the Second Week after Easter
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King James Version
Habakkuk 3:14
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You pierce his headwith his own spears;his warriors storm out to scatter us,gloating as if ready to secretly devour the weak.
You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, Gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.
Thou didst strike through with his staues the head of his villages: they came out as a whirle-winde to scatter me: their reioycing was as to deuoure the poore secretly.
You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.
You pierced with his own arrows The head of his leaders. They stormed in to scatter us; Their arrogance was like those Who devour the oppressed in secret.
With the enemy's own spear you stabbed the leader of his army. His soldiers rushed out like a storm to scatter us. They were happy as they were robbing the poor people in secret.
With the enemy's own spears, You pierced The head of his hordes. They stormed out to scatter us, Rejoicing like those Who secretly devour the oppressed [of Israel].
Thou didest strike thorowe with his owne staues the heades of his villages: they came out as a whirle winde to scatter me: their reioycing was as to deuoure the poore secretly.
You pierced with his own spears The head of his throngs. They stormed in to scatter us; Their exultation was like those Who devour the oppressed in secret.
You pierced with his own sharpened rodsThe head of his throngs.They stormed in to scatter us;Their exultation was like thoseWho devour the afflicted in secret.
With his own spear You pierced his head, when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though ready to secretly devour the weak.
His troops had come like a storm, hoping to scatter us and glad to gobble us down. To them we were refugees in hiding— but you smashed their heads with their own weapons.
With their own rods you pierce the head of their warriors, who come like a whirlwind to scatter us, who rejoice at the prospect of devouring the poor in secret.
Thou didst strike through with his own spears the head of his leaders: They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me, Whose exulting was as to devour the afflicted secretly.
You used Moses' walking stick to stop the enemy soldiers. Those soldiers came like a powerful storm to fight against us. They thought they could defeat us easily, as robbing the poor in secret.
Thou didst break with his own staves the heads of his princes; for they trusted in their savagery to devour the poor secretly.
Your arrows pierced the commander of his army when it came like a storm to scatter us, gloating like those who secretly oppress the poor.
You pierced the head of his warriors with his own arrows; they came like a whirlwind to scatter me, their exultation like one who devours the afflicted in ambush.
You pierced the head of his warriors with his shafts. They rush to scatter me; their exultation is to devour the humble in a secret place.
Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors: They came as a whirlwind to scatter me; Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
You have put your spears through his head, his horsemen were sent in flight like dry stems; they had joy in driving away the poor, in making a meal of them secretly.
Thou hast stricken through with his own rods the head of his rulers, that come as a whirlwind to scatter me; whose rejoicing is as to devour the poor secretly.
Thou diddest strike thorow with his owne staues the heades of his villages, they came out as a whirlewinde to scatter me: their reioycyng was as to deuour the poore secretly.
Thou didst cut asunder the heads of princes with amazement, they shall tremble in it; they shall burst their bridles, they shall be as a poor man devouring in secret.
Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors: they came as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, Gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.
Thou cursidist the ceptris, ether powers, of hym, the heed of hise fiyteris, to men comynge as whirlewynde for to scatere me; the ioiyng withoutforth of hem, as of hym that deuourith a pore man in hidlis.
You pierced with his own staves the head of his warriors: They came as a whirlwind to scatter me; Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
Thou didst strike through with his staffs the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing [was] as to devour the poor secretly.
You pierce the heads of his warriors with a spear. They storm forward to scatter us; they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition.
You thrust through with his own arrows The head of his villages. They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me; Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret.
With his own weapons, you destroyed the chief of those who rushed out like a whirlwind, thinking Israel would be easy prey.
With his own spear You cut through the head of his soldiers. They came like a storm to send us everywhere, finding joy as if they were destroying in secret those who had it very hard.
You pierced with their own arrows the head of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter us, gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding.
Thou hast pierced, with his own staves, the head of his chiefs, they storm along, to scatter me, - their exultant thought, is, in very deed, to devour the oppressed one, in a secret place!
Thou hast cursed his sceptres, the head of his warriors, them that came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their joy was like that of him that devoureth the poor man in secret.
Thou didst pierce with thy shafts the head of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.
Thou hast pierced with his staves the head of his leaders, They are tempestuous to scatter me, Their exultation [is] as to consume the poor in secret.
Thou cursest his septers, the captayne of his men of warre: which come as a stormy wynde to scatre me abrode, & are glad when they maye eat vp ye poore secretly.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
the head: Exodus 11:4-7, Exodus 12:12, Exodus 12:13, Exodus 12:29, Exodus 12:30, Exodus 14:17, Exodus 14:18, Psalms 78:50, Psalms 78:51, Psalms 83:9-11
they: Exodus 14:5-9, Exodus 15:9, Exodus 15:10, Psalms 83:2, Psalms 83:8, Psalms 118:10-12, Acts 4:27, Acts 4:28
came out: Heb. were tempestuous, Daniel 11:40, Zechariah 9:14
their: Exodus 1:10-16, Exodus 1:22, Psalms 10:8, Psalms 64:2-7
Reciprocal: Psalms 10:9 - when Psalms 64:4 - shoot Proverbs 30:14 - to devour Zechariah 1:19 - scattered Zechariah 7:14 - scattered James 2:6 - Do
Cross-References
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord .
They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
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 Habakkuk 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", Ezekiel 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", Ezekiel 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 Jeremiah 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", Ezekiel 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 Ezekiel 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.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
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 Judges 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” Judges 7:22; and when God delivered the Philistines into the hand of Jonathan 1 Samuel 14:12, 1 Samuel 14:16, 1 Samuel 14:20 so it was with “Ammon Moab and the inhabitants of Mount Seir,” at the prayer of Jehoshaphat and his army 2 Chronicles 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,” Ezekiel 38:21. and Isaiah says, Isaiah 9:20, “every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm,” and Zechariah Zechariah 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; Daniel 6:24. and so Haman was hanged on the gallows which he prepared for Mordecai Esther 7:10. So it became a saying of Psalmists (Psalms 7:5, add Psalms 9:15; Psalms 10:2; Psalms 35:8; Psalms 57:6; Psalms 94:23; Psalms 141:10; Proverbs 5:22; Proverbs 26:27; Ecclesiastes 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 (Jeremiah 13:24, add Jeremiah 18:17; Isaiah 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 Exodus 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” Exodus 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 Psalms 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.”
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Habakkuk 3:14. 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.
