Habakkuk 3:6
in Habakkuk 3He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He stood, and measured the earth; He beheld, and drove asunder the nations; And the eternal mountains were scattered; The everlasting hills did bow; His goings were as of old.
KJV
He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
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This verse in Habakkuk 3
Commentary
15 notes on this verse(Verse 6.) He stood and measured the earth: he beheld, and scattered the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting. For there are also other mountains and hills, which the bridegroom leaps upon and transgresses in the Song of Songs (Chapter 2), about which it is also said in the second psalm of degrees: I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence shall my help come (Psalm 120, 1).
This site's exposition
the pestilence, and burning coals
on Habakkuk 3:5-7
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet, pictures the Lord's advance as an army with its own vanguard, plague and fire clearing the ground ahead of him. He stood, and measured the earth, drove asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, a power large enough to make ancient landmarks tremble, mountains the ancient world called perpetual bowing at his passing. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble, bringing the vision down to particular, recognizable peoples that Pusey and Keil read as the same regions the exodus generation once crossed, shown here shaking at the memory of the God who led Israel through them long before.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
In all of what he said he conveyed to us the ineffable power of God: action follows his will, and by merely wishing it (the sense of "he took his position and looked down") he moves the earth, undoes human nature, splits open the mountains …
The Medieval Church4 voices
His feet stood, and the earth was moved. For when the steps of truth are impressed upon the minds of the listeners through the preaching doctor, soon the mind itself, troubled in its consideration, is moved. However, the feet of the Lord can not inconveniently …
He looked, and the nations melted away. Which is to say openly: The Lord had mercy, and the nations repented; by which gaze he looked at Peter when he denied; and he, pricked by the memory of his sin, immediately melted into tears.
The everlasting hills flowed down. By the name of hills, as with mountains, proud men are expressed, but perhaps inflated with a lesser arrogance of elation, yet not free from the guilt of swelling pride, and therefore healthily inclined, so that they may deserve to …
I have seen His ways of eternity beyond the labors. The ways are of the temporality of the Lord, by which He came into the world, so that He might appear to men for a time; but His ways of eternity, by which, leaving the …
8 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
The mountains were broken exceedingly. He calls them proud mountains, and about the vanity of this world, or kingship, or wisdom, or wealth, exalting themselves, who, with the Lord watching, were not only broken but exceedingly broken, when, by His mercy, some from such ranks …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
He stood - Gave his presence with Joshua, as one that stood by while the work was done. The land - The promised land. He beheld - Looked with a frowning countenance.
To this he adds, His ways are everlasting, that is, all the motions of his providence are according to his eternal counsels; and he is the same for ever, that which he was yesterday and to-day. His covenant is unchangeable, and his mercy endures for ever.
He stood and measured the earth,....
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 Century3 voices
He stood, and measured the earth - ארץ erets, the land; he divided the promised land among the twelve tribes. This is the allusion; and this the prophet had in his eye. God not only made a general assignment of the land to the Hebrews; but he even divided it into such portions as the different families required. Here were both power and condescension. When a conqueror had subdued a country, he divided it among his soldiers.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
He stood, and measured the earth--Jehovah, in His advance, is represented as stopping suddenly, and measuring the earth with His all-seeing glance, whereat there is universal consternation.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He stood - It is “a metaphor of his giving victory to Israel” Tanchum. And measured - So Kimchi, A. E., Rashi, Tanchum, Vulgate. It is borne out by Hithpolel. “extended himself,” 1Ki 17:21. By an interchange of dentals; מוד might be = מוט, and so the Aramaic and the Septuagint but in no other case do the two forms co-exist in Hebrew. The earth - Joshua, after he had conquered the land, meted it out and divided it among the people. He who should come, should measure out the earth in its length and breadth, that earth which His glory filleth. “He stood,” as Stephen saw Him, Act 7:56, “standing at the right hand of God.” Isaiah saith, Isa 3:13: “The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.” He had not need to go forth, but, in the abode of His glory, “He stood” and beheld and with His eye “measured the earth,” as His own, whereas, before the cross, it lay under 1Co 2:5, “the Prince of this world,” and he had said, Luk 4:6, “it is delivered unto me, and unto whomsoever I will, I give it.” “He measureth it,” and gave it to His apostles. Mat 28:18; Mar 16:15: “all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. […]
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עָמַ֣ד׀ | ʾamad | he stood | H5975 → | 521 times |
| וַיְמֹ֣דֶד | vaymoded | and he shook | H4128 → | |
| אֶ֗רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| רָאָה֙ | raah | he has seen | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| וַיַּתֵּ֣ר | vaiyater | and he has made jump | H5425 → | |
| גּוֹיִ֔ם | goyim | nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| וַיִּתְפֹּֽצְצוּ֙ | vaiyitpotzetzu | and they have been shattered | H6327 → | |
| הַרְרֵי־ | harei- | mountains of | H2042 → | |
| עַ֔ד | ʾad | antiquity | H5703 → | |
| שַׁח֖וּ | shachu | they have bowed down | H7817 → | |
| גִּבְע֣וֹת | givot | hills of | H1389 → | |
| עוֹלָ֑ם | olam | antiquity | H5769 → | |
| הֲלִיכ֥וֹת | halikhot | ways of | H1979 → | |
| עוֹלָ֖ם | olam | antiquity | H5769 → | |
| לֽוֹ׃ | lo | [belong] to him |
עָמַ֣ד׀he stood
ʾamadH5975 →521 times
וַיְמֹ֣דֶדand he shook
vaymodedH4128 →
אֶ֗רֶץ[the] earth
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
רָאָה֙he has seen
raahH7200 →1300 times
וַיַּתֵּ֣רand he has made jump
vaiyaterH5425 →
גּוֹיִ֔םnations
goyimH1471 →561 times
וַיִּתְפֹּֽצְצוּ֙and they have been shattered
vaiyitpotzetzuH6327 →
הַרְרֵי־mountains of
harei-H2042 →
עַ֔דantiquity
ʾadH5703 →
שַׁח֖וּthey have bowed down
shachuH7817 →
גִּבְע֣וֹתhills of
givotH1389 →
עוֹלָ֑םantiquity
olamH5769 →
הֲלִיכ֥וֹתways of
halikhotH1979 →
עוֹלָ֖םantiquity
olamH5769 →
לֽוֹ׃[belong] to him
lo
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
Isaiah 51:6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like…
it leads to
- Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Psalms 102:25–26
In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Hebrews 1:10–12
And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Isaiah 34:4
All the stars of heaven will be dissolved. The skies will be rolled up like a scroll, and all their stars will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like foliage from the fig…
- Revelation 6:12–14
And when I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red,
- Matthew 24:35
Through
Genesis 49:26The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 33:15–16
with the best of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills,
- Deuteronomy 33:15–16
Through
Nahum 1:5The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.
it leads to
- Micah 1:4
The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.
- Jeremiah 4:24
I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.
- Micah 1:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Habakkuk
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
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; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Habakkuk; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON HABAKKUK 3:6.