Cap. 3:1 This is the prayer of the prophet Habakkuk for the innocent.
The prophet has suffered much here in this prayer (after his death he is made a martyr) by the interpreters, [namely by] the interpreters [of the text) in both languages, Hebrew and Greek. I will go about it [and do] as much as I am able. The title rather clearly testifies that it is a prayer, and not a song. Thus you have the prayer of Moses, where he does not sing, but calls and laments, confessing his misery. So here, where the prophet confesses and praises God, and asks for deliverance from captivity, Pro ignorantiis I take here in the same way as the 7th Psalm, v. 1. has it, "The innocence of David," that is, a guilt is laid upon me of which I (David) am not aware; where it is nothing else than innocentia. Thus Job says [Cap. 9, 21.]: "If I am pious, then my innocence may not be called innocent.
Soul not accept." 2) I thought to behave as if I did not know it etc. that this was not there, that I was aware of it (conscientiam) etc. So here: a prayer for the others who are innocently imprisoned (captis), that the Lord would lead them back. They must suffer the captivity, [it] "must hold out the guilty and the innocent," the godly and the godless. Isaiah also exclaims (Is. 64, 7.]: "No one rises to hold you." 3)
3) Instead of iZuoruvit in our original, the Vulgate reads: iZuorudit. - In the next line of the Weimar edition, instead of cooüäootiam, read 60N8ci6ntiÄM, as Luther's own interpretation (ineouseieutiu) and the Hall manuscript testify. - In the line that follows, instead of uxtius, read: euptis according to the Hall manuscript.
3) We do not want to leave it unmentioned that the Erlangen edition here (torri. XXVII, p. 147) brings only seven wrong readings in seven lines, namely: sio instead of si; köre instead of tuero; lAuoruvit instead of i^noradit; quaru instead of quasi; eonUckentiam instead of eonseivntiana; axtiu8 instead of 6ux>ti8; ulmo instead of iwmo.
S) In the original: Ke^uitrir Oaxut tertium.
V. 2. Lord, I have heard your rumor that I am terrified.
^.uckituin tuum, that is, your rumor, your word, and I am put in fear. He does what others are wont to do, as, in the Bible of Judges Cap. 5, 2. ff. in the Song of Deborah. First he presents the short epitome and then he digresses. He presents the general things that have been shown to the people, 1) and then other special things. Thus in the 18th Psalm, v.2: "I love you dearly, O Lord" etc., so that he confirms the following. Thus in the Psalm [Ps. 68], "Let God arise, that His enemies may be scattered." So [he begins] here with the execution from Egypt. For this is the ordinance of all the prophets and of the [Hebrew] language, so to repeat all histories from of old. Thus, if one wants to praise a martyr, one must mention the suffering of Christ. Thus he praises the salvation from Egypt, how the enemy [was put to shame], 2) in a great digression and paints it, as it were, on a curtain. He enumerates various incidents and presents them in general. This means: I have heard your rumor of all the miracles and works that you have done from the beginning to this people, which you had led away captive. The spirit is terrified by the presence of the divine majesty, it is terrified at the proclamation of these things. But cold people think nothing at these things, feel nothing. - Illud must be eradicated. - It is a Hebrew way of speaking, like Ps. 1, 4: Like the chaff which the wind scatters.
[O Lord, you make your work come alive in the midst of the years, and let it be known in the midst of the years].
Notum facies, make it known. As if he wanted to say: Do what you are used to do etc. Do it soon. Remember thy mercy in our highest tribulation. - "The middle of the years," within the years, that is, Thy work, which I now ask,
1) Instead of oxkisberMa] we have assumed sxtiibita with the Hall manuscript; likewise spooialia instead of 8p66i6 in the Erlanger, and spsoialius in the Weimarsche.
2) Inserted by us to give meaning.
