Hebrew word · H1979

הֲלִיכָה

halikhoteikha

walk

Hălîkâ means a going, a walking, a journey or caravan (Job 6:19), the movements of a household (Prov 31:27), or a procession, including God's festal processions (Ps 68:24, 'your processions, O God'). Unlike derek ('way'), it is rarely a word for moral conduct.

Appears 6 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) going, doing, travelling company, way

1a) going, walk, marching, doings

1b) travelling company, caravan

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Habakkuk 3:6

Range of meaning

Hălîkâ means a going, a walking, a journey or caravan (Job 6:19), the movements of a household (Prov 31:27), or a procession, including God's festal processions (Ps 68:24, 'your processions, O God'). Unlike derek ('way'), it is rarely a word for moral conduct.

Against the English

BSB, ESV and NASB give 'His ways are everlasting' or similar. NIV reads it as a contrast, 'but he marches on forever'. NRSV joins it to the line before ('along his ancient pathways'). YLT has 'The ways of old are His'. 'His ways' in English easily suggests his character or methods, which is not the sense here.

How it drifted

English 'ways' became a general word for behaviour or manner (as in 'God's ways are not our ways', Isa 55:8, which uses derek). That meaning slides into this verse, where the Hebrew is about God on the march.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 68:7–8, 24 describes God marching through the wilderness, the earth shaking, and his processions. Deut 33:2 and Judg 5:4 describe YHWH setting out from Seir and Sinai. The Vulgate's 'ab itineribus aeternitatis eius' ('by the journeys of his eternity') keeps the idea of travel.

Similar words

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 6:19 הֲלִיכֹ֥ת [the] travelers of

    The caravans of Tema look for water; the travelers of Sheba hope to find it.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 68:24 הֲלִיכוֹתֶ֣יךָ הֲלִ֘יכ֤וֹת processions your, [the] processions of

    They have seen Your procession, O God—the march of my God and King into the sanctuary.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 31:27 הֲלִיכ֣וֹת [the] ways of

    She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Nahum · 1

  1. Nahum 2:5 בַּהֲלִֽיכָתָ֑ם on journey their

    He summons his nobles; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.

    Here: 'In their going/march': the movement of troops on the move. The word is also used of a formal procession (Psalm 68:24), which makes the stumbling all the more striking.

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 3:6 הֲלִיכ֥וֹת ways of

    He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.

    Here: 'Goings, marches, processions.' These are actual journeys, not moral conduct. The word is used for God's festal processions in Ps 68:24 and points back to his marches of old from Teman and Paran (v. 3).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.