Hab 3:6-7 | NET2full | STEP | He took his battle position and shook the earth ; with a mere look he frightened the nations . The ancient mountains disintegrated ; the primeval hills were flattened . His are ancient roads .

‏ Habakkuk 3:6-7

6 He took his battle position ^{▼▼tn Heb “he stood” or “took a stand.” The verb forms change to perfects and preterites in this verse, signaling past time and therefore a shift in perspective. The section starting here, the memory of the past, functions to certify the character of the future.} and shook ^{▼▼tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מָדַד, madad), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מוּד (mud; see HALOT 555 s.v.).} the earth;
with a mere look he frightened ^{▼▼tn Heb “he looked and made [the] nations jump back [in fear].”} the nations.
The ancient mountains disintegrated; ^{▼▼tn Or “crumbled,” “broke into pieces.”}
the primeval hills were flattened.
His are ancient roads. ^{▼▼tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the Lord taking the same route as in the days of Moses and Deborah (see Deut 33:2; Judg 5:4). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 154.}
7 I saw the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble; ^{▼▼tn Heb “under trouble I saw the tents of Cushan.”} ^{▼▼sn Cushan was located in southern Transjordan.}
the tent curtains of the land of Midian were ^{▼▼tn The prefixed verb form is understood as past habitual just as the imperfect functions in background clauses in narrative.} shaking. ^{▼▼tn R. D. Patterson takes תַּחַת אֲוֶן (takhat ʾaven) in the first line as a place name, “Tahath-Aven.” (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [WEC], 237.) In this case one may translate the verse as a tricolon: “I look at Tahath-Aven. The tents of Cushan are shaking, the tent curtains of the land of Midian.”}