The Radiating Horns in Habakkuk 3: Origins and Functions

Chen Dandelot Hélène Grosjean

Abstract

This article takes up the question of the translation of the root qrn present in the text of Habakkuk 3. Indeed, this Hebrew term which basically designates “horns” seems to describe as well a luminous phenomenon in two texts of the Hebrew Bible, namely Habakkuk 3 and Exodus 34. This paper therefore proposes, first, to analyze the polysemous use of qrn in Ha 3 by studying the role of this root as a divine attribute in the Hebrew Bible as well as in the ancient Near East; and second, to place the polysemous use of qrn in the socio-historical framework of the redaction of Ha 3. It will be argued that this phenomenon can be understood in connection with the royal propaganda of the Seleucid Empire, since the use of radiating horns is attested in numismatics.
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