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Document Details :

Title: The Lord’s Bow in Habakkuk 3,9a
Author(s): PINKER, Aron
Journal: Biblica
Volume: 84    Issue: 3   Date: 2003   
Pages: 417-420
DOI: 10.2143/BIB.84.3.3194483

Abstract :
This note suggests that the enigmatic שבעות מטות refers to the Lord’s bow, which in the Hebrew Bible is associated with the rainbow. Habakkuk views symbolically the Lord’s bow as an unusually powerful composite bow of seven rods, as the rainbow consists of seven colors. Hab 3,9a שבעות מטות אמר סלה עריה תעור קשתך is understood in the sense Naked bare Your bow, of seven strips! (say Selah), where say Selah is a later editorial instruction to the person who recites the Psalm to say the word סלה at this point, and thereby indicate an interlude, or distinction from what follows.

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