Do as you used to do before, within the years, do not postpone it. Thus Hezekiah says [Is. 38, 10. Vulg.]: "In the middle of my days [I must go to the gates of hell", and in the Psalm it says, Ps. 55, 24.:] 3) "The wicked will not bring their life to the half" (non dimidiabunt etc. As if to say, I have barely begun to live. So we sing: 4) "In the midst of life we are embraced with death." Thus, in the midst of the years, God comes to the rescue when everything stands in despair etc. "When the rope holds hardest, it breaks in two." This is how GOtt comes to the rescue in the tribulation. Thus it is said to Job [11, 17. Vulg.], "When thou shalt think thou art gone, 5) thou shalt arise as the morning star." Everywhere the help of God will come in the midst of temptation and affliction-[Vulg.] "Make your work alive." He uses glowing words; he means the Babylonian captivity: as thou hast always delivered us before, so make thy people stand and live. Show thyself in the midst of the years, since now thou seemest to be hidden. Within or between the years. "Dear, come, strike in the midst, break in two the years." Break off the long duration, cut away the delay, "come away, break off," and reveal yourself to be our God.
sWhen tribulation is there, remember mercy].
[Instead of: cum iratus fueris, misericordiae recordaberis in the Vulgate, I translate according to the Hebrew thus:] In perturbatione recorderis misericordiae. [This is spoken] not of the perturbation of God, by which He is perturbed, but by which we are perturbed. [The Hebrew word is also] in the fourth Psalm, "If ye be angry, sin not." So elsewhere [Gen. 45:24], "Quarrel not in the way." The Hebrew word denotes our restlessness and impatience. In the Psalm it says [Ps. 85, 9/: "Oh that I should hear that God the Lord speaketh," etc., "that they might.
3) Here our template has no distinguishing mark, not even a comma.
4) St. Louis Hymnal, No. 416.
5) Instead of 86puituin in our original, the Vulgate will read coLsurnptum. This improvement has been made by the Erlanger.
Do not fall into folly," that is, so that they will not become impatient. He does not let them be tempted beyond their ability [1 Cor. 10:13]. When the temptation is "most fierce, he plumbs in, not letting 1) it last too long." This is the epitome and the object of what follows. Now he digresses according to the way etc. The Holy Spirit teaches to pray like this by the example of the prophets.
V. 3. God came from the midday, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.
Now he puts forward the embroidered curtain; he represents person poems. The verba which [in the Vulgate] are in the future tense are to be taken as presentia. GOtt comes from the midday) "that is the GOtt" etc., that is, from Egypt, near which is the mountain Paran, and KadesBarnea etc. "Paran", beauty, is the name of the desert that is near the tribe of Judah, which is also called Kades Barnea.
[To His praise the heavens were full, and to His glory the earth was full.] 3)
Operit ser covered]. The prophet paints, he does not merely narrate. Confessio [it should be called^ instead of Zloria. Thus it is said in the Psalm [Ps. 148, 13.], "His praise (confessio ejus) goes as far as heaven and earth." [His praise] covers [the heavens], not above but below, 4) that is, under the heavens the power and presence of God was praised. That is, everywhere under the heavens the praise of God was spread. "And of his praise the earth was full." He is talking about the exodus from Egypt. All people spoke of the power of God.
1) In the original: "let".
2) Instead of alto in our original, the Vulgate reads unstro. This also has the Hallic manuscript.
3) Vulgate: Operuit eoetos Atorin sjus, 6t tauäis "jus pl6nn 68t t6rra.
4) Our template offers here: 0p6rit in 8up6rüci6 Arnnn non 8up6rn6xa. We have not been able to find a suitable sense for these words, and therefore have substituted what Luther says in his own interpretation. See Col. 1499. If instead of Arann is put: t6rra6, the sense is the same. [His praise covers the surface of the earth, not what is stretched over it.
V. 4. His brilliance was like light.
"Radiance," that is rays. It means the shining light or the rays. It means they will be spread far and wide, that is, its manifestation, the glorious manifestation of its presence spreads its goodness everywhere, that is, it will be spread under the sky.
Glances went from his hands (Cornua in manibus ejus).
Cornua stands for rays or shine, like the face of Moses, which 5) shone by means of the rays of his hand. That is, his virtues and miracles shone, and the same shines (cornua), that is, rays, spread out under heaven and over the whole earth.
There secretly was his power.
