Habakkuk 3:16

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16-19) Habakkuk now reverts abruptly to the Divine sentence of Habakkuk 1:5 et seq., 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.

(16) That I might rest . . .—Better, that I should be resting quiet in the day of trouble, when he cometh up against the people who is to oppress them.

Benson Commentary

Habakkuk 3:16. When I heard, my belly trembled — The prophet, having recounted, for the present encouragement of the faithful, the wonderful works which God had formerly wrought for his people, here returns again to his first subject, namely, the revelation which he had received from God, concerning the calamities which should be brought on the Jewish people by the Chaldeans. My belly trembled, my lips quivered, &c. — A consternation and shaking seized me, and I could not speak for grief and astonishment, at being informed what great miseries were coming upon my nation. Rottenness entered into my bones — I could no more stand than a person whose bones are rendered rotten by disease. That I might rest in the day of trouble — These words are interpreted in different ways: some suppose that the prophet here expresses a desire of being gathered to his fathers in peace, before the king of Babylon should invade Judea, and carry the people away captive; and that he adds, as a reason of his prayer, a description of the desolation which should then come upon the land. In this sense the clause is understood by Mr. Green, who therefore interprets it, O that I might be at rest before the day of distress, when the invader shall come up against the people with his troops! But Noldius, whose interpretation is approved by Lowth, reads, Yet I shall rest in the day of trouble, when he shall come up against the people, even he who shall invade them with his troops. The prophet may be considered as speaking in the person of every truly pious Jew; I shall rest secure under the divine protection, when the Chaldeans shall come to invade Judea. This sense of the clause accords well, perhaps better than any other, with the following verses; in which we have a plain and noble description of the confidence we ought to have in God, in the most trying times, and when involved in the greatest calamities.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:16-19 When we see a day of trouble approach, it concerns us to prepare. A good hope through grace is founded in holy fear. The prophet looked back upon the experiences of the church in former ages, and observed what great things God had done for them, and so was not only recovered, but filled with holy joy. He resolved to delight and triumph in the Lord; for when all is gone, his God is not gone. Destroy the vines and the fig-trees, and you make all the mirth of a carnal heart to cease. But those who, when full, enjoyed God in all, when emptied and poor, can enjoy all in God. They can sit down upon the heap of the ruins of their creature-comforts, and even then praise the Lord, as the God of their salvation, the salvation of the soul, and rejoice in him as such, in their greatest distresses. Joy in the Lord is especially seasonable when we meet with losses and crosses in the world. Even when provisions are cut off, to make it appear that man lives not by bread alone, we may be supplied by the graces and comforts of God's Spirit. Then we shall be strong for spiritual warfare and work, and with enlargement of heart may run the way of his commandments, and outrun our troubles. And we shall be successful in spiritual undertakings. Thus the prophet, who began his prayer with fear and trembling, ends it with joy and triumph. And thus faith in Christ prepares for every event. The name of Jesus, when we can speak of Him as ours, is balm for every wound, a cordial for every care. It is as ointment poured forth, shedding fragrance through the whole soul. In the hope of a heavenly crown, let us sit loose to earthly possessions and comforts, and cheerfully bear up under crosses. Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry; and where he is, we shall be also.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When I heard - , better, "I heard and ..." The prophet sums up, resuming that same declaration with which he had begun, "I heard, I was afraid." Only now he expresses far more strongly both his awe at God's judgments and his hopes. He had just beheld the image of the destruction of Pharaoh, the end of the brief triumphing of the wicked and of the trials of God's people. But awful as are all the judgments of God upon the enemies of His people, it was not this alone which was the object of his terror. This was deliverance. It was the whole course of God's dispensations, which he had heard; God's punishment of His people for their sins, and the excision of their oppressors, who, in His Providence, fulfilling their own evil end, executed His chastisements upon them. The deliverances, which shadowed out the future, had their dark side, in that they were deliverances. The whole course of this world is one series of man's unfaithfulnesses or sins, God's chastisements of them through their fellow-sinners, and His ultimate overt brow of the aggressors. Those first three centuries of glorious martyrdoms were, on the one side, the malice and hatred of Satan and the world against the truth; on the other side, the prophets of those days told their people that they were the chastisements of their sins. Future deliverance implies previous chastisement of those delivered. The prophet then, at the close, in view of all, for himself and all whose perplexities he represented and pleaded before God, chooses his and their portion. "Suffer here and rest forever!" "Endure here any terror, any failure of hopes, yet trust wholly in God, have rest in the day of trouble and sing the endless song!" Again he casts himself back amid all the troubles of this life.

I heard - (i. e. that speech of God uttering judgments to come) "and my belly," the whole inward self, bodily and mental, all his hidden powers, trembled , "vibrated" as it were, "Sin every fibre of his frame," at the wrath of God; "my lips quivered at the voice of God," so that they almost refused their office and could hardly fulfill the prophetic duty and utter the terrors which he had heard; his very strongest parts, the bones, which keep the whole frame of man together, that he be not a shapeless mass, and which remain unconsumed long after the rest has wasted away in the grave, "rottenness entered into them," corruption and mouldering eating into them; and "I trembled in myself" (literally under me) so that he was a burden to himself and sank unable to support himself, "that I might rest in the day of trouble."

All up to this time was weariness and terror, and now at once all is repose; the prophet is carried, as it were, over the troubles of this life and the decay of the grave to the sweetness of everlasting rest I, the same, suffer these things, terror, quivering, rottenness in the very bones themselves. "I (literally) who shall rest in the day of trouble." I who had not rest until then, shall enter into rest then in the very day of trouble to all who found their rest in the world not in God, the day of judgment Psalm 94:12-13.. "Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him in Thy law, that Thou mayest give him patience in time of adversity, until the pit be digged up for the ungodly."

"O my soul; had we daily to bear tortures, had we for a long time to endure hell itself, that we might see Christ in His glory and be the companion of His saints, were it not worth enduring all sorrow, that we might be partakers of so exceeding a good, such exceeding glory?"

When he cometh up unto the people, he shall invade them with his troops - or, which is probably meant, "when he cometh up who shall invade them." It is a filling out of "the day of trouble." However, near the trouble came, he, under the protection of God and in firm trust in Him, would be at rest in Him. The troubles of God's prophets are not the outward troubles, but the sins of their people which bring those troubles, the offence against the majesty of God, the loss of souls. Jeremiah was more at rest in the court of the prison, than when all the people did curse him Jeremiah 15:10 for telling them God's truth. He who fears God and His judgments betimes, shall rest in perfect tranquility when those judgments come. The immediate trouble was the fierce assault of the Chaldees whose terror he had described; and this, picturing, as through the prophecy, all other judgments of God even to the last, when devils shall contend about the souls of people, as Satan did about the body of Moses.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. When I heard … trembled—namely, at the judgments which God had declared (Hab 1:1-17) were to be inflicted on Judea by the Chaldeans.

belly—The bowels were thought by the Hebrews to be the seat of yearning compassion (Jer 31:20). Or "heard" may refer to Hab 3:2, "When I heard as to Jehovah's coming interposition for Israel against the Chaldeans being still at some distance" (Hab 2:3); so also the voice" [Maurer].

at the voice—of the divine threatenings (Hab 1:6). The faithful tremble at the voice alone of God before He inflicts punishment. Habakkuk speaks in the person of all the faithful in Israel.

trembled in myself—that is, I trembled all over [Grotius].

that I might rest in the day of trouble—The true and only path to rest is through such fear. Whoever is securely torpid and hardened towards God, will be tumultuously agitated in the day of affliction, and so will bring on himself a worse destruction; but he who in time meets God's wrath and trembles at His threats, prepares the best rest for himself in the day of affliction [Calvin]. Henderson translates, "Yet I shall have rest." Habakkuk thus consoling his mind, Though trembling at the calamity coming, yet I shall have rest in God (Isa 26:3). But that sentiment does not seem to be directly asserted till Hab 3:17, as the words following at the close of this verse imply.

when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade—rather (as English Version is a mere truism), connected with the preceding clause, "that I might rest … when he (the Chaldean foe) cometh up unto the people (the Jews), that he may cut them off" [Calvin]. The Hebrew for "invade" means, to rush upon, or to attack and cut off with congregated troops.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When I heard, what dreadful desolations God threatened against Israel, Habakkuk 1:5-11, for of those he now speaketh and meditateth, having finished his elegant description of God’s wonderful works of mercy toward Israel of old, and left them as a foundation of comfort and hope.

