Habakkuk 3:15

Thou didst walk through the sea Thou hast gone through the sea (Isaiah 11:15). The verse refers to the passage of the Red Sea; and the thought remains unexpressed, though it is understood, that with this was completed the destruction of the enemy and the deliverance of the people. The strophe reads as a whole:

12. In indignation thou marchest through the earth,

Thou dost thresh the nations in anger.

13. Thou art come forth for the salvation of thy people,

For the salvation of thine anointed.

Thou hast shattered the head from the house of the wicked,

Laying bare the foundation unto the neck.

14. Thou hast pierced through with thy spears the head of his warriors,

Which were come out as a whirlwind to scatter me,

Exulting as about to devour the afflicted in secret places.

15. Thou hast gone through the sea with thy horses,

The heap of great waters.

16. Habakkuk 3:16 returns to Habakkuk 3:2, taking up the words "I heard the report of thee" and "I feared."

When I heard I heard (or, have heard) and my belly, i.e. heart or inward parts.

My lips quivered at the voice i.e. the report or voice which he heard.

Rottenness entered Or, entered. "Rottenness" is a figure for utter failure of strength.

I trembled in myself I tremble in my place, or, where I stand. 2 Samuel 2:23.

That I might rest in the day of trouble The words on to the end of the verse are very obscure. The first half of the verse describes the terror and paralysis that came upon the poet (or community) from what he "heard"; there appears no connexion between this idea and A.V. that I might rest. R.V. renders that I should rest, which appears to mean, that I must restor remain quiet in the day of trouble, i.e. probably, endure patiently the day of trouble. R.V. marg. suggests: that I should restwaiting for the day of trouble, i.e. wait patiently for (or unto) the day of trouble. The term rest has nowhere else such a sense.

Whenhe cometh up unto the people The words might possibly mean: the day of trouble, which is to come up against the people, to invade them(like a troop). The "people" might be the speaker's own people, for the day of trouble is universal; or possibly it might mean the people of the earth universally (Psalms 22:6; Isaiah 40:7; Isaiah 42:5). The day of troubleis a day resembling that of which the speaker has "heard" (Habakkuk 3:3), the report of which makes his lips tremble, and such a day can hardly be a time of calamity to come on Israel from any invader, it must rather be the day of general judgment and of the divine Theophany prayed for in ch. Habakkuk 3:2. For this reason the other marginal suggestion of R.V. is not probable: the day of trouble, when he that shall invade them cometh up against the people. The hard ellipses which this rendering assumes in the Heb. text are also against it. Owing to the ambiguity of the pronouns in Heb. another rendering still is possible: the day of trouble, which is to come up against the people that invades(assails) us. So Wellh. Certainty as to the exact meaning is not attainable. The "day of distress," however, is the Theophany of the judge, in conformity with the whole scope of the poem. Zephaniah 1:15 also calls the day of the Lord "a day of distress." This manifestation of the great God is terrible even to Israel, notwithstanding that the issue of it will be the deliverance of the people of God and the destruction of their adversaries. The "day" is personified and spoken of as coming on mankind ("the people") like an invader.