Habakkuk 3:19

The Lord God is my strength lit. Jehovah, the Lord is, &c. Psalms 73:26, "God is the strength of my heart"; Psalms 18:32, "The God that girdeth me with strength." The strength is an inward one, confidence and assurance and courageousness in the face of all external afflictions.

And he will make my feet Or, and he maketh. The points in the comparison are perhaps swiftness and security. What is suggested is the freshness of life, the power and confidence in action, which is felt to be drawn from God.

And he will make me to walk Or, and he maketh me.

upon mine high places The words seem still to carry on the figure of the "hinds" feet." The pronoun minedoes not refer to any particular high places; myhigh places are just those on which I walk or tread. Sept., Syr., Vulg. omit my, with no difference of meaning. The phrase "tread on my high places" expresses the freedom, the superiority to hindrance or restraint, and the power, which the community is conscious of in the strength of God. Cf. Psalms 18:33.

To the chief singer In the titles to Psalms 4:6 the word is rendered chief musician. It means director, or, superintendent.

on my stringed instruments Or, with my. In the titles to Psalms 4:6 &c. in A.V. the original word neginothis retained. In the sing this word may mean playingon strings, in the plur it appears to mean stringed instruments. The whole expression has the meaning: To the director in the(Temple) music;or, To the director; with(Temple) music. The pronoun myoccasions difficulty. On the assumption that this musical direction came from the author of the hymn it has been inferred that he was a Levite and a musician. Such an assumption would exclude the authorship of Habakkuk. But even supposing the author were some other Levite, how could a single member of the orchestra say "mystringed instruments"? The Sept. reads his, which might refer to the director, but no reliance can ever be placed on the pronouns of the Sept. All evidence, however, is against ascribing any of these musical directions to the authors of the hymns themselves. The similar passage Isaiah 38:20 should perhaps be rendered: "Therefore will we strike (play) my stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord." In both passages the pronoun mymust either be deleted according to the usage in the titles to Psalms 4:6 &c., or the speaker who says "my" must be supposed to be the worshipping congregation. Only a collective body could say "my stringed instruments" and "our life" (Isaiah 38:20) in the same breath.