My belly, or heart, or bowels, or inward parts, Proverbs 20:27, trembled; another effect and sign of surprising fears and astonishment.

At the voice; at the mere report. Rottenness entered into my bones; a consumption and decay of all my strength; a languishing of my spirits, and a declining of my rigour: a very usual effect of great fears.

I trembled in myself; I was all shaken, as with an earthquake, no part was free or unshaken. That I might rest in the day of trouble; these fears awakened my remembrance of that God, and those wonders which I have recounted; these fears have occasioned my search into this mystery of Providence, that, understanding it I might, as I do, betake myself to God, and his covenanted mercies, that I may rest in him, who will make it go well with the righteous, even with those righteous who shall live to see and feel the troubles of those days.

When he cometh up; the king of Babylon, with all his bitter and cruel nations, bent on violence and rapine.

Unto the people; against the Jews, my people, saith the prophet.

He will invade them with mighty force, and cut in pieces, make most bloody work among them.

With his troops; with numerous armies, and spoil in troops, where what one leaves another will take; where none escape the fury of some or other in the troops: see this accomplished 2 Kings 25.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

When I heard, my belly trembled,.... His bowels, his heart within him, at the report made of what would come to pass in future time; and not so much at hearing of the judgments of God that should come upon the enemies of his Church, antichrist and his followers; though even these are awful and tremendous to good men; see Psalm 119:120 but upon hearing what troubles and distresses would come upon the churches of Christ, previous to these, afterwards called a day of trouble in this verse, and more particularly described in the next Habakkuk 3:17,

my lips quivered at the voice; at the voice of these words, as the Targum; at the voice of the Lord, expressing and foretelling these calamities, through fear and dread, consternation and amazement; under which circumstances the natural heat of the outward parts of the body retires to defend the heart, and leaves them trembling and quivering, particularly the lips, so that they lose their use for a time; and a person in such a case can hardly speak:

rottenness entered into my bones; he became weak and without strength, as if he had long been in a wasting consumption; or was at once deprived of all his strength, and it was turned into corruption; see Daniel 10:8,

and I trembled in myself; within himself, in all his inward parts, as well as in his outward parts: or, "under myself" (x); was not able to keep his place, could not stand upon the ground that was under him; his knees trembled, as the Syriac version:

that I might rest in the day of trouble; rather, as Noldius (y) renders the particle, "yet", or "notwithstanding, I shall rest in the day of trouble"; which had been represented to him in vision; and which he had a sight of by a spirit of prophecy, as coming upon the church of Christ, and had given him that concern before expressed. The Syriac version of this and the next clause, which it joins, is, "he showed me the day of calamity, which is about to come upon the people". Here begins the prophet's expression of his strong faith and joy in the midst of all the distresses he saw were at hand; herein representing the church, and all true believers helped to exercise faith in those worst of times. This "day of trouble" is the same with the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the earth to try the inhabitants of it; the time of the slaying of the witnesses, which will be such a time of trouble as never was in the world; see Revelation 3:10. The "rest" the people of God will have then, which the prophet had faith in for them, will lie in the Lord's protection and keeping of his people; his perfections, power, and providence, are the chambers of rest and safety he will call them unto, and the shadow of his wings, which they will make their refuge till these calamities and indignation be overpast, Isaiah 26:20

when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops; or rather "him"; not "the people"; the people of God, "he" the Lord or Christ comes unto; but the enemy of them: this is the ground of the prophet's faith and confidence before expressed, or of the church's he personated; namely, that when Christ, Michael the great Prince, should come up to his people, appear for them, and stand on their side, he would lead his troops and march his army against their grand enemy antichrist; and "cut him to pieces" (z), as some render the word: so Christ is represented as a mighty warrior, marching at the head of his troops, the armies of heaven following him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, who are the called, chosen, and faithful; and with these he will fall upon the beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the earth, gathered together at Armageddon, and utterly destroy them, Revelation 16:14.

