Habakkuk 3:16 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
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.
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
belly
בִּטְנִ֗יbit.Ni
H990
the belly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
trembled
וַתִּרְגַּ֣זva.tir.Gaz
H7264
to quiver (with any violent emotion · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
lips
שְׂפָתַ֔יse.fa.Tai
H8193
the lip (as a natural boundary) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
quivered
צָלֲל֣וּtza.la.Lu
H6750
to tinkle · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
voice
לְקוֹל֙le.kOl
H6963
a voice or sound · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
rottenness
רָקָ֛בra.Kav
H7538
decay (by caries) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
entered
יָב֥וֹאya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
bones
בַּעֲצָמַ֖יba.'a.tza.Mai
H6106
a bone (as strong) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
trembled
אֶרְגָּ֑ז'er.Gaz
H7264
to quiver (with any violent emotion · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
rest
אָנ֙וּחַ֙'a.Nu.ach
H5117
to rest · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
day
לְי֣וֹםle.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
trouble
צָרָ֔הtza.Rah
H6869
tightness (i.e. figuratively · noun, common feminine singular absolute
up
לַעֲל֖וֹתla.'a.Lot
H5927
to ascend · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
people
לְעַ֥םle.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
troops
יְגוּדֶֽנּוּye.gu.De.nu
H1464
to crowd upon · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 23:9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome,…
Daniel 10:8 Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corrupt…
Habakkuk 1:5-11 Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it…
Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in…
Psalms 94:12-13 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
Psalms 119:120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.
Jeremiah 25:9-11 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bri…
Jeremiah 45:3-5 Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Habakkuk 3:16–end
Within the compass of these few lines we have the prophet in the highest degree both of trembling and triumphing, such are the varieties both of the state and of the spirit of God's people in this world. In heaven there shall be no more trembling, but everlasting triumphs.
I. The prophet had foreseen the prevalence of the church's enemies and the long continuance of the church's troubles; and the sight made him tremble, Hab 3:16. Here he goes on with what he had said Hab 3:2, "I have heard thy speech and was afraid. When I heard what sad times were coming upon the church my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice; the news made such an impression that it put me into a perfect ague fit.…
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…
When I heard, my belly trembled - The prophet, having finished his account of the wonders done by Jehovah, in bringing their fathers from Egypt into the promised land, now returns to the desolate state of his countrymen, who are shortly to be led into captivity, and suffer the most grievous afflictions; and although he had a sure word of prophecy that they should be ultimately delivered, yet the thoughts of the evils they must previously endure filled his soul with terror and dismay; so that he wishes to be removed from earth before this tribulation should come, that his eyes might not behold the desolations of his country.
When he (Nebuchadnezzar) cometh up unto the people, (the Jews), he w…
The Church Fathers
And trembling entered into my bones. Just as Scripture sometimes designates our carnal actions by the name of flesh; so by the name of bones it usually designates strong and spiritual deeds. Therefore, he says, my heart was terrified by the things I foresee coming into the world, and whatever spiritual strength I thought was within me, all of this trembled as if fragile, while I observe the greater virtues and passions of the blessed Christ and His apostles; which is more clearly explained by the following word, when it is said:
He who is cautious and wary can avoid sins for a while, but he who is secure in his own justice opposes God, and deprived of his help, he is subject to the snares of the enemy. "Let rottenness," says Habakkuk, "enter into my bones and swarm under me, that I may rest in the day of tribulation, that I may go up to my people that are girded." He prays earnestly for tribulations and trials and affliction of soul so that, in the next world, he may join the company of those who are already reigning with Christ. It is clear from all this that here, in this life, there is strife and contention, and, in the next world, there is victory.
And beneath me, my strength was disturbed. However, he rightly says that his strength was disturbed not in himself, but beneath himself, because the prophet, having been taken up to the contemplation of heavenly mysteries, saw himself, as it were, elevated above himself; and the higher he is made by the light of contemplation, the more he sees himself as imperfect by the merit of his actions. For being lifted up to the sight of the highest things, he is rightly disturbed by the things he has done in the lowest. Yet the prophet's strength was disturbed, his bones trembled, his belly shuddered, not only because he knew himself to be less perfect in action, but also because all who wish to live piously in Christ are said to suffer persecutions; and he saw that even Christ Himself, who entered the world without sin, would not leave the world without the punishment of sin, as he had also indicated at the beginning of his song. Nevertheless, the same fear and trembling did not remain devoid of consolation, for the hope diminished the adversity present, and made lighter the rewards of the future. This is what follows:
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Psalms — The psalms are the production of various authors. “Only a portion of the Book of Psalms claims David as its author. Other inspired poets in successive generations added now one now another…
Belly · 15:2,35;20:20; — 15:2,35;20:20;
Prophets · Sometimes received divine communications and uttered predictions under great bodily and mental excitement — Sometimes received divine communications and uttered predictions under great bodily and mental excitement
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
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, t…
Habakkuk 3:16
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.
16. Audivit, et contremuit (vel, tumultuatus est) venter meus; ad vocem trepidarunt labia mea; ingressa est putredo in ossa mea; et apud me tumultuatus sum (ad verbum, tumultuabitur; sed diximus heri de temporibus verborum,) ad ascendedum ad populum, excidet eum (vel, colliget se.)
Those interpreters are mistaken in my view, who connect the verb, "I have heard," with the last verse, as though the Prophet had said, that he had conceived dr…
Hab 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 (Hab 3:16, Hab 3:17); then exulting joy, in his confident trust in the God of salvation (Hab 3:18, Hab 3:19). Hab 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. Hab 3:17. For the fig-tree will not blossom, and there is no yield on the vines; t…
Although the full realization of God’s mighty power sapped Habakkuk’s strength to the point that he trembled, he would wait quietly (see 2:3) for God’s judgment to descend.
Rashi on Habakkuk 3:16
I heard, and my inward parts trembled Jonathan rendered. Said Babylon, “I heard, and the kings trembled before the judgement meted out upon the Egyptians.”
my lips quivered at the sound At the sound of the report, trembling took hold of me until my lips knocked one against the other and their sound was heard.
quivered An expression of (Zech. 14:20) “The bells of the horses.” Tentir in O.F., to tinkle.
and I quaked in my place In my place, I quake.
that [the time] I would rest is destined for a day of trouble That this tranquility of mine is destined for a day of trouble.
to bring up a people that will troop back For the day that He said to bring up from there the people that He will cau…
