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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Habakkuk 3 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/habakkuk/3.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/habakkuk/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/habakkuk/3-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../habakkuk/">Habakkuk</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../habakkuk/2.htm" title="Habakkuk 2">◄</a> Habakkuk 3 <a href="../zephaniah/1.htm" title="Zephaniah 1">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-1.htm">Habakkuk 3:1</a></div><div class="verse">A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.</div>III.</span><p>(1-15) A hymn describing a future self-manifestation of Jehovah on Israel’s behalf, accompanied by the signs and wonders of the early history. It is impossible to give the English reader an idea of the rhythmical structure of this beautiful composition. We will only observe that it is independent of the arrangement in verses, and that the poem (except in <a href="/context/habakkuk/3-7.htm" title="I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.">Habakkuk 3:7-8</a>; <a href="/habakkuk/3-13.htm" title="You went forth for the salvation of your people, even for salvation with your anointed; you wounded the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation to the neck. Selah.">Habakkuk 3:13</a>, <span class= "ital">fin.</span>) consists of lines each containing exactly three words.<p>(1) <span class= "bld">Upon Shigionoth.</span>—This term points, not to the contents of the composition, but either to its metrical structure or its musical setting. See on the Inscription of Psalms 7. Inasmuch as this ode is throughout an account of the deliverance anticipated by prayerful faith, it is called not a Psalm, <span class= "ital">mizmôr,</span> but a Prayer, <span class= "ital">t</span>’<span class= "ital">philtâh.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-2.htm">Habakkuk 3:2</a></div><div class="verse">O LORD, I have heard thy speech, <i>and</i> was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Thy speech.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">thy report,</span> as in margin. The tone is that of <a href="/psalms/44-1.htm" title="We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work you did in their days, in the times of old.">Psalm 44:1</a>, “We have heard with our ears O God! our fathers have told us . . . ” Jehovah’s doings at the <span class= "ital">beginning</span> of the years are well known; the prophet seeks that they may be manifested again, now in the <span class= "ital">midst</span> of the years. The petition “in wrath remember mercy,” is explained by <a href="/habakkuk/1-5.htm" title="Behold you among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which you will not believe, though it be told you.">Habakkuk 1:5</a> <span class= "ital">et seq.</span> It implies—though Thy visitation be well deserved, yet mercifully limit its duration, as on former occasions.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-3.htm">Habakkuk 3:3</a></div><div class="verse">God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.</div>(3-15) Habakkuk describes the “Theophany” or self-manifestation of Jehovah, which is to introduce the desired deliverance. The Authorised Version has unfortunately rendered all the verbs in this section in the <span class= "ital">past</span> tense, thus obscuring the sense of the poem. They all refer to a scene really future, but brought by the grasp of faith into the immediate <span class= "ital">present.</span> In the Hebrew some of these verbs are in the future tense, others in the past used with the force of a present, the “prophetic perfect” as it is sometimes termed. Such a use of the Hebrew preterite is common in Biblical poetry, notably in the Book of Psalms. It is almost impossible to reproduce in English the slight distinction between these tenses. While, however, his eyes are thus fixed on a future deliverance, the basis of all Habakkuk’s anticipations is God’s doings in time past; the chief features in the portraiture are, in fact, borrowed from the Books of Exodus and Judges.<p>(3) <span class= "bld">God came</span>.—Render “<span class= "ital">God shall come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise.</span>” Jehovah reveals Himself from the south: <span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> from Mount Sinai, as in Deuteronomy 32, Judges 5, Psalms 68. The southern country is here designated as “Teman,” <span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> Edom to the S.E., and “Paran,” the mountainous region to the S.W., between Edom and Egypt.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-4.htm">Habakkuk 3:4</a></div><div class="verse">And <i>his</i> brightness was as the light; he had horns <i>coming</i> out of his hand: and there <i>was</i> the hiding of his power.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">And his brightness was as the light. . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">And a brightness shall there be, like sunlight, and rays are at His side; and there </span>[<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> in this radiance] <span class= "ital">is the tabernacle of His power.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-5.htm">Habakkuk 3:5</a></div><div class="verse">Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Before him went the pestilence. . