The Prophet Habakkuk

18th century
Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes, Seville, Spain

The prophet wears a variation of the quasi-priestly garments in the nearby portrait of King David.

The phrase on his shield is from Habacuc 3:9a: Suscitans suscitabis arcum tuum, juramenta tribubus quae locutus es. Cant. Habacuc Cap. 3. ("Thou wilt surely take up thy bow: according to the oaths which thou hast spoken to the tribes. Canticle of Habakkuk Chapter 3"). The Canticle of Habakkuk is an evocation of the terrible power of God's wrath.

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.