GOD, the Lord, is my strength: the Hebrew here has both YHWH, the personal name of God, and the title adonai (lord). This is why GOD is spelled with capital letters in Revised Standard Version (compare Zeph 1.7). For a fuller discussion, see the comments on Obadiah 1 in k A Translator’s Handbook on the Books of Obadiah and Micahk*. Good News Translation translates this expression as “The Sovereign LORD” (compare New International Version).
Is my strength means “is my source of strength.” Good News Translation restructures this as “gives me strength.” It may also be expressed as “causes me to be strong.”
The second half of the verse contains the same thought as 2 Samuel 22.34 and Psalm 18.33, though the words in Hebrew are not identical.
He makes my feet like hinds’ feet: hinds are female deer and can run very swiftly. Some species of deer can also climb steep and rocky places safely. The point of the comparison here may be either speed (New American Bible) or sure-footedness (Moffatt, Good News Translation). Since the context speaks of moving among high places (Good News Translation “mountains”), it seems more likely that sure-footedness is in view. Good News Translation has “He makes me sure-footed as a deer,” and New English Bible has “makes my feet nimble as a hind’s.” Several modern versions (Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) fail to show what the point of the comparison is. In many languages this point will not be obvious, and so translators should take care to make it explicit, as Good News Translation has done by adding “sure-footed.”
He makes me tread upon my high places: the meaning is expressed clearly in Good News Translation as “keeps me safe on the mountains.” The Hebrew expression for tread upon my high places, like several earlier parts of the psalm, has overtones of reference to the LORD’s actions in the days of Moses (compare Deut 32.13; 33.29). It is also used of the LORD’s triumphant movement over the earth in Amos 4.13; Micah 1.3. All who, like Habakkuk, have learned to trust the LORD in times of trouble, will be given the privilege of sharing in his eventual triumph (compare 2 Tim 2.12). An alternative translation model for the last two lines of this verse is “He helps me to run over the high mountains (or, hills) without stumbling, just as a deer does.”
The Hebrew text ends with two words translated in Revised Standard Version To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. This is another musical instruction such as appears at the beginning of several psalms (Psa 4; 6; 54; 55; 61; 67; 76). It relates to the use of the psalm in the liturgical worship of the temple and is not part of the words of the prophet. For this reason it is printed in different type in some Bibles (Moffatt, New American Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant) and is omitted in others (New English Bible, Good News Translation). Translators should include or omit these words according to what they have done in the psalms listed above. If the Book of Psalms has not yet been translated, then it is probably best to set the example here of omitting the musical instruction, since it is not relevant to modern readers. Alternatively, it can be mentioned in a footnote (compare the comments on “Shigionoth” in verse 1).
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on the Book of Habakkuk. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .