Your bow was made quite ready; Oaths were sworn over Your arrows. Selah You divided the earth with rivers.
Parallel translations
- WEB You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.
- KJV Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
- BSB You brandished Your bow; You called for many arrows. Selah You split the earth with rivers.
- NASB You removed Your bow from its holder, The arrows of Your word were sworn. Selah You divided the earth with rivers.
- NLT You brandished your bow and your quiver of arrows. You split open the earth with flowing rivers.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God readies His bow and arrows and splits the earth with rivers, depicted as a warrior armed for battle. It portrays God taking up His weapons to act on behalf of His people.
Overview
The imagery of an uncovered bow and sworn arrows presents God as a mighty warrior prepared for combat. His power even reshapes the land, splitting the earth with rivers. The 'Selah' invites reflection on this display of divine might. Though some details of this poetic verse are difficult to render with certainty, its thrust is clear: God arms Himself to fight for and deliver His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Ps 7:12–13If a man doesn’t relent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.
- Ps 78:15–16He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
- Ps 105:41He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places.
- Luke 1:72–75to show mercy towards our fathers, to remember his holy covenant,
- Isa 52:10Yahweh has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
- Lam 2:4He has bent his bow like an enemy, he has stood with his right hand as an adversary, Has killed all that were pleasant to the eye: In the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire.
- Heb 6:13–18For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself,
- 1 Cor 10:4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
- Num 20:11Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank.
- Exod 17:6Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
- Deut 32:23“I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.
- Isa 51:9–10Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?
- Ps 105:8–11He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,
- Ps 143:6I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.
- Ps 35:1–3By David. Contend, Yahweh, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me.
- Gen 17:7–8I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.
- Gen 28:13–14Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your offspring.
- Gen 15:18–21In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
- Gen 26:3–4Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
- Gen 22:16–18and said, “I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,
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Christ at the center
'The righteous shall live by his faith' (2:4) becomes a cornerstone of the gospel in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews — the faith that lays hold of Christ.
How Habakkuk 3:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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