(x) "subtus me", Drusius, De Dieu; "subter me", Cocceius, Van Till. (y) Ebr. Concord. Part p. 108. No. 550. (z) "ut excidat eum", Calvin; "succidet eum", Vatablus.

Geneva Study Bible

When I {t} 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 {u} the day of trouble: when he cometh up {x} to the people, he will invade them with his troops.

(t) He returns to that which he spoke as in, Hab 3:2 and shows how he was afraid of God's judgments.

(u) He shows that the faithful can never have true rest, except that which they feel before the weight of God's judgments.

(x) That is, the enemy, but the godly will be quiet, knowing that all things will turn to good for them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 16, 17. - § 4. The contemplation of the Divine judgments produces in the people of God at first, fear and trembling at the prospect of chastisement Verse 16. - When I heard. "When" is better omitted. "I heard" the report of thee (vex. 2). The LXX. refers to Habakkuk 2:1, rendering, "I watched." If the former part is the paean of the congregation, the present is the prophet's own utterance expressive of his dismay at the prospect before him. My belly trembled. My inmost part, my inward self, trembled with fear (comp. Isaiah 16:11). My lips quivered at the voice. My lips quivered with fear at the voice of God that sounded in me (Habakkuk 2:1), proclaiming these awful judgments. The word rendered" quivered" (tsalal) is applied to the tingling of the ears (1 Samuel 3:11; 2 Kings 21:12), and implies that the prophet's lips so trembled that he was scarcely able to utter speech. The LXX. renders, "from the voice of the prayers of my lips." Rottenness entered into my bones. This is an hyperbolical expression, denoting that the firmest, strongest parts of his body were relaxed and weakened with utter fear, as if his very bones were cankered and corrupted, and there was no marrow in them. And I trembled in myself. The last word (tachtai) is rendered variously: "under me," according to the Greek and Latin Versions, i.e. in my knees and feet, so that I reeled and stumbled; or, "in my place," on the spot where I stand (as Exodus 16:29). That I might rest in the day of trouble; better, I who shall rest in the day of tribulation. The prophet suddenly expresses his confidence that he shall have rest in this affliction; amid this terror and awe he is sure that there remaineth a rest for the people of God. This sentiment leads naturally to the beautiful expression of hope in the concluding paragraph (ver. 17, etc.). Keil and others render, "tremble that I am to wait quietly for the day of tribulation;" that I am to sit still and await the day of affliction. But Pusey denies that the verb (nuach) ever means "to wait patiently for," or "to be silent about;" its uniform signification is "to rest" from labour or from trouble. Thus the Septuagint, Ἀναπαύσομαι ἐν ἡμέρα θλίψεως, "I will rest in the day of affliction;" Vulgate, Ut requiescam in die tribulationis. When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. This should be, When he that invades with bands comes up against the people; i.e. in the day when the Chaldeans attack the Israelites (comp. 2 Kings 24:2, where the word "bands" is also used). Septuagint, Τοῦ ἀναβῆναι εἰς λαὸν παροικίας μου: "To go up against the people of my sojourning;" Vulgate, Ut ascendam ad populum aecinctum nostrum, which is thus explained: "I will bear all things patiently, even death itself, that I may attain to the happy company of those blessed heroes who fought for their country and their God." It is obvious to remark that this is a gloss, not on the original text, but on the erroneous version. Habakkuk 3:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Habakkuk 3:16-19 form the second part of the psalm, in which the prophet describes the feelings that are produced within himself by the coming of the Lord to judge the nations, and to rescue His own people; viz., first of all, fear and trembling at the tribulation (Habakkuk 3:16, Habakkuk 3:17); then exulting joy, in his confident trust in the God of salvation (Habakkuk 3:18, Habakkuk 3:19). Habakkuk 3:16. "I heard it, then my belly trembled, at the sound my lips yelled; rottenness forces itself into my bones, and I tremble under myself, that I am to wait quietly for the day of tribulation, when he that attacketh it approacheth the