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Before Him shall go the plague, and burning pestilence shall go forth where He sets His feet.</span> Kleinert remarks that it was with these angels of death that Jehovah revealed Himself in the south, and destroyed the armies of Sennacherib (<a href="/2_kings/19-35.htm" title="And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.">2Kings 19:35</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-6.htm">Habakkuk 3:6</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>are</i> everlasting.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">He stood, and measured the earth . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">He has taken His stand and measured the earth, He has looked and made the heathen tremble; and the primeval mountains are broken up, the ancient hills sink down; His goings are as of old; i.e.,</span> His proceedings are the same as of old time, when He brought up Israel from Egypt. God measures or parcels out the earth; and the usurping invader is put to confusion. The mountains are convulsed, as was Sinai of old. (Comp. <a href="/judges/5-5.htm" title="The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel.">Judges 5:5</a>, <a href="/psalms/68-8.htm" title="The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.">Psalm 68:8</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-7.htm">Habakkuk 3:7</a></div><div class="verse">I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: <i>and</i> the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">“I saw.</span>”—Better, I <span class= "ital">see.</span> <span class= "bld">Did tremble.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">are trembling.</span> Probably the imagery is still borrowed from the Exodus story, the nations instanced being the borderers on the Red Sea—viz., Cushan (Cush, or Ethiopia) on the west, and Midian on the east side. A plausible theory, however, as old as the Targum, connects this verse with later episodes in Israel’s history. “Cushan” is identified with that Mesopotamian oppressor, “Cushan-rishathaim,” whom the judge Othniel overcame. (<a href="/context/judges/3-8.htm" title="Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.">Judges 3:8-10</a>). And “Midian” is interpreted by Judges 6, which records how Gideon delivered Israel from Midianite oppression. Both names thus become typical instances of tyranny subdued by Jehovah’s intervention. We prefer the other interpretation, because the prophet’s eye is still fixed apparently on the earlier history (see <a href="/habakkuk/3-8.htm" title="Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was your anger against the rivers? was your wrath against the sea, that you did ride on your horses and your chariots of salvation?">Habakkuk 3:8</a>, <span class= "ital">et seq.</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> and a reference here to the time of the Judges would mar the elimactic symmetry of the composition. “Cushan,” however, is never used elsewhere for “Cush,” though the LXX. understood it in this meaning. “Curtains” in the second hemistich is merely a variation on “tents” in the first. (Comp. <a href="/songs/1-5.htm" title="I am black, but comely, O you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.">Song of Solomon 1:5</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-8.htm">Habakkuk 3:8</a></div><div class="verse">Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? <i>was</i> thine anger against the rivers? <i>was</i> thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses <i>and</i> thy chariots of salvation?</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Was the Lord displeased?</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Is it</span> <span class= "ital">with the rivers Jehovah is wroth? Is Thine anger against the rivers? Is Thy wrath against the sea?—that Thou</span> (thus) <span class= "ital">ridest upon Thy horses, that Thy chariots</span> (thus appear) <span class= "ital">for deliverance?</span><p><span class= "bld">Of salvation.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">for salvation,</span> or <span class= "ital">for deliverance.</span> The allusion is obviously to Israel’s miraculous passage through the Red Sea and the Jordan. The “horses” and “chariots” which are here the symbols of Divine might, come in the more fittingly in view of Exodus 14 (see <a href="/habakkuk/3-14.htm" title="You did strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.">Habakkuk 3:14</a> <span class= "ital">seq.</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> where Pharaoh, pursued with “horses and chariots,” only to find Jehovah Himself arrayed against him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-9.htm">Habakkuk 3:9</a></div><div class="verse">Thy bow was made quite naked, <i>according</i> to the oaths of the tribes, <i>even thy</i> word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Thy bow was made quite naked.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Thy bow shall be bared, even the chastisements sworn by Thy word. Selah. With rivers shalt thou cleave the earth.