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Selected Verse: Habakkuk 3:11 - Young's Literal
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Hab 3:11 |
Young's Literal |
Sun -- moon -- hath stood -- a habitation, At the light thine arrows go on, At the brightness, the glittering of thy spear. |
| |
King James |
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. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
sun . . . moon stood still--at Joshua's command (Jos 10:12-13). MAURER wrongly translates, "stand" (withdrawn, or hidden from view, by the clouds which covered the sky during the thunders).
light of thine arrows--hail mixed with lightnings (Jos 10:10-11).
they went--The sun and moon "went," not as always heretofore, but according to the light and direction of Jehovah's arrows, namely, His lightnings hurled in defense of His people; astonished at these they stood still [CALVIN]. MAURER translates, "At the light of Thine arrows (which) went" or flew. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Sun and moon stood still (as one act retiring into) in their habitation - They withdrew, as it were, in the midst of the great tempest, wherein Jos 10:11-13. "God cast down great stones from heaven upon" His enemies and they died; and "the sun stood still, and the moon stayed." The sun too withdrew itself in the great darkness at the crucifixion, as not bearing to look upon the death of its Maker, when the majesty of the Sun of Righteousness was darkened o'er; and signs in the sun and in the moon there shall be to the end.
At the light of Thine arrows they went - A. E.: "There was no need of the sun by day, nor of the moon by night; for by the light of Thine arrows can the sons of men hold their way." Tanchum: "This is a mystical interpretation, as you see; this is like the promise of the Most High; Isa 60:19. 'the sun shall be no more for thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, and the Lord shall be to thee an everlasting light.'" The judgments of God are a light to His people, while they are the destruction of His enemies; in them they "learn righteousness" Isa 26:9. The arrows are God's judgments, as they threaten and wound from afar;
The shining of Thy glittering spear - literally, of the lightning of Thy spear, when close at hand. When all other light is withdrawn, and the Sun, our Lord, is hardly beheld in the darkness of the last days, and the moon, the Church, shall not give her light, Christ not shining upon her as before, because "iniquity shall abound, and the love of many shall wax cold," and "stars," many who seem to shine with the light of grace, "shall fall from heaven," His own shall walk on and advance in holiness. Dion.: "from strength to strength, Psa 84:7. from good to better, from the way to their home," by the bright light of the lightning of God's Judgments, wherein His glory shall be manifested. Arrows and spears are part of the spiritual armory of God, wherewith the people are subdued unto Him. Cyril: "armory, not wherewith He is girt but which He giveth to those who are meet; bright and as it were full of lightning. For most transparent is virtue." They went then at the light of Thine arrows. Cyril: "because to those who love sin virtue has no beauty, nor, as yet, any brightness. But to those who know her she is nothing less than lightning, bright and transparent, so that whoso hath her is easily known to all around. The disciples then, first having the lightning of Thine arms, shall lead others also to its Light. Admiring and conceiving in themselves those virtues which are the arms of Christ, they shine forth to others, a gleam, as it were, of the bright flash of light inherent in those graces." Rup.: "They were enlightened and began, by preaching, to send forth shining words of truth. But those words are Thine arrows, shining arrows, showing by their light the way of life, and by their sharp point pricking the hearts of people unto repentance." |
| The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
at the light
Or, thine arrows walked in the light, etc. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| The chaotic condition into which the earth has been brought is heightened by the darkness in which the heaven clothes itself. Sun and moon, which give light to day and night, have put themselves, or entered, into their habitation. זבוּל with ה local, a dwelling-place, is, according to oriental view, the place from which the stars come out when they rise, and to which they return when they set. Nevertheless it is not actual setting that is spoken of here, but simply their obscuration, which is not the effect of heavy clouds that pour out their water in showers of rain, but is caused by the shining of the arrows of God (ל in לאור and לנגהּ denoting the outward cause or occasion). It is not, however, that they "turn pale in consequence of the surpassing brilliancy of the lightnings" (Ewald), but that they "withdraw altogether, from the fear and horror which pervade all nature, and which are expressed in the mountains by trembling, in the waters by roaring, and in the sun and moon by obscuration" (Delitzsch). The idea that this verse refers to the standing still of the sun and moon at the believing word of Joshua (Jos 10:12.), in which nearly all the earlier commentators agreed, is quite untenable, inasmuch as עמד זבוּלה cannot mean to stand still in the sky. The arrows and spear (chănı̄th) of God are not lightnings, as in Psa 77:18-19; Psa 18:15, etc., because this theophany is not founded upon the idea of a storm, but the darts with which God as a warrior smites down His foes, as the instruments and effects of the wrath of God. A brilliant splendour is attributed to them, because they emanate from Him whose coming, like the sunlight, pours out its rays on both sides (Hab 3:4). בּרק חנית has the same meaning here as in Nah 3:3 : the flashing, because naked and sharpened, spear. And just as we cannot understand the "bright sword" of Nah 3:3 as signifying flashes of lightning, so here we cannot take the arrows as lightnings. יהלּכוּ is to be taken relatively, "which pass alone, or shoot by." |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Stood still - At the prayer of Joshua. In the light - Which was most miraculously continued. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
The sun and moon stood still - This was at the prayer of Joshua, when he fought against the Amorites. See Jos 10:11-12 (note), and the notes there.
