Habakkuk 3:2

O Lord, I have heard thy speech, [and] was afraid,.... Or, "thy hearing" (p); which the Lord had caused to be heard from and of himself; the report that had been made to him, and other prophets

O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

I have heard; received answer to the inquiry made , whether by voice from heaven, or by inward illumination or irradiation of the mind, or any other way of impression from the prophetic Spirit, needs not be inquired. Thy speech; the report or declaration God made to him concerning the future corrections of his own people, and the devastations Babylon would make among them; and next, the destruction which should fall upon the Babylonians by the Medes and Persians, which is summarily set down, Habakkuk 2. Was afraid; trembled at the apprehension of these sad things, which both we and they were to suffer; he saw them as certain and grievous. Revive; not only keep alive, but somewhat refresh, renew, give some new strength to thy church and people, who wait for thee. Thy work; thy church, called, , as here, God’ s work, in an eminent manner, above other people; so the apostle, we are his workmanship, : or else by work may be meant, the returning of the captivity, and restoring them to their own land, which was the great thing God did promise to do for them; and the prophet prays for some kindness from the Lord, that may be a revival of the hope, assurance, and joy of it. In the midst of the years: it is not needful we report the different account of these years, and the precise midst of them assigned by some; perhaps it may point to that time when Evil-merodach exalted Jehoiachin out of prison, which, , was in the 37th year of their captivity; but I rather think it is more vulgarly to be taken for any time within the term of the sad and troublesome days which would last seventy years. Make known: it is an affectionate request, and (as such often are) somewhat abrupt; make known either thy truth, or wisdom, or power, or compassion, or all; make it known that thou art our God, and we thy people, that thou still hast a care of us: or what next follows makes the sense full. In wrath, whilst thy just displeasure burns against us for our sins, remember mercy; make it appear thou hast not forgotten to be gracious, let thy people see thou rememberest mercy towards them. I have heard; received answer to the inquiry made , whether by voice from heaven, or by inward illumination or irradiation of the mind, or any other way of impression from the prophetic Spirit, needs not be inquired. remember mercy; make it appear thou hast not forgotten to be gracious, let thy people see thou rememberest mercy towards them.

Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, [and] was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.Ver. 2. O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid] Audivi auditionem tuam. I have heard (not thy fume or thy report, as some render it, unless it be in the prophet Isaiah’ s sense, Isaiah 53:1, but) thy preceding discourse, in answer to my disceptation. I have heard that the Babylonians will come, and that my people must go into captivity. This was no pleasant hearing; for we all naturally shrink in the shoulder when called to carry the cross; but those that do what they should not must look to hear and feel too what they would not. And was afraid] Fear is constrictio cordis ex sensu mali instantis, a passion of the soul shrinking in itself from some imminent evil. The wicked hear and jeer: or their fear driveth them from God, as it did guilty Adam. Contrarily, the godly tremble at God’ s judgments while they hang in the threatenings; and draw nigh to him with entreaties of peace. In this fear of the Lord is strong confidence, "and his children have a place of refuge," Proverbs 14:26. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years] i.e. Preserve alive thy Israel, that work of thine hands, Isaiah 45:11, together with thy work of grace in their hearts; keep that spark alive upon the sea of tribulations and temptations. The angels (saith a reverend man) are kept with much less care, charge, and power, than we; because they have no bias, no weights of sin hung upon them, &c. There is not so much of the glory of God (saith another) in all his works of creation and providence as in one gracious action that a Christian performeth. in the midst of the years make known] sc. Thy power in perfecting thy glory, and not forsaking the work of thine own hands, Psalms 138:8. It was Luther’ s usual prayer, Confirm, O God, in us that thou hast wrought; and perfect the work that thou hast begun in us, to thy glory. So be it. So Queen Elizabeth, when prisoner at Woodstock, prayed thus: Look, Lord, upon the wounds of thine hands; and despise not the work of thine hands. Thou hast written me down in thy book of preservation with thine own hand: O read thine own handwriting, and save me, &c. But what meant the Seventy here to translate, In the midst of two beasts: which while Ribera striveth to defend, he tells us a tale of the babe of Bethlehem, born in a stable, and laid in a manger between two beasts, an ox and an ass (ενμεσωδυοζωων). It may very well be that the Church here prayeth for God’ s grace and favour during the time of her captivity.