"There", namely in this glory. That means: His power had its dwelling in Paran etc. As if he wanted to say: He did not make this power known among other peoples, but there was his power etc.
V. 5. Pestilence went before him.
Here is a new section, a new content, a new painting and field. Now follows what these miracles are, of which he has just said. He wants to show these rays, how the sky is covered, he says, of which things etc. Which are the wonders will follow. He is detailed in the enumeration of the miraculous works until he comes to the Babylonian captivity. - "Before him went pestilence." Here we must place the beginning of the painting of this prophecy, in which he describes what rays he had wished to indicate, since he spoke [of them] above, namely, the exceedingly glorious works and wonders by which he wished to make a name for himself on earth. First: Before him went destruction, the pestilence. For he smote the Egyptians before the Hebrews went forth. This was the first plague with which he struck Egypt. He passes briefly from one work to another. Since he went out from the midday, death went before him, that is, first he struck the Egyptians.
5) Instead of Huig, we have assumed.
And plague (diabolus) went out wherever he stepped.
This belongs to the previous saying (versum), it is a repetition of the previous sentence. And there went out an evil spirit, or rather pestilence, at his feet. For the word means pestilence, or a pestilential fever which suddenly kills. It is therefore a repetition, as it were, of the previous saying: And the fever went out at his feet, that is, when he went out, he killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians; in one night he killed them.
V. 6. He stood and measured the land.
Aspexit, that is, he looked. This happened when Pharaoh's army followed the children of Israel to the sea. There the angel stood in the fire, measuring (Ex. 14:19 ff.), and stood in the midst of the two nations, so that they could not come together all that night, that is, he separated one nation from the other at the Red Sea, because the angel stood between them. This miracle "he meant", that is, he separated one nation from another, one land from another.
He looked and cut down the heathen.
These are almost the words of Moses [2 Mos. 14, 24]: "When the morning awakening came, the Lord looked at the Egyptian army" etc. This is God's way of fighting, that He fights by His sight alone. He does not have swords, although he uses thunder and lightning. Sometimes, however, this is his main work, that he takes the courage. Then all forces are gone, the fearful one flees. This is how God fights, even if they are equipped with armor. Thus Moses says that he fought: "The Lord looked upon the host of Egypt," that is, the Egyptians felt in their hearts the presence of God, therefore they said [2 Mos. 14, 25.], "Let us flee from Israel, 1) for the Lord fights for them." - "He cut in pieces," that is, he made them flee without order, abandoning their post.
1) In our template: ludere Israel instead of: luZiaraus Israeleru.
That the mountains of the world were shattered and the hills in the world had to bend down.
Here he spoke of figurative mountains and hills, which poetically denote the princes who are the mountains in the world. Thus Moses says in the fifth book [Cap. 33, 15.], and elsewhere, in the first book, Cap. 49, 26, "According to the desire of the sovereignty of the world." The kingdom of Israel shall flourish above all wishing, that is, as the hills of the world are wont to wish' that a kingdom might be full of wealth, power, and happiness, so shall the kingdom of Israel be.-"And stooped down." Not only are the princes struck down and crushed, but they also fled with their faces bowed down, "their heads bowed down." All this is described, as it were, in the manner of a painting, but accurately.
As he walked in the world.
[Instead of ab itineribus aeternitatis ejus in the Vulgate is to be translated according to the Hebrew:] From his walking in the world, [or,] since he walked in the world, for signifies both world and eternal. "The everlasting doors" it is said in the Psalm [Ps. 24, 7. in the Vulgate]. One must look at the circumstances; I take it here for world. Not with weapons has been fought here, but by the going of God, and I read: Since GOtt walked among them, as He was in the midst of them at the Exodus [from Egypt]. In the Psalm [Ps. 68, 25.] it says, "As you, my GOtt, walk among them." In the fifth book of Moses [Cap. 33, 27.] it is said, He has arms on top in the world, 2) that is, He consorts with men, and by no carnal power did He conquer the Egyptians, but "He walked in the world," and thereby the princes of the world are crushed and bowed down.
