Habakkuk 3:17-19

It is not easy to say whether Habakkuk 3:17 contains a series of suppositions referring to what may happen in the future, or describes a condition of things actually existing. The latter way of reading the verse is the more natural. The verse does not suggest a condition of scarcity and barrenness arising from a hostile invasion of the land, but rather one due to the incidence of severe natural calamities. The word for, with which the verse begins, connects very loosely with the preceding Habakkuk 3:16. The mood of the speaker also in Habakkuk 3:18 is confident and jubilant, in strong contrast to the gloom and terror of Habakkuk 3:16. It is possible that the poem originally ended with Habakkuk 3:16, and that Habakkuk 3:17 are an addition. The difference of tone in Habakkuk 3:16 and Habakkuk 3:17 is not decisive, for in such poems the author's mind not unusually passes from gloomy anticipations to confidence.

The verse may read:

For though the figtree doth not blossom,

And there is no fruit in the vines;

The produce of the olive faileth,

And the fields yield no meat;

The flock is cut off from the fold,

And there is no herd in the stalls.

It is the community that speaks in Habakkuk 3:17, as is evident from Habakkuk 3:18.