Habakkuk — Chapter 3

Domine audivi auditionem tuam et timui

'Lord, I have heard thy hearing and was afraid.' The beginning of the prayer is an act of prophetic adoration before the divine majesty. À Lapide reads this as a model of contemplative prayer: the prophet first listens (auditionem tuam) before speaking. The petition 'in the midst of the years revive it' (Vulgate: in medio annorum vivifica illud) is read as a prayer for the Incarnation—God's saving work renewed in the fullness of time.

Deus ab austro veniet

'God will come from the south.' À Lapide identifies Teman (south) and mount Pharan with the Sinai theophany of Exodus, and more typologically with the Incarnation: God coming from 'the south' figures the divine light dawning from the rising Sun of Justice. The description of divine majesty—brightness as light, rays from his hand—is applied to the Transfiguration (Matt. 17:2).

Ficus non florebit et non erit germen in vineis

'For the fig tree shall not blossom and there shall be no spring in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no food; the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls.' À Lapide calls this the 'Magnificat of the Old Testament' because it follows with absolute joy in God despite total material deprivation. He uses it in a treatise on detachment from created goods, citing John of the Cross's Ascent of Mount Carmel.

Ego autem in Domino gaudebo

'But I will rejoice in the Lord and I will joy in God my Jesus.' À Lapide lingers on 'Deus Iesus meus'—the Vulgate reading—noting that Jerome's translation preserves the earliest Christian reading of this verse as a direct reference to Jesus. He treats this as proof that the divine Name 'Jesus' (Saviour) was known to the prophets spiritually even before the Incarnation. The joy despite material deprivation models the martyrs' composure.