Bible Strands
Habakkuk 3:8
Were You angry at the rivers, O LORD? Was Your wrath against the streams? Did You rage against the sea when You rode on Your horses, on Your chariots of salvation?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Habakkuk addresses Yahweh directly in a visionary prayer, posing rhetorical questions during a moment of national distress and anticipated divine intervention.
The words — חָרָ֣ה (cha.Rah) means “has it burned,” and אַפֶּ֔/ךָ ('a.Pe./kha) means “[is] anger/ your,” anchoring the verse’s inquiry into the nature of divine wrath.
The thread — The text explicitly links God’s anger toward rivers and the sea to His chariots of salvation, echoing the Red Sea crossing in Exodus 14:21, the declaration that God rides the heavens in Deuteronomy 33:26, and the description of divine chariots in Psalms 68:17.
Why it lands — The passage states God’s past military actions as deliberate acts of salvation rather than uncontrolled rage, demanding the reader acknowledge that historical deliverance stems from His sovereign purpose, not chaotic impulse.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
Cross-references
- Psalms 68:17 The chariots of God are tens of thousands—thousands of thousands are they; the Lord is in His sanctuary as He was at Sinai.
- Deuteronomy 33:26 “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid, and the clouds in His majesty.
- Exodus 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
- Psalms 18:10 He mounted a cherub and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind.
- Psalms 114:3 The sea observed and fled; the Jordan turned back;
- Psalms 114:5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back,
- Isaiah 50:2 Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
- Joshua 3:16 the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
- Psalms 68:4 Sing to God! Sing praises to His name. Exalt Him who rides on the clouds—His name is the LORD—and rejoice before Him.
- Psalms 104:3 laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.