Habakkuk 3:12
in Habakkuk 3You marched across the earth with fury; You threshed the nations in wrath.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou didst march through the land in indignation; Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.
KJV
Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
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This verse in Habakkuk 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verseLXX: In the threat, you will approach the earth, and in anger, you will drag away the nations. This can be understood as occurring at the end of the world, when, through frequent wars, a great multitude is killed, and few people are found, and those who did not want to be part of God's people, but remained as nations and foreigners, are led to Tartarus by the anger of the Lord.
This site's exposition
the deep uttered his voice
on Habakkuk 3:10-12
The mountains saw thee, and they trembled extends the theophany's reach from ancient rivers to the created order at large, the deep itself lifting up his hands on high like a creature startled awake. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation openly recalls Joshua's long day, the same God who halted the sky over Gibeon again commanding light itself at the light of thine arrows and the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger keeps the theophany pointed at a purpose. Henry and Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown read the whole cosmic display as instrumental to a specific act of judgment and deliverance rather than spectacle for its own sake.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 11 onwards) The mountains saw you and trembled; the raging waters passed by. The abyss gave forth its voice; the heights lifted their hands. The sun and moon stood still in their dwelling place; they will go in the light of your arrows, in the radiance of your glittering spear. In your fury, you trample the earth; in your wrath, you astonish the nations. You have come for the salvation of your people, for salvation with your Christ. You have struck the head from the house of the wicked; you have laid bare the foundation to the neck. Always. We have placed our edition alone, so that according to it, that is, according to the Hebrew, we may discuss the coherence of the passage, then we may discuss the same passage comically by chapters. The mountains saw you, God, and they grieved: namely, the high kingdoms and the lofty powers of this age, and the four chariots in Zechariah, which go forth from the bronze mountains (Zech. VI): these saw you and trembled. And the surge of waters passed over: this is, all their impetus and persecution, by which they vexed your people, passed over after they saw you. Then the abyss, that is, the underworld, praised you: then even the gods, that is, the angels, clapped their hands in applause, as if with a certain gesture and exultation of raised hands they showed you as the victor. Your sun and moon, and all the splendor with which you had previously shone upon your people, and afterwards had been covered by the weight of evil, were enveloped in the horror of darkness, received their light again, and regained their former brightness. Your arrows and your flashing spear, that is, your wounds, and your teaching, provided light to your people. Finally, in the light of your arrows, and in the splendor of your spear, which hast struck them to correct them, your people walked in your fury. […]
The Medieval Church1 voice
In your threatening, you will humble the earth, and in your fury, you will bring down nations. By threatening the severity of judgment by which the wicked are condemned, you will healthily humble those who were accustomed to place earthly things before heavenly things, so …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thou didst march through the land with indignation,....
He affects himself with a holy concern for the present troubles of the church, but encourages himself and others to hope that the issue will be comfortable and glorious at last, though all visible means fail,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Thou didst march through the land - This refers to the conquest of Canaan. God is represented as going at the head of his people as general-in-chief; and leading them on from conquest to conquest - which was the fact. Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger - Thou didst tread them down, as the oxen do the sheaves on the threshing-floor.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thou didst march the earth in indignation - The word “tread” is used of very solemn manifestations of God, (Jdg 5:4; Psa 68:8; of the procession of the ark, 2Sa 6:13. It is denied as to the idols, Jer 10:5.) of His going to give to His own victory over their enemies Not the land only, as of old, but the earth is the scene of His judgments; the earth which was “full of His praise,” which He “meted out” Hab 3:3, Hab 3:6 which contained the nations whom He chastened, the whole earth. Thou dost thresh the heathen in anger - Not then only, but at all times unto the end, distress of nations and perplexity are among the shoots of the fig tree, which betoken that the everlasting, Luk 21:25-31, “summer is nigh at hand.” Jerusalem, when it had slain the Prince of Life, was given over to desolation and counted like the pagan. It became the synagogue, not the Church; and so in the destruction of Jerusalem (as it is an image of the destruction of the world) was that again fulfilled, “Thou dost march through the earth in indignation, Thou dost thresh the heathen in anger.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
With fury You tread the earth to drive out the seven nation [the heathens of Canaan].
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
stood in their dwellings in their dwellings. In every word that requires a “lammed” at the beginning - Scripture placed a “he” at the end [meaning “to”]. They explained the phrase as referring to the war of Gibeon, as the Targum paraphrases it.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּזַ֖עַם | bezaam | in indignation | H2195 → | |
| תִּצְעַד־ | titzad- | you march | H6805 → | |
| אָ֑רֶץ | ʾaretz | [the] earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| בְּאַ֖ף | beaf | in anger | H639 → | |
| תָּד֥וּשׁ | tadush | you trample down | H1758 → | |
| גּוֹיִֽם׃ | goyim | nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
בְּזַ֖עַםin indignation
bezaamH2195 →
תִּצְעַד־you march
titzad-H6805 →
אָ֑רֶץ[the] earth
ʾaretzH776 →2504 times
בְּאַ֖ףin anger
beafH639 →
תָּד֥וּשׁyou trample down
tadushH1758 →
גּוֹיִֽם׃nations
goyimH1471 →561 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Amos 1:3This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.
it leads to
- Amos 2:6
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
- Amos 1:9
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they delivered up a whole congregation of exiles to Edom and broke a covenant…
- Isaiah 8:4
For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
- 2 Kings 8:12
“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword,…
- 2 Kings 10:32–33
In those days the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites throughout their territory
- Amos 2:6
Through
Jeremiah 51:33For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her…
it leads to
- Isaiah 21:10
O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.
- Hosea 6:11
Also for you, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore My people from captivity.
- Joel 3:13
Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because their wickedness is great.
- Isaiah 21:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Habakkuk
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on the Song of Habakkuk; Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Habakkuk; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.