hos_13:3) Dr. Briggs renders, "Thou dost pierce with his rods the chief, when his rulers are rushing in to scatter me." Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly; or, as in ambush, to devoter the helpless. They exult in acting the part of robbers and murderers, who lurk for the defenceless and afflict the poor. (Psa_10:8, etc.) As is equivalent to "as it were." Vulgate, Sicut ejus qui. "The poor" are primarily the Israelites, and then all meek worshippers of God.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Villages - All the cities and all the unwalled towns. They - The inhabitants of Canaan. As a whirlwind - With violence invading me on every side. To scatter - To disperse and drive away the Israelites. Their rejoicing - They rejoiced in full confidence of swallowing up Israel unawares.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Habakkuk continues to describe his vision of Yahweh.

You have pierced the head of his warriors with his own arrows

The word "his" refers to the leader of the Chaldeans. Possible meanings are 1) this is a metaphor in which the warriors are spoken of as if they were a body and the leader were the head. AT: "You have killed with his own spear the one who leads the warriors" or 2) the word "head" refers to the heads of each of the warriors. AT: "With the leader's own spear, you have pierced the heads of each of his warriors" (See: Metaphor)

they came like a storm

The power and quickness of the Chaldeans as they attacked the people of Israel is compared to the coming of a sudden storm. AT: "they came quickly like a storm" (See: Simile)

their gloating was like one who devours the poor in a hiding place

The word "gloating" here means to rejoice for bad reasons and can be translated with a verb. The warriors treating people cruelly or killing them is spoken of as if the warriors were wild beasts who carry their prey to their hiding places in order to eat it. AT: "they gloated like a person who secretly abuses poor people" or "they rejoiced when they oppressed the poor, acting as if they would eat them like a beast eats its prey in its den" (See: Abstract Nouns and Metaphor)

heaped up the great waters

Yahweh causing the waters to surge is spoken of as if he heaped the water up into piles. AT: "caused the great waters to surge" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

bow and arrow

devour

horse

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

You pierced the heads... with war clubs Sennacherib and his company. they storm Who were storming with a tempest to scatter me. [Sennacherib] was the staff with which you chastised the nations. When he came and stormed to scatter me, You pierced the heads of his troops with his staffs, with which he had come to chastise me.

the heads of his villages The heads of his towns and his castles, as in (Deut. 3:5) “The open towns” and (Zech. 2:8) “Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls.”

their joy was when they could... devour a poor one in secret Israel, known as a poor people.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.