V. 7 I saw the huts of the Moors in trouble, and the tents of the Midianites in distress.
The Moors and the Midianites, peoples neighboring them, became agitated and trembled at the arrival of the Hebrews and the splendor of God. - "The tents." "With the
2) In the Vulgate: 86lnx "it6rna; in our Bible: "forever."
words one invokes the devil." 1) It is another work, another part of the painting. When they came out of the sea and sang to the Lord and made it known to the whole world, the Midianites and other peoples were troubled. At that time, as we read in the Song of Moses, they were hardened because of the great work, because the splendor of the divine work was shining. The Moors and the Midianites are neighboring peoples. They passed through the Midianites. The Arabs are adjacent to the Moors, they are a part of the Moors. On the western shore it [the Red Sea] has the Egyptian Arabs; between the Red Sea and Egypt are the Arabs etc. He says of two peoples. XXX actually means "trouble" (dolorem). [Ps. 90, 10.:] "If it has been delicious, it has been toil and labor." I have often said [XXX and XXX is] "toil and labor." I read the text this way: I have seen the huts of the Moors in toil, that is, I have seen this country and the inhabitants of the Moor country in the common painting as afflicted people, in fear in their huts. These peoples are generally shepherds and country people, they live in huts, especially the Arabs. The Turks ridicule our nonsense of erecting such magnificent buildings. "Huts," as if we would not live here forever. This has the Scripture. Here the Scripture calls the dwellings "huts," as is said of Abraham [Gen. 12:8, 13:18, 18:1].
And the Midianite tents grieved.
XXXXX 2) is cortinae [curtains], that is, tents, because they were without wood and stones; "huts" were. The part stands for the whole, that is, tents made of curtains. We have heard that this was done in the histories of the Exodus of the children of Israel.
V. 8. Would you not be angry, O Lord, in the flood?
He describes the rays of divine light with dark words. This verse can
1) According to the Altenburg manuscript, these words are to be understood in this way: In the Latin translation these words are so dark that one would like to think it is a magic formula.
2) In our template: RaZas.
can be understood both in a negative and in an affirmative way. The prophet shows his heart movement in the painting of this work; at the passage through the Red Sea, he said, all the nations were dismayed, shattered and terrified. Here, he stands still in the movement of his heart and wonders. Both were the truth: If you take it in a negative way, he is talking about the grace that happened to the Hebrews in the Red Sea, through which he saved his people. If taken affirmatively, he speaks of the wrath and vengeance in which he drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea. This way of speaking is mostly a negative one, as in the Psalm [Ps. 95, 11.]: "They shall not enter into my rest." [Ps. 89, 36.:] "I have sworn: I will not lie to David." "So stünd's fein" in a negative way, and the following 4) piece confirms [this view]. By negation he expresses affirmation. "Wouldn't you be angry?" Certainly you were angry, but at our enemies, for us; us you loved and saved, "is this anger?" Are the signs of wrath that he leads through the sea? so that by negation he expresses an affirmation the stronger. To whom the affirmation is better etc. The opinion is therefore: Since he looked at all the peoples of the earth, "Behold" how angry he becomes with us? no, how fiercely he loves us, that he leads us through waters and the sea, saves us! He expresses the mercy of God through the negative question. As if he wanted to say: No, but the highest mercy he has shown us there. Why? "Because you rode on your horses," that is, with your horses and chariots, that is, with your army you were there; moreover, it is seen that they also had external weapons, horses and chariots. Of all this that is touched is said to be of God. He speaks of the army. As he walked in the midst of them, so he also rode in chariots and rode on horses. So we read 4 Mos. 7, 3,
3) In our variant: duravit David; si Eutior. But Ps. 89, 36. will be meant, where the Vulgate reads: duravi, si David uaeutiar.
4) Instead of our original, we have assumed sacinaus according to the Hall manuscript. Similarly, aouürmat instead of inürmat in the Erlanger and atürrnat in the Weimarschen. This is also the reason for our addition.
that the princes of the tribes offered six chariots, namely they used the chariots more than the horses; they had therefore chariots. He speaks here with words that are taken from warfare, as Moses also indicates [Ex 13:18] that the people of Israel were prepared. The prophet is in great emotion and comforts. Here you see the warfare, the horses, the chariots, where God is the leader. Therefore, there is salvation and victory. "I mean, be angry!"
