He stood and measured the earth;
Habakkuk 3:6-7
he looked and shook the nations;
then the eternal mountains were scattered;
the everlasting hills sank low.
His were the everlasting ways.
I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
Habakkuk continues his prayer. This time he turns to the awesome power of God over the earth.
Measured Shaking
There are two different ways to translate the first line of verse six. The ESV quoted above says “measured”. Alternatively, others translate it as “shook” (NIV, NRSV). These are two very different ideas in English. They are translating the same word yet arriving at different conclusions. Why?
It depends on the root of the word. The Hebrew וַיְמֹ֣דֶד (vay-moded) might be a form of מוד (mud), meaning to shake or cause to move. On the other hand, perhaps it comes from מָדַד (madad), which means to measure. Which is correct? Translators have to make a call. If we are to read the first two lines as a parallelism, then the idea of shaking seems to fit better. On the other hand, maybe we should link it to God looking and therefore translate to measure or survey (NASB). The exact word is used only elsewhere in 2 Samuel 8:2 (other forms exist, too), where David measures the Moabite army, killing two thirds of them.
Leaping Nations
The second line says he “shook the nations”. This uses a different word than the first line (נָתַר, natar), so there isn’t the same ambiguity. It means to leap or leap back. A different form of the verb appears in the description of which insects are kosher to eat. One of the criteria is that they “hop (nater) on the group” (Leviticus 11:21). Job’s friend Elihu describes God’s voice like a thunderstorm. “At this also my heart trembles / and leaps (natar) out of its place” (Job 37:1).
The same word (or at least a word with the same spelling) in the causative form describes setting someone free from prison. Describing Joseph, the Psalmist says “The king sent and released (natar) him” (Psalm 104:20). “The LORD sets the prisoners free (natar)” (Psalm 146:7). Perhaps the Hebrew contains the same idiom as “springing a prisoner” that we use in English.
Melting Mountains
Not only does God shake nations, but he shakes even the mountains and hills: “the eternal mountains were scattered”. Jeremiah uses the same verb to describe God’s word: “Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29). Imagine God driving a hammer into a mountain. Boulders go flying as he strikes again and again, scattering across the landscape.
He also lowers the hills. The word can also mean to be humbled. “The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, / and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, / and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:11). The word haughty here comes from the same root as hills in Habakkuk, meaning to be or make high. Hills are raised areas in the terrain.
Other prophets proclaim about mountains being brought low:
The mountains quake before him;
Nahum 1:5
the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who dwell in it.
And the mountains will melt under him,
Micah 1:4
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
Even though the mountains are ancient, God has been around longer. He created them.
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
Psalm 90:1-2
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
To Ponder…
What seems firm in your life that isn’t? We can think of our job, family, friends, money, or health. While these are all goods things, they can be disrupted and taken away. As old as the mountains are, even they have not been around forever nor will they continue on into eternity. They rise up and erode down. Even the ground beneath our feet shakes at the might of an earthquake. Nations rise, and nations fall. Only God is eternal and unshakeable. Everything else is temporary.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
Isaiah 40:8
but the word of our God will stand forever.
When everything around us seems to be crumbling, let us place our faith in the unshakeable King of the Universe.