Habakkuk 3:12

12 1You marched through the earth in fury; 2you threshed the nations in anger.

Habakkuk 3:12 Meaning and Commentary

Habakkuk 3:12

Thou didst march through the land with indignation
Not the land of Canaan, fighting against the inhabitants of it, dispossessing them to make room for the Israelites, whatever allusion may be to it; but the antichristian land, the whole Romish jurisdiction, and all the states of it, through which the Lord will march in wrath and fury, when he pours out the vials of it upon them; or this is desired, and prayed for; for it may be rendered, "do thou march through the land" F18; foreseeing and believing that he would: thou didst thresh the heathen in anger;
or, "do thou thresh" F19, &c.; these are the Papists, called heathens and Gentiles in Scripture, because of the heathenish customs and practices they have introduced into the Christian religion, ( Psalms 10:16 ) ( Revelation 11:2 ) these are the nations that will be gathered together like sheaves of grain on a floor to be threshed; and when Zion the church of Christ, and Christian princes, will be called upon to arise, and thresh them; and the Lord by them will do it, namely, separate his own people from them, which are like wheat, and utterly destroy them, as chaff and stubble, ( Micah 4:12 Micah 4:13 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F18 (deut) "progredlaris", Van Till.
F19 (vwdt) "tritures", Van Till.

Habakkuk 3:12 In-Context

10 The mountains saw you and writhed; the raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice; it lifted its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear.
12 You marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger.
13 You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah
14 You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.

Cross References 2

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.