V. 9. You drew out the bow.
This is another part of the painting. You see the part of the painting where Og, the king of Bashan, and the Amorite king is killed etc. With short words the prophets speak great. Things. "The bow." This one expression refers to all warfare in general. The children of Ephraim alone wielded the bow (Ps. 77:9), and this denotes the whole armor and warfare, that is, they waged the wars, they were the wielders of the dominion, 1) the warfare was with that tribe. "At the time of the battle" [Ps. 78, 9.), that is, he did not believe GOtte, but trusted in his forces. This did GOtte against Sihon and Og, against whom he drew forth the bow, that is, his war service. Therefore, the Lord transferred dominion to Judah from Ephraim. In the blessing of Jacob it says [Gen. 49, 24.], "Yet his bow remains strong." He wants to say: the dominion of Ephraim has many enemies, but it will prevail. Here he indicates the whole war service, as in the first book of Moshi. Therefore, the simple meaning must remain, "bow," that is, warfare. This happened when the king Sihon was killed etc. Then he carried out the war service of his people, and waged war through them etc. And this he did, "as he had sworn to the tribes," as he had sworn to his people [Ex. 23, 22.]: "I will be the enemy of your 2) enemies." This he had often promised [Deut. 3, 2.]: I will give Og 3) into your hand, and you shall strike him, as [Sihon] the king of the Amorites.
1) Instead of r[Mni in our template, from which we could not extract a suitable sense, we adopted rsAnum.
2) Instead of nieis in our original, read tuis.
3) In our template "Leo" instead of O.].
Sela.
"I don't know much about it", what it means. Alan has disputated about it from the beginning of the Church; still today one has nothing certain about it. The Septuagint translates it by diapsalma, that is, pause. I think that those have taken it more actually (I keep it 4) with these) who think that it is a kind of complement for a gap (hiatus); as the poets, because they make a verse, "put them in" or ot "in". This the right poets reprove, since thus alone the verse measure is filled, but the sense does not require it. So, I think, is "sela" with the Hebrews.
V. 9. 10. You divided the rivers into the land. The mountains saw you, and they were afraid.
He speaks of the division of the Jordan, that is, your work in dividing the Jordan. The prophet sees the Lord dividing the river, the Jordan. Here he describes the passage through the Jordan, which happened after the killing of these two kings. You know these personal poems. [Ps. 114, 4.:) "The mountains leaped like lambs." [Ps. 65, 13.:) "The hills are merry round about." He introduces it as if the mountains had heart movements like men, therefore because the mountain dwellers bore sorrow; or that the mountains leaped, bore sorrow, because the whole heart movement is sorrowful. 5) The mountains or the princes of the Cananites, or this mountainous land, that is, the people in this land, but I do not want to take away their opinion from arid ones. I would rather take it figuratively: that which contains [namely the mountains], for that which is contained therein [the mountain dwellers). Since God divided the waters etc. The prophet speaks as men are wont to do. Behold, the Lord can divide rivers, break seas, "that is the" etc. Such a great thing happened only once, and this great thing was seen by the mountains, that is, by the inhabitants of the mountains or by the peoples who inhabit the mountains; they "were afraid. This all-pressure is very frequent: "take care of, ses) will him
4) Instead of statio'" in the Weimar one, we have assumed ssntio according to the Altenburg manuscript.
5) The preceding is obviously incomplete.
6) Instead of "they" in our template, we put "themselves".
bang and is sorry for him", in Hebrew: Suffering birth pains. They were in anguish of conscience because the Lord broke through the rivers, because [the people] could pass through the waters. Who will be able to argue against those who have the sea and the waters as a way, the rivers passable? The river Jordan ran, but the upper part stood like a wall, the lower part flowed into the dead sea. This is quite a real poem. Now he summarizes it in a summa:
The depth let itself be heard, the height lifted the hands.
