Habakkuk 3 · The Lantern

The preier of Abacuk, the profete, for vnkunnynge men. Lord, Y herde thin heryng, and Y dredde;

Lord, it is thi werk, in the myddil of yeeris quykene thou it. In the middil of yeeris thou schalt make knowun; whanne thou schalt be wrooth, thou schalt haue mynde of mercy.

With Him is nothing incomplete or out of due season, just as with the Father there is nothing incongruous. For all these things were foreknown by the Father; but the Son works them out at the proper time in perfect order and sequence.

When the sacred lesson was read just now, we heard that at the time when the twelve spies were sent to view the land of promise, two of them brought back on a lever to the children of Israel a bunch of grapes of wonderful size.

The third origin of the fear of the Lord is from the consideration of the severity of divine vengeance. Whence in Habakkuk: "Lord, I have heard your report and was afraid." He says: "I have heard your report and was afraid," namely, that report when it shall be said: "Depart, you cursed, into eternal fire." Not only in the day of tribulation or severity of the last judgment, bu…

God schal come fro the south, and the hooli fro the mount of Faran. The glorie of hym kyueride heuenes, and the erthe is ful of his heriyng.

And there are also some of them who say, "The Lord hath spoken in Zion, and uttered His voice from Jerusalem;" and, "In Judah is God known;" -these indicated His advent which took place in Judea. Those, again, who declare that "God comes from the south, and from a mountain thick with foliage," announced His advent at Bethlehem, as I have pointed out in the preceding book.

(Verse 3) God will come from the South, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. LXX: God will come from Teman, and the Holy One from the dark and thickly wooded mountain. Diapsalma.

His majesty covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. The dispensation of the Lord's incarnation having been described, he immediately added the mystery of the ascension by which the same humanity was to be glorified, according to the saying of the Psalmist: His going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit reaches to the end thereof (Ps. 18:7).

The schynyng of hym schal be as liyt; hornes in hondis of hym.

(Verse 4.) He covered the heavens with his glory, and the earth is full of his praise. His splendor is like light: horns are in his hands. There his strength is hidden. LXX: His power covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise, and his splendor shall be like light: horns are in his hands, and he set strong love of his strength.

Horns are in His hands. There the power of His glory was confirmed. He calls the transverse wood of the cross horns, which He held fixed by the hands, so that by overcoming all death in this manner of death, He might thus confirm the power of His glory in the hearts of the chosen, so that they are not retarded from His love by any terrors or blandishments; also promising them t…

This fortitude is from God redeeming through the incarnation of the divine Word. By what is the soul redeemed? It is said in Habakkuk: "His splendor shall be as the light; horns are in his hands; there his fortitude is hidden." For "the weakness of God is stronger than men." The Son of God was made weak for our sake.

There the strengthe of hym was hid, deth schal go bifore his face; the deuel schal go out bifore hise feet.

He stood, and mat the erthe; he bihelde, and vnboond folkis, and hillis of the world weren al to-brokun; the litle hillis of the world weren bowid doun, of the weies of his euerlastyngnesse.

(Verse 6.) He stood and measured the earth: he beheld, and scattered the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.

In all of what he said he conveyed to us the ineffable power of God: action follows his will, and by merely wishing it (the sense of "he took his position and looked down") he moves the earth, undoes human nature, splits open the mountains and melts the hills like wax. In fact, he has not ceased doing such things for people's benefit (by "passing" referring to his doings).

He looked, and the nations melted away. Which is to say openly: The Lord had mercy, and the nations repented; by which gaze he looked at Peter when he denied; and he, pricked by the memory of his sin, immediately melted into tears.

For wickidnesse Y saiy the tentis of Ethiope, the skynnes of the lond of Madian schulen be troblid.

Lord, whether in floodis thou art wrooth, ether in floodis is thi strong veniaunce, ether in the see is thin indignacioun? Which shalt stie on thin horsis; and thi foure horsid cartis is saluacioun.

"He cast forth horse and rider into the sea; he became my helper and protector in salvation." The men who pursue us are horses, and, so to speak, all who have been born in the flesh are figuratively horses. But these have their own riders.

(Verse 8, 9.) Are you angry, Lord, with the rivers? Or is your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea? For you have ascended upon your horses, and your chariots are salvation. You will surely bring forth your bow, fulfilling the oaths you have spoken to the tribes. Selah. (Septuagint: Are you angry, Lord, with the rivers?

For you will ascend riding on your horses, and your cavalry is salvation. That is, you will ascend into the hearts of your chosen ones through the illumination of grace, through which, under your guidance, they will tread the path of virtues, and by preaching you across the whole world, carrying the life of eternal salvation, they will proclaim it to the world.

