In general terms, this verse continues to describe the LORD’s activity in the storm by using symbolic language.
Thou didst strip the sheath from thy bow means that the LORD took his bow from its protective cover, ready for use. Jerusalem Bible puts it more simply as “You uncover your bow,” and Good News Translation explains the meaning of this action by saying “You got ready to use your bow.”
And put the arrows to the string: in this line the three Hebrew words of the traditional text are a serious problem. The first two words have different possible meanings, but no combination of the various possibilities makes much sense or shows much connection with the context. Probably the best one is found in the Revised Version: “The oaths to the tribes were a sure word.” This can be taken to mean that the LORD had promised to act on behalf of his people, to save them (compare verse 13).
However, after the mention of a bow in the first line, one expects some mention of arrows in the second line. The word translated “tribes” in Revised Version may also mean “rods, sticks,” which can stand symbolically for arrows. The word translated “oaths” in Revised Version may be read with different vowels with the meaning “you filled.” One manuscript of the Septuagint has a translation “you filled your quiver with arrows”; this involves assuming that the third Hebrew word is different from the one in the traditional text, but it does give a meaning which fits the context. This possibility is accepted by some modern versions: New American Bible has “filled with arrows is your quiver,” and New English Bible “charge thy quiver with shafts.”
Other scholars prefer to assume a different change in the third Hebrew word and translate as put arrows to the string or “you ply its string with arrows” (Jerusalem Bible).
Good News Translation feels the importance of mentioning arrows in this context but does not indicate whether it prefers to understand “quivers” or “strings.” Good News Translation has translated with a general statement, “ready to shoot your arrows,” which gives a good parallel with the first line.
New International Version tries to obtain sense without changing the traditional Hebrew text. To do this its translators have accepted a third possible meaning for the first of the three Hebrew words, namely, “sevens,” that is, “many.” New International Version thus translates “you called for many arrows.” Yet another possibility that retains the traditional Hebrew text is found in the French Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, “the words of oaths are arrows” (compare New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project).
With so many possibilities to be found in reputable translations (and many other suggestions in scholarly writings), how are translators to decide what to do? Their first and most important duty is to say something that makes sense, and in this case it seems that this is best achieved by accepting that the traditional Hebrew text needs to be changed. The change followed by New American Bible and New English Bible has at least some ancient manuscript support and therefore seems to offer the best possibility available. We therefore suggest as a translation base for these first two lines “You drew your bow from its case and filled your quiver with arrows.” It is also acceptable to express this meaning in more general terms, as Good News Translation has done. “Quiver” in certain languages will be expressed as “container for arrows.”
It remains to note that the arrows here are symbolic and stand for the flashes of lightning that in ancient thinking were shot from the hand of God (compare Psa 29.7; 77.18; Hab 3.4).
The second line in Hebrew ends with the word Selah. See comments on verse 3.
The third line, Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers, is expressed in more modern language by New International Version as “you split the earth with rivers.” Good News Translation has linked this with the earlier part of the verse, understanding an implied cause–effect relationship, and at the same time has made explicit that the arrows stand for lightning flashes: “Your lightning split open the earth.” It is not clear why Good News Translation, unlike Bible en français courant and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, has failed to mention the rivers. There seems to be no good reason for this. In mountainous desert areas the rare and fierce thunderstorms do indeed quickly produce roaring torrents of water which can change the landscape considerably (compare Judges 5.21). The mention of God making rivers reminded the original readers of the way he provided water in the desert for the people of Moses’ day (Exo 17.6; Num 20.11; compare Psa 74.15; 77.17-18; 78.15-16). One possible translation model is “As your lightning flashes, rivers split the earth.” Other possibilities are “The earth opens and rivers gush out” (Bible en français courant) or “You split the earth and streams spurt forth” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
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 .