By what? Partly by bearing sorrow or weeping for the people in the land, partly by sharing in the joy for the Hebrews. 2) Abyssus et altitudo, that is, both the depth and the height take part in them]. The hands tend to be lifted up by both sorrowful and joyful people.
V. 11. Sun and moon stood still.
He summarizes two works. Famous is the one that happened after the crossing of the Jordan, when Joshua fought against the king of Zebus 3) and commanded the sun to stand still. This history is in Joshua [Cap. 10, 12. f.]. It stood still in the time of Joshua.
Your arrows passed with brilliance.
This is the other story. When Joshua had defeated five or three (sic!) kings at Makkedah, some fled into a cave. As they fled, the Lord sent hail and thunderstorms from heaven. He hurled lightnings which killed kings and people. Elsewhere the Scripture calls lightnings "arrows" [Ps. 144, 6.]: "Let them flash and scatter them", because the lightnings are God's arrows. Your arrows went shining, or they go. That is, your lightnings run with
1) In the original: rnnrs ruNrnm.
2) Here, the present text is quite badly in order for us; we have corrected and supplemented it according to the Altenburg and Hall manuscripts, and instead of snplinais read: sndHirüu.
3) In our original: oontru Hesekos. Instead of Hesedos (maybe: Hievus?) either 4edus or Hierosot^rnarurn is to be read.
great splendor. "Your spears with glances of lightning." Read the history in the book of Joshua, chapters 10 and 11.
V. 12. You trampled the land in anger.
[According to the Hebrew it says:] In displeasure you walk in the land, in anger you thresh the Gentiles, namely Canaan. He comprehendeth all the nations of Canaan. Since Joshua had killed the five kings. Now follows the last king, Jabin [Jos. 11, 11, who wanted to devour Israel. He describes this battle here. Behold how he walks in a great majesty of wrath in the land where Joshua and the judges are army commanders. "You crush," for in this last battle many have been slain. So far you have seen all the histories that happened in the exodus of Israel until they came to a peaceful dominion in the land of Canaan. Then the land was quiet and was divided to the twelve tribes. Now follows what works the Lord did while the kingdom was quiet.
V. 13 You went out to help your people, to help your anointed.
"Thou wentest forth," that is, out of the land, with thy people and thine anointed, that is, the king that was set up against the hostile nations, that thou mightest bring victory to thine own. Here he has taken before him the histories that happened under the kings, especially under David and Saul. He speaks of the wars that were waged under the kings of Judah and Israel. "The anointed," that is the anointed, the singular for the plural, that is, the kings. It describes the glorious victories given to them under the kings, the wars they waged going out of the land. First the ones they fought going in, now the ones they fought going out of their tents. You see that the Philistines were defeated under Saul, and other kings, namely those of Syria, the Amorites under David. "There is David, there is Saul painted." At that time the Lord gave victory to Saul, who was godless, for the sake of the people; everywhere he saw. The prophet had this passage in mind.
You crush the head in the house of the wicked.
Percussisti caput, that is, you smite the head. This is to be understood either of Assyria destroyed), or he has put "head" for heads, and is speaking of the neighboring kings destroyed. This seems to call for the distinction in Hebrew that is now had, but I would prefer to understand it of the Assyrian. The Hebrew text generally connects this piece with the preceding; I would like to connect it with the following, but I dare not. Both views can exist, that he here, after the victory is given among the kings, to speak at the beginning of the attack and the disturbance against the king of the Chaldeans. The other view is that he speaks of the neighboring kings who were destroyed, of the Moabites, the Ammonites, the kings of Syria. "Thou destroyest," [thou] namely, the kings of Judah and Israel. This sense would exist according to the distinction in the Hebrew. Gladly I would like it to be understood by the king of Assyria: "You break the head" etc.
Up to the neck.
This is a harsh image, but powerful and significant. 2) Habakkuk sums up a double image that is not repeated together like this elsewhere. One is of the princes, that they are mountains and foundations; the other, that they are the heads. The common people are the body. That is, the whole kingdom of the adversaries you have taken away, so that the house remains without foundation, and the body a trunk without a head. - "To strip away" means to destroy the whole building so that the kingdom is open; it means that the kingdom is laid waste. To take away the head and leave the body as a trunk is to leave the people without a head. It is a, picture that the prophet himself devised. The "uncovering" is often used of the balding of the head and of the captivity of the body.