(2) Thy speech.—Better, thy report, as in margin. The tone is that of Psa 44:1, “We have heard with our ears O God! our fathers have told us . . . ” Jehovah’s doings at the beginning of the years are well known; the prophet seeks that they may be manifested again, now in the midst of the years. The petition “in wrath remember mercy,” is explained by Habakkuk 1:5 et seq. It implies—though Thy visitation be well deserved, yet mercifully limit its duration, as on former occasions.

Verse 2. In the midst of the years] בקרב שנים bekereb shanim, "As the years approach." The nearer the time, the clearer and fuller is the prediction; and the signs of the times show that the complete fulfilment is at hand. But as the judgments will be heavy, (and they are not greater than we deserve,) yet, Lord, in the midst of wrath - infliction of punishment - remember mercy, and spare the souls that return unto thee with humiliation and prayer.

2. I have heard thy speech] I have heard the report of thee. The term appears always to express the report or bruit about one, e.g. Genesis 29:13 the news about Jacob, 1 Kings 10:1 about Solomon, Isaiah 23:5 about Tyre (her downfall); comp. Numbers 14:15; Isaiah 66:19; Nahum 3:19. It seems also always to refer to something past and actual (unless Hosea 7:12 be an exception); and this suggests that the allusion is to the divine manifestation at the Exodus. and was afraid] Or, am afraid. Of course the prophet or the community in whose name he speaks (cf. Habakkuk 3:14) did not fear hurt from the Theophany so long past, but the recital or the thought of it created alarm. Comp. Exodus 14:30-31. revive thy work] Though filled with fear at the thought of the divine interposition the prophet nevertheless prays for it. The term “revive” might mean to recall or bring back to life that which is dead (Hosea 6:2), or to call into life and being what does not yet exist (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6). The “work” of Jehovah is that which He does, any operation which He performs, ch. Habakkuk 1:5; but the word is often used of His great historical acts done for His people, Psalms 44:1; Psalms 95:9; Deuteronomy 11:7; Judges 2:7. The sense is thus either: bring into being a great act of Thine; or, renew, recall into life again, Thy former great work of redemption. The second sense is the more natural, and most in harmony with the following phrase “in the midst of the years.” in the midst of the years] This cannot mean “within a few years” (Gesen.), a sense ill-suited to the tone of importunity in the passage; nor “amidst the years of distress,” because the idea of distress must have been expressed. The expression must describe the poet’s own time, for his prayer is for immediate divine interposition. Looking back to the far past event of the Exodus, the many years that have rolled by since then, he conceives of the position of himself and his people as amidst the years. midst of the years make known] i.e. at this late time in our history make thy work known. Sept. regarded the verbal form as reflexive: make thyself (ox, let thyself be) known. So Wellh. In wrath remember mercy] The “wrath” might be that lying on the people now; but it is more natural to understand it of the wrath which the judge will manifest when He intervenes among men. Comp. Isaiah 26:20, “Come, O my people, enter into thy chambers, hide thyself for a little moment until the indignation be overpast.” At the thought or the recital of God’s interposition in the past—type of every interposition of His—the poet trembled; yet he would encounter it for the sake of that which will come after it, and he prays that it may come again; then he prays that in that day of universal wrath he and his people may have mercy shewn them. Revelation 3:10.

O Lord, I have heard - i. e., with the inward ear of the heart, “Thy speech,” (rather as English margin, Thy report, i. e., the report of Thee) i. e., what may he heard and known of God, or, what he had himself heard .

Habakkuk 3:2 contains the prayer proper. Thy speech — R.V., “the report of thee.” Some understand “the report of thee” in the sense of “thy report,” that is, thy declaration, namely, the