</span> God’s chastisements, which are compared in <a href="/psalms/21-12.htm" title="Therefore shall you make them turn their back, when you shall make ready your arrows on your strings against the face of them.">Psalm 21:12</a> to arrows fitted to the string, are here represented as a bow taken out of the case, and so “made naked,” or “bared.” The word <span class= "ital">matteh, </span>“rod,” “stem” (hence, also, “tribe”), used to denote an instrument of chastisement in <a href="/micah/6-9.htm" title="The LORD's voice cries to the city, and the man of wisdom shall see your name: hear you the rod, and who has appointed it.">Micah 6:9</a>, <a href="/isaiah/30-32.htm" title="And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay on him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.">Isaiah 30:32</a>, here apparently means the <span class= "ital">punishment,</span> or <span class= "ital">chastisement,</span> of heathen iniquities, which God has sworn (see <a href="/context/deuteronomy/32-40.htm" title="For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.">Deuteronomy 32:40-41</a>) to execute. On the term <span class= "ital">Selah</span> see <a href="/psalms/3-4.htm" title="I cried to the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.">Psalm 3:4</a> note. <span class= "ital">With rivers shalt thou cleave the earth, i.e.,</span> the rocks shall send forth new watercourses at Jehovah’s bidding, so that “rivers run in the dry places.” (See <a href="/exodus/17-6.htm" title="Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.">Exodus 17:6</a>; <a href="/numbers/20-11.htm" title="And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.">Numbers 20:11</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-10.htm">Habakkuk 3:10</a></div><div class="verse">The mountains saw thee, <i>and</i> they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, <i>and</i> lifted up his hands on high.</div>(10-18) All the verbs in these verses are misrendered as regards tense. (See note on 3-15.)<p>(10) <span class= "bld">The mountains saw thee.</span>—The earthquake at Sinai and the dividing of the Red Sea, the waters of which were lifted up “as a wall on the right hand and on the left” of Israel, lie at the basis of this description. This imagery, however, of sweeping floods and quaking mountains is usual in poetical accounts of Divine interposition.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-11.htm">Habakkuk 3:11</a></div><div class="verse">The sun <i>and</i> moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, <i>and</i> at the shining of thy glittering spear.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">The sun and moon stand still in their habitation</span>—<span class= "ital">scil.,</span> where they were at the beginning of the judgment. Here, of course, Habakkuk has in mind <a href="/context/joshua/10-12.htm" title="Then spoke Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand you still on Gibeon; and you, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.">Joshua 10:12-13</a>. The rest of the verse is best rendered, <span class= "ital">at the light of Thine arrows which go abroad, at the bright glancing of Thy spear.</span> Apparently, the conception is that the surpassing brightness of the theophany shames the heavenly bodies, which accordingly cease to pursue their journey.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-12.htm">Habakkuk 3:12</a></div><div class="verse">Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Thou didst march</span>.—Here the verbs are in the future, and are to be rendered accordingly.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-13.htm">Habakkuk 3:13</a></div><div class="verse">Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, <i>even</i> for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Thou wentest</span>.—Here the verbs, though past, are best rendered by the English present.<p><span class= "bld">Even for salvation</span> . . .—Better, <span class= "ital">even for the salvation of Thine anointed</span>—<span class= "ital">scil.,</span> Thy chosen people, as also, perhaps, in <a href="/psalms/105-15.htm" title="Saying, Touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm.">Psalm 105:15</a>. The rendering of the Authorised Version has the support of Aquila and the Quinta. It is a possible rendering, but few impartial Hebraists will deny that the other is preferable. In the last half of the verse two figures are blended—those of a house and a human body. Literally, it runs, <span class= "ital">Thou crushest the head of the house of the wicked</span> (comp. <a href="/psalms/110-6.htm" title="He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.">Psalm 110:6</a>), <span class= "ital">laying bare the foundation even to the neck.</span> The obvious meaning is that the house or race of the Chaldæans is to be destroyed, “root and branch.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-14.htm">Habakkuk 3:14</a></div><div class="verse">Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing <i>was</i> as to devour the poor secretly.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Thou dost strike through with his staves</span> . . .—Better, <span class= "ital">Thou dost pierce with his</span> (<span class= "ital">scil.,</span> thine anointed people’s) <span class= "ital">spears the head of his</span> (the enemy’s) <span class= "ital">princes, when they sweep by to scatter me abroad, when they exult as if to devour the afflicted secretly.