This verse is the only one in the whole chapter which is a prayer in the sense of a request to God to do something. Verses 3-15 can be seen as a record of the prophet’s vision of God’s answer to this request.
The Revised Standard Version expression I have heard the report of thee is old-fashioned English. Good News Translation expresses this in modern terms as “I have heard of what you have done.” The word “what” may also be rendered as “the things that.”
The second line, and thy work, O LORD, do I fear, Good News Translation renders as “and I am filled with awe.” The meaning of thy work has already been included in the phrase “what you have done.” This is a reference to the activity of God on behalf of his people at the time of the exodus from Egypt. This activity became in later years a kind of standard against which people measured the evidence of God’s presence in the events of their own day. Translators should note that fear in English may mean either “terror” or “reverence, awe.” In this context the second meaning is clearly intended, and Good News Translation has made this explicit. An alternative translation model for these first two lines is “O LORD, people have told me about the things you have done, and this causes me to reverence you greatly.”
Good News Translation uses the vocative “O LORD” once at the beginning of the verse and does not repeat it in the second line. Translators may include it once or twice according to the natural usage of their language.
In the second half of the verse, Habakkuk asks the LORD to act to help his people, just as he had in times past. This request is expressed in three ways, renew it, make it known and remember mercy. The first two of these clauses are parallel with each other, and both contain the rather odd expression in the midst of the years. This refers to Habakkuk’s own times, which he pictures as many years away from the great events of the exodus, and also many years away from God’s final intervention in history. The word it in renew it and make it known is not in the Hebrew but is a legitimate addition in this context. It refers to thy work in the first half of the verse. Good News Translation takes these first two requests together and expresses their meaning as “Now do again in our times the great deeds you used to do.” This loses some of the meaning of the second request. One could translate more fully and say “Do again … used to do; make people acknowledge (or, recognize) them” (compare Bible en français courant) or “Make your people experience them again” (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). In some languages the imperative “do again” in Good News Translation needs to be softened somewhat; for example, “Please do again…” or “Let your people experience again….”
It is also possible to understand the second request as “make yourself known” (compare Septuagint, Moffatt, New English Bible). In this case it would then be necessary to keep the two clauses separate and say “Now in our times do great deeds again; make your presence known again now in our times.” However, the majority of translations adopt the same interpretation as Revised Standard Version, and translators are recommended to follow it.
The final request is in wrath remember mercy. This can be understood in three ways: (1) “even while you are angry with us, restrain your anger and show mercy to us”; (2) “while you are angry with our enemies, yet remember to show mercy to us”; (3) “though you are angry with us, show mercy to us by punishing our enemies.” The third possibility does not seem very likely, but either of the other two will fit the context satisfactorily. Good News Translation‘s “Be merciful, even when you are angry” is ambiguous. If a language requires the translators to make explicit with whom God is angry and to whom he shows mercy, then they should choose between the first two possibilities given above. On the whole the first one seems to be more probable. One may say, for instance, “Even if you have reason to be angry with us, still show mercy to us” (compare Bible en français courant).
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 .