At the light of thine arrows they went - I think we should translate: -
By their light, thine arrows went abroad; By their brightness, the lightning of thy spear.
Calvin very justly remarks that the arrows and spears of the Israelites are called those of God, under whose auspices the people fought: the meaning is, that by the continuation of the light of the sun and moon, then stayed in their course, the Israelites saw how to continue the battle, till their enemies were all defeated. |
10 and Jehovah doth crush them before Israel, and it smiteth them -- a great smiting -- at Gibeon, and pursueth them the way of the ascent of Beth-Horon, and smiteth them unto Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
11 And it cometh to pass, in their fleeing from the face of Israel -- they `are' in the descent of Beth-Horon -- and Jehovah hath cast upon them great stones out of the heavens, unto Azekah, and they die; more are they who have died by the hailstones than they whom the sons of Israel have slain by the sword.
12 Then speaketh Joshua to Jehovah in the day of Jehovah's giving up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he saith, before the eyes of Israel, `Sun -- in Gibeon stand still; and moon -- in the valley of Ajalon;'
13 and the sun standeth still, and the moon hath stood -- till the nation taketh vengeance `on' its enemies; is it not written on the Book of the Upright, `and the sun standeth in the midst of the heavens, and hath not hasted to go in -- as a perfect day?'
7 They go from strength unto strength, He appeareth unto God in Zion.
9 `With' my soul I desired Thee in the night, Also, `with' my spirit within me I seek Thee earnestly, For when Thy judgments `are' on the earth, The inhabitants of the world have learned righteousness.
19 To thee no more is the sun for a light by day, And for brightness the moon giveth not light to thee, And Jehovah hath become to thee A light age-during, and thy God thy beauty.
11 And it cometh to pass, in their fleeing from the face of Israel -- they `are' in the descent of Beth-Horon -- and Jehovah hath cast upon them great stones out of the heavens, unto Azekah, and they die; more are they who have died by the hailstones than they whom the sons of Israel have slain by the sword.
12 Then speaketh Joshua to Jehovah in the day of Jehovah's giving up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he saith, before the eyes of Israel, `Sun -- in Gibeon stand still; and moon -- in the valley of Ajalon;'
13 and the sun standeth still, and the moon hath stood -- till the nation taketh vengeance `on' its enemies; is it not written on the Book of the Upright, `and the sun standeth in the midst of the heavens, and hath not hasted to go in -- as a perfect day?'
3 And the flame of a sword, and the lightning of a spear, And the abundance of the wounded, And the weight of carcases, Yea, there is no end to the bodies, They stumble over their bodies.
3 And the flame of a sword, and the lightning of a spear, And the abundance of the wounded, And the weight of carcases, Yea, there is no end to the bodies, They stumble over their bodies.
4 And the brightness is as the light, He hath rays out of His hand, And there -- the hiding of His strength.
15 And seen are the streams of waters, And revealed are foundations of the earth. From Thy rebuke, O Jehovah, From the breath of the spirit of Thine anger.
18 The voice of Thy thunder `is' in the spheres, Lightnings have lightened the world, The earth hath trembled, yea, it shaketh.
19 In the sea `is' Thy way, And Thy paths `are' in many waters, And Thy tracks have not been known.
12 Then speaketh Joshua to Jehovah in the day of Jehovah's giving up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he saith, before the eyes of Israel, `Sun -- in Gibeon stand still; and moon -- in the valley of Ajalon;'
11 And it cometh to pass, in their fleeing from the face of Israel -- they `are' in the descent of Beth-Horon -- and Jehovah hath cast upon them great stones out of the heavens, unto Azekah, and they die; more are they who have died by the hailstones than they whom the sons of Israel have slain by the sword.
12 Then speaketh Joshua to Jehovah in the day of Jehovah's giving up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he saith, before the eyes of Israel, `Sun -- in Gibeon stand still; and moon -- in the valley of Ajalon;'