</span> The first clause is very obscure. <span class= "ital">Matteh</span> means not only “spear,” but also “rod,” “stem,” “tribe” (see on <a href="/habakkuk/3-9.htm" title="Your bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even your word. Selah. You did split the earth with rivers.">Habakkuk 3:9</a>); and the word which we translate “princes” may also, perhaps, mean “villages.” (See on <a href="/judges/5-7.htm" title="The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.">Judges 5:7</a>.) It is also uncertain to whom the possessive pronouns attached to these substantives refer the last clause we are reminded of several passages in the Psalms, notably, <a href="/psalms/10-9.htm" title="He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lies in wait to catch the poor: he does catch the poor, when he draws him into his net.">Psalm 10:9</a>; <a href="/psalms/14-4.htm" title="Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not on the LORD.">Psalm 14:4</a>; <a href="/psalms/17-12.htm" title="Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.">Psalm 17:12</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-15.htm">Habakkuk 3:15</a></div><div class="verse">Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, <i>through</i> the heap of great waters.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Thou didst walk.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Thou walkest. </span>“Heap” is probably the correct translation of <span class= "ital">chômer</span> here, as in <a href="/exodus/8-10.htm" title="And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to your word: that you may know that there is none like to the LORD our God.">Exodus 8:10</a>. With this glance at the miraculous passage of the Red Sea (see <a href="/habakkuk/3-8.htm" title="Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was your anger against the rivers? was your wrath against the sea, that you did ride on your horses and your chariots of salvation?">Habakkuk 3:8</a>) this prophetic poem comes to a sudden termination. The new paragraph begins with <a href="/habakkuk/3-16.htm" title="When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he comes up to the people, he will invade them with his troops.">Habakkuk 3:16</a>, not, as is indicated in the Authorised Version, with <a href="/habakkuk/3-17.htm" title="Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:">Habakkuk 3:17</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-16.htm">Habakkuk 3:16</a></div><div class="verse">When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.</div>(16-19) Habakkuk now reverts abruptly to the Divine sentence of <a href="/habakkuk/1-5.htm" title="Behold you among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which you will not believe, though it be told you.">Habakkuk 1:5</a> <span class= "ital">et seq.,</span> and describes with what emotion he meditates on the coming disasters, and on his own inability to prevent them. His anxiety is, however, swept aside by a joyful and overpowering confidence in God. These verses are a kind of appendix to the preceding poem.<p>(16) <span class= "bld">That I might rest</span> . . .—Better, <span class= "ital">that I should be resting quiet in the day of trouble, when he cometh up against the people who is to oppress them.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-17.htm">Habakkuk 3:17</a></div><div class="verse">Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither <i>shall</i> fruit <i>be</i> in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and <i>there shall be</i> no herd in the stalls:</div>(17) <span class= "bld">Although</span>.—Better, <span class= "ital">For.</span> The conjunction connects this verse with what precedes, and explains Habakkuk’s affliction more fully. With the sword shall come famine, invasion as usual producing desolation.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-18.htm">Habakkuk 3:18</a></div><div class="verse">Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Yet</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> in spite of all the afflictions predicted in <a href="/habakkuk/3-17.htm" title="Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:">Habakkuk 3:17</a>. We are reminded of St. Paul’s expression of confidence in <a href="/romans/8-37.htm" title="No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.">Romans 8:37</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/habakkuk/3-19.htm">Habakkuk 3:19</a></div><div class="verse">The LORD God <i>is</i> my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' <i>feet</i>, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">The Lord God</span>.—This is an adaptation from <a href="/psalms/18-33.htm" title="He makes my feet like hinds' feet, and sets me on my high places.">Psalm 18:33</a>. The “hinds’ feet” indicate the strength and elasticity of the prophet’s confidence; the “high places” are, as Kleinert observes, “the heights of salvation which stand at the end of the way of tribulation, and which only the righteous man can climb by the confidence of faith.”<p><span class= "bld">To the chief singer</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, to the precentor, or presiding singer. The rubric may be interpreted either “To the precentor. (To be performed) on my stringed instruments,” or, “To him who presides over my stringed instruments.” The fact that the same direction occurs with the words in the same order in six Psalms perhaps favours the latter rendering in all cases. The preposition <span class= "ital">al</span> would, however, in this case be appropriate rather than <span class= "ital">b</span>’ On the terms used, see <a href="/psalms/4-1.htm" title="Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.">Psalm 4:1</a>. It has been inferred from the use of the possessive pronoun, “<span class= "ital">my</span> stringed instruments,” that Habakkuk was a Levite, and therefore himself entitled to accompany the Temple music. But see Introduction, § 1.<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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