The Hall manuscript offers a great deal of information.
2) Here we have left the two words: "yuiäarn est:" untranslated.
enemy, where it denotes the taking away of the kingdom and the priesthood. So Moses says in his song Deut. 32, 42 ["over the uncovered head of the enemy"], that means to take away the head, that the body remains, that means: The head will be taken away from you, and the common people will remain scattered. The Jews are like an unsteady and scattered body. This is said either of the king of the Assyrians, whose kingdom was destroyed, or the singular is set for the plural: that the kings of Judah and Israel have broken in pieces many heads, that is, many kings, and taken away their kingdoms.
V. 14: You wanted to curse the scepter of the head with its spots. 3)
"His scepters," that is, of the Assyrian kingdom, with the head of its warriors, that is, with the Babylonian kingdom. This the Hebrews distinguish from the preceding. But here stands the relative which cannot be separated from the preceding, as if here something new begins. Nevertheless ejus follows. This he has now actually seen against the king of the Asfyrians. This is a part of the rays of the divine light, to have destroyed so many nations and kings. And he summarizes with the kingdom [of the Assyrians that of the Babylonians^, 1) "With the head of its spots." This is said of the land of the Chaldeans, to whom the kingdom of the Assyrians had already passed. The prophet wants to say: This kingdom of the Chaldeans is not yet destroyed, like the other kings. Here it is still a threat, because he prays for the redemption of the people and for the destruction of the king of the Chaldeans. The kingdom has come to be under the curse. "You have cursed" by threatening [his scepter] through the prophets, which is a part of the empire of the Assyrians, that is Babylon. This is what he prophesies after praying, because he is sure that he will be answered, for the curses that Jeremiah has put together-
3) Vulgate: Muleäixisti sesptris sfus, onxiti dsllatornrn 6M8.
4) Set by us instead of: yto.
[Jer. 25:12, 27, 7, 50, 2, 18] will come upon the same. So far we have conquered many, but the Assyrians and the Chaldeans will come against us with such a great impetuosity to scatter us as other kings have not been able to do.
Which come like a weather.
It is [in Hebrew] only One expression: to storm a storm, as: they will scatter you to scattering. He wants to say this: The kings have suffered many things, and we have cast down many; but such a man they have not known as you are, King of the Chaldeans, who have come with a weather, and they have been scattered as it were by a storm. About this also thou mockest us.
And rejoice as if they eat the wretched hidden.
That is, unpunished and free, and in secret, since no judge can see it, the Chaldeans have acted against us. That is, because of this victory you are so hopeful that you mock us miserable people, as if someone a poor etc. As a robber kills in secret, no one sees it, so you mock us, as if there were no God to see it, and your wickedness would go unpunished.
V. 15. Your horses walk in the sea, in the mud of great waters. 1)
[Instead of viam fecisti is to be read thus:] Thou hast trodden down or gone along in the sea. "Do it" comparatively. 2) Above [v. 8.] he said, "Thou rodeest on thy steeds." Here was the war service of the people of God; he rode on his steeds. Now the opposite is true: our war service is trodden down, for we are oppressed and in the midst of tribulations. Before, in the Red Sea, you were our helper, now you rely on us and trample us, O Lord, by your horses, by the Chaldeans. Similarly in the Psalm "God, help me" etc. [Ps. 69]. Here it says: Our warfare, our horsemen are in the mud, they are nothing. In the
1) Vulgate: Viana ksoisti in mari synis tnis, in Into uHnaruin rnnltarnm.
2) This will be a word addressed to the reader: Take it comparatively.
69th Psalm, v. 3, it says: "I am in the deep waters." It is the same saying, "I sink in the mud." [I have often said] that water denotes an exceeding great tribulation. So here: We who were formerly victorious are now walking in the midst of the water, that is, the Chaldeans are treading us down.