Thou reisynge schalt reise thi bouwe, othis to lynagis whiche thou hast spoke; thou schalt departe the floodis of erthe.

Watris saien thee, and hillis sorewiden, the goter of watris passide; depnesse yaf his vois, hiynesse reiside hise hondis.

The sunne and moone stoden in her dwellyng place; in the liyt of thin arowis thei schulen go, in the schynyng of thi spere glisnynge.

LXX: The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood in its place. If we follow a simple interpretation, the progress of the sun and moon is shown by the words at hand: that, according to Isaiah, in the future age the sun will shine sevenfold in light, and the moon will shine with the brightness of the sun (Isaiah XXX, 26).

Concerning this glory of His Ascension, Habakkuk also says, "The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood in its order." For who is designated by the name of sun except the Lord, and who by the name of moon except the Church?

As indeed a cloud rises aloft in order that it may rain down, so does Christ ascend in order that He may grant His gifts. The sun has been lifted up, and the moon remained in its shelter.

In gnastyng thou schalt defoule erthe, and in strong veniaunce thou schalt astonye folkis.

Thou art gon out in to helthe of thi puple, in to helthe with thi crist; thou hast smyte the heed of the hous of the vnpitouse man, thou hast maad nakid the foundement til to the necke.

LXX: You have lifted up the chains until the neck, to the end. The Lord has lifted up the chains of love, so that with the previous burden set aside, and the heavy yoke by which we were oppressed thrown off, we may take up the light yoke of Christ; and, placed in his chariot, we may carry the excellent charioteer.

And yet, someone may say, we shall find the name Christ applied not to Emmanuel alone, but also applied to others. For God said somewhere about those chosen and sanctified by the Spirit, "Do not touch my anointed ones, and to my prophets do no harm." The divinely inspired David calls Saul, who had been anointed as king by God through the hand of Samuel: the "Lord's anointed." A…

Concerning [his] companions in the anointing, the apostle says, "To each of us grace is given according to the measure of Christ's bestowal." Both the priests and kings are called "christs" in the law, undoubtedly as figures of this king and high priest, our Lord and Savior, and as a type of him they were also anointed with the earthly oil.

Thou cursidist the ceptris, ether powers, of hym, the heed of hise fiyteris, to men comynge as whirlewynde for to scatere me; the ioiyng withoutforth of hem, as of hym that deuourith a pore man in hidlis.

Thou madist a weie in the see to thin horsis, in clei of many watris.

For a soul that is at peace quickly turns and corrects itself, even if it has sinned before, and Christ ascends to it more fully and deigns to rule it, to which it is said: "Mount your horses, your chariot of health." And elsewhere: "I have sent forth your horses to Tharsis." Behold the horses of Christ. Thus, Christ ascends his horses, the Word of God ascends to holy souls.

70: And you led your horses into the sea, disturbing the many waters. After God sent death upon the heads of the unjust, and the heads of the mighty were brought down in astonishment, and you broke them in the sea (for it is written in the Psalms: You have broken the heads of the dragons (Psalm 73:4)), with the princes slain, or broken, and the strong one overcome, they came to…

You sent your horses into the sea, stirring up many waters. For the sea, indeed, means the world; the horses of God, the holy preachers; the many waters, the peoples of the nations.

Y herde, and my wombe is troblid togidere; my lippis trembliden togidere of the vois. Rot entre in my boonys, and sprenge vndur me; that Y reste ayen in the dai of tribulacioun, and Y schal stie vp to oure puple gird togidere.

He who is cautious and wary can avoid sins for a while, but he who is secure in his own justice opposes God, and deprived of his help, he is subject to the snares of the enemy.

I guarded and my stomach was terrified at the voice of the prayer of my lips. He calls his mind his stomach in the manner customary to prophets, because just as the stomach receives food by which the strength and life of the body are replenished; so are holy thoughts received in the mind, by which the life of the inner man is sustained and maintained, lest it should fail.

The third origin of the fear of the Lord is from the consideration of the severity of divine vengeance. Whence in Habakkuk: "Lord, I have heard your report and was afraid. I heard, and my belly was troubled; at the voice my lips trembled.

For the fige tre schal not floure, and buriownyng schal not be in vynyerdis; the werk of olyue tre schal lie, and feeldis schulen not brynge mete; a scheep schal be kit awei fro the fold, and droue schal not be in cratchis.

Forsothe Y schal haue ioye in the Lord, and Y schal make ioie with outforth in God my Jhesu.

God the Lord is my strengthe, and he schal putte my feet as of hertis; and on myn hiye thingis, the ouercomere schal lede forth me, syngynge in salmes.

Habakkuk3