nation. Habakkuk 3:17. For the fig-tree will not blossom, and there is no yield on the vines; the produce of the olive-tree disappoints, and the corn-fields bear no food; the flock is away from the fold, and no ox in the stalls." שׁמעתּי is not connected with the theophany depicted in Habakkuk 3:3-15, since this was not an audible phenomenon, but was an object of inward vision, "a spectacle which presented itself to the eye." "I heard" corresponds to "I have heard" in Habakkuk 3:2, and, like the latter, refers to the report heard from God of the approaching judgment. This address goes back to its starting-point, to explain the impression which it made upon the prophet, and to develop still how he "was afraid." The alarm pervades his whole body, belly, and bones, i.e., the softer and firmer component parts of the body; lips and feet, i.e., the upper and lower organs of the body. The lips cried leqōl, at the voice, the sound of God, which the prophet heard. Tsâlal is used elsewhere only of the ringing of the ears (1 Samuel 3:11; 2 Kings 21:12; Jeremiah 19:3); but here it is applied to the chattering sound produced by the lips, when they smite one another before crying out, not to the chattering of the teeth. Into the bones there penetrates râqâbh, rottenness, inward consumption of the bones, as an effect of alarm or pain, which paralyzes all the powers, and takes away all firmness from the body (cf. Proverbs 12:4; Proverbs 14:30). Tachtai, under me, i.e., in my lower members, knees, feet: not as in Exodus 16:29; 2 Samuel 2:23, on the spot where I stand (cf. Ewald, 217, k). אשׁר אנוּח might mean, "I who was to rest;" but it is more appropriate to take 'ăsher as a relative conjunction, "that I," since the clause explains the great fear that had fallen upon him. אשׁר is used in a similar way viz., as a conjunction with the verb in the first person, in Ezekiel 29:29. Nūăch, to rest, not to rest in the grave (Luther and others), nor to bear quietly or endure (Ges., Maurer), but to wait quietly or silently. For it could hardly occasion such consuming pain to a God-fearing man as that which the prophet experienced, to bear misfortune quietly, when it has already come, and cannot be averted; but it might be to wait quietly and silently, in constant anticipation. Tsârâh, the trouble which the Chaldaeans bring upon Judah. לעלות is not subordinate to ליום צרה, but co-ordinate with it, and is still dependent upon אנוּח; and יגוּדנּוּ, as a relative clause (who oppresses it), is the subject to לעלות: "that I am to wait quietly for him that attacketh to approach my nation." For if לעלוי were dependent upon ליום, it would be necessary to supply יום as the subject: "when it (the day) comes." But this is precluded by the fact that עלה is not used for the approach or breaking of day. לעם, to the people, dativ. incomm., is practically equivalent to על עם, against the people. עם, used absolutely, as in Isaiah 26:11; Isaiah 42:6, is the nation of Israel. Gūd, as in Genesis 49:19-20, i.e., gâdad, to press upon a person, to attack him, or crowd together against him (cf. Psalm 94:21). In Habakkuk 3:17 the trouble of this day is described; and the sensation of pain, in the anticipation of the period of calamity, is thereby still further accounted for. The plantations and fields yield no produce. Folds and stalls are empty in consequence of the devastation of the land by the hostile troops and their depredations: "a prophetic picture of the devastation of the holy land by the Chaldaean war" (Delitzsch). Fig-tree and vine are mentioned as the noblest fruit-trees of the land, as is frequently the case (see Joel 1:7; Hosea 2:14; Micah 4:4). To this there is added the olive-tree, as in Micah 6:15; Deuteronomy 6:11; Deuteronomy 8:8, etc. Ma‛asēh zayith is not the shoot, but the produce or fruit of the olive-tree, after the phrase עשׂה פרי, to bear fruit. Kichēsh, to disappoint, namely the expectation of produce, as in Hosea 9:2. Shedēmôth, which only occurs in the plural, corn-fields, is construed here as in Isaiah 16:8, with the verb in the singular, because, so far as the sense was concerned, it had become almost equivalent to sâdeh, the field (see Ewald, 318, a). Gâzar, to cut off, used here in a neuter sense: to be cut off or absent. מכלה, contracted from מכלאה: fold, pen, an enclosed place for sheep. Repheth, ἁπ. λεγ., the rack, then the stable or stall.