V. 16: Because I hear these things.
Namely, the victory of the Chaldeans, the sorrow of ours, so I have borne sorrow. He begins to rejoice, so he tells what had happened since they were scattered. Our warfare was nothing. When I heard these things, my belly was grieved, and when I heard the cry of those who trample you, this cry made me sad, so that my lips trembled etc.
Pus goes into my bones.
Also an image and a manner of speaking peculiar to this prophet; otherwise one does not read it. As rotten flesh is worthless, so my bones were consumed by rottenness, as it were, from the clamor I heard when I heard what I did not want.
I am grieved with myself.
So I read [instead of subter me.], that is, in me or with me alone I was in disquiet, "I was fretting about it," because there was no one to hear and comfort me.
O that I might rest in the time of trouble, when we go up to the people who dispute with us.
That denied us, that waged war against us. He wants to say, since our people went up, carried away into Babylonian captivity, Qui latrocinati sunt, that is, who robbed us. That is, I would rather have rested, since the Chaldeans ruled and oppressed us, since we were forced to go up to the enemies in captivity. They fought against us, or they led us into captivity. I was grieved because I would have preferred to rest, to have peace [for me and the people at the time when they were led away. Our sins lead us along like a leaf, says Isaiah [Cap. 64, 6.]. Now, by God's grace, peace has already returned, since you are defeated.
V. 17. For the fig tree will not green.
For the fig tree did not green, did not blossom. This is how I read it in the past tense, imperfect tense or present tense. But everything is desolate, because that people has made everything a wasteland.
The work on the oil tree is missing.
The work of the oil tree, that is, the fruit. The oil tree had been worked, but it gave no fruit, so it deceived. Why? This was done by the Chaldeans.
Sheep are torn from the hurdles.
Everything they robbed. It is a description of what he saw and heard, whereby he was grieved. But thou hast cursed [v. 14.] the scepter of him that hath done these things unto us. 1) He concludes: For he will save me and bring me back to Jerusalem.
V. 18. But I will rejoice in the Lord.
Since God has begun to curse you, O King of the Chaldeans, I praise Him because you are defeated by the Medes and Persians etc. For it will come to pass that he will deliver me again from your hand. In Psalm ^Ps. 42, 6. 12/ it says: "What do you grieve, my soul." Redemption is imminent. When it happens, there will be praise and thanksgiving for the fulfillment of the promise.
V. 19. 2) For the Lord Lord is my strength, and will make my feet like hinds' feet.
"strength" or fortune. - This is certainly taken from the 18th Psalm, 3) v. 34. He
1) Instead of keoisti in our template we have assumed keeit, and ejus added after seextrib.
2) The verse number "19." is missing in the Weimar edition. Here, no keyword is set, and the following is attached to v. 18 without a distinction.
3) In our template: ex xsalmo 22.
He gives me prosperity in the ministry of the word, in the kingdom of Christ; our cause will run like a deer.
And will guide me on high.
He remains in the image of the deer. That is, the kingdom of Christ, which we hope will be established. He wants to indicate that the captive people will be brought back for the sake of Christ's kingdom, that is, we will return; our cause will run and prosper in Christ's kingdom, for whose sake we will be brought back, and everything will be very good. I will not io in the water as before.
That I sing on my strings.
Instead of ad victoriam I read: On my strings. You often have this word in the titles of the Psalms. "means" victory song, triumph song. "I will shout over." I, who have lately been oppressed, will ride high after I am brought back from captivity, that is, I will come again to glory with songs of victory, that is, with high songs of triumph. In musicis meis, that is, on my musical instruments. We translated it, "to sing on high," which is such a psalm that must be sung in a high voice, which we call the discant. That is, it will happen that I will sing to GOtte of victory and triumph because of the return from captivity, and afterwards also because of the kingdom of Christ and the spread of the Gospel. He will lead me out; I will still sing on high with high songs on my musical instruments. This is a short summary of his whole prophecy. In German: "Well, I must suffer now", when I will be led back, "we want to be happy, that [it] resounds in the sky". This is generally understood to have happened since the Gospel was revealed.
1604 L. XXVII, 288f. Interpretation of Zephaniah (1.), preface. W. VI, 3216 f. 1605