Habakkuk 3:5
in Habakkuk 3Plague went before Him, and fever followed in His steps.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Before him went the pestilence, And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.
KJV
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
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This verse in Habakkuk 3
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 5.) Before his face, death will go, and the devil will go forth before his feet. LXX: Before his face, the word will go, and it will go forth into the field behind his feet. For because we have translated death, in Hebrew three letters are placed, Daleth, Beth, Res, without any vowel, which if they are read as Dabar (), they signify word; if Deber, pestilence, which in Greek is called λοιμός.
This site's exposition
the pestilence, and burning coals
on Habakkuk 3:5-7
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet, pictures the Lord's advance as an army with its own vanguard, plague and fire clearing the ground ahead of him. He stood, and measured the earth, drove asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, a power large enough to make ancient landmarks tremble, mountains the ancient world called perpetual bowing at his passing. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble, bringing the vision down to particular, recognizable peoples that Pusey and Keil read as the same regions the exodus generation once crossed, shown here shaking at the memory of the God who led Israel through them long before.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
The word will go before his face, and it went out into the fields. Before the Lord came in the flesh, the words of the prophets preceded, bearing witness to his coming; and these same words went out into the fields when, as the apostles …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): Before him went the pestilence, which slew all the first-born of Egypt in one night; and burning coals went forth at his feet, when, in the plague of hail, there was fire mingled with hail--burning diseases (so the margin reads it), some think those that wasted Egypt, others those with which the number of the Canaanites was diminished before Israel was brought in up on them.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Before him went the pestilence,....
He affects himself with a holy concern for the present troubles of the church, but encourages himself and others to hope that the issue will be comfortable and glorious at last, though all visible means fail,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
As Jehovah's advent is glorious to His people, so it is terrible to His foes. burning coals-- Ps 18:8 favors English Version. But the parallelism requires, as the Margin translates, "burning disease" (compare De 32:24; Ps 91:6). went . . . at his feet--that is, after Him, as His attendants (Jud 4:10).
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Before him went the pestilence - This plague was several times inflicted on the disobedient Israelites in the wilderness; see Num 11:33; Num 14:37; Num 16:46; and was always the proof that the just God was then manifesting his power among them. Burning coals event forth at his feet - Newcome translates, “And flashes of fire went forth after him.” The disobedient Israelites were consumed by a fire that went out from Jehovah; see Lev 10:2; Num 11:1; Num 16:35. And the burnt-offering was consumed by a fire which came out from before Jehovah, Lev 11:24.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Before Him went (goeth) the pestilence - then to consume His enemies.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְפָנָ֖יו | lefanav | <to> before him | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| יֵ֣לֶךְ | yelekh | it goes | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| דָּ֑בֶר | daver | pestilence | H1698 → | |
| וְיֵצֵ֥א | veyetze' | so it may go out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| רֶ֖שֶׁף | reshef | lightning | H7565 → | |
| לְרַגְלָֽיו׃ | leraglav | to feet his | H7272 → |
לְפָנָ֖יו<to> before him
lefanavH6440 →2123 times
יֵ֣לֶךְit goes
yelekhH1980 →1546 times
דָּ֑בֶרpestilence
daverH1698 →
וְיֵצֵ֥אso it may go out
veyetze'H3318 →1067 times
רֶ֖שֶׁףlightning
reshefH7565 →
לְרַגְלָֽיו׃to feet his
leraglavH7272 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 32:24They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:22
I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.
- Ezekiel 5:17
I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have…
- Ezekiel 14:21
For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it…
- Psalms 91:6
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the calamity that destroys at noon.
- Lamentations 4:4–9
The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.
- Leviticus 26:22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Habakkuk
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on the Song of Habakkuk; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Habakkuk; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.