Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Habakkuk 3:6 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Hab 3:6 |
Strong Concordance |
He stood [05975], and measured [04128] the earth [0776]: he beheld [07200], and drove asunder [05425] the nations [01471]; and the everlasting [05703] mountains [02042] were scattered [06327], the perpetual [05769] hills [01389] did bow [07817]: his ways [01979] are everlasting [05769]. |
| |
King James |
He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
He stood, and measured the earth--Jehovah, in His advance, is represented as stopping suddenly, and measuring the earth with His all-seeing glance, whereat there is universal consternation. MAURER, from a different root, translates, "rocked the earth"; which answers better to the parallel "drove asunder"; the Hebrew for which latter, however, may be better translated, "made to tremble."
everlasting mountains--which have ever been remembered as retaining the same place and form from the foundation of the world.
did bow--as it were, in reverent submission.
his ways are everlasting--His marvellous ways of working for the salvation of His people mark His everlasting character: such as He was in His workings for them formerly, such shall He be now. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
He stood - It is "a metaphor of his giving victory to Israel" Tanchum.
And measured - So Kimchi, A. E., Rashi, Tanchum, Vulgate. It is borne out by Hithpolel. "extended himself," Kg1 17:21. By an interchange of dentals; מוד might be = מוט, and so the Aramaic and the Septuagint but in no other case do the two forms co-exist in Hebrew.
The earth - Joshua, after he had conquered the land, meted it out and divided it among the people. He who should come, should measure out the earth in its length and breadth, that earth which His glory filleth. "He stood," as Stephen saw Him, Act 7:56, "standing at the right hand of God." Isaiah saith, Isa 3:13 : "The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people." He had not need to go forth, but, in the abode of His glory, "He stood" and beheld and with His eye "measured the earth," as His own, whereas, before the cross, it lay under Co1 2:5, "the Prince of this world," and he had said, Luk 4:6, "it is delivered unto me, and unto whomsoever I will, I give it." "He measureth it," and gave it to His apostles. Mat 28:18; Mar 16:15 : "all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," and, Psa 19:4, "their sound is gone out into all lands, and their words into the ends of the world." He measureth it also, surveying and weighing all who dwell therein, their persons, qualities, deeds, good or bad, to requite them, as "Judge of quick and dead;" as David cast down Moab and measured them with a line, Sa2 8:2, "to put to death and to keep alive."
He beheld, and drove asunder the nations - or, "made the nations to tremble." When Israel came out of Egypt and God divided the Red Sea before them, they sang: Exo 15:15-16 "The people shall hear and be afraid; terror shall take hold of the inhabitants of Palestine; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold of them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away; fear and dread shall fall on them; by the greatness of Thy power they shall be still as a stone." Fear and awe were to be renewed. All nearness of God brings terror to sinful man. When the news came through the wise men, that they had, Mat 2:1-3, "seen in the East the star of Him who was born, King of the Jews," not only was Herod the King troubled, but "all Jerusalem with him." Pilate Joh 19:8 "was afraid" when he condemned Jesus; the high priests wondered "whereunto this should grow," and expostulated, Act 5:24, Act 5:28, "ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man's blood upon us." Pagandom was as a beleaguered city, mastered by an ubiquitous Presence, which they knew not how to meet . "The state is beset: the Christians are in their fields. in their forts, in their islands. Every sex, age, condition, and now even rank is going over to this sect." The fierceness of the persecutions was the measure of their fear. They put forth all human might to stamp out the spark, lest their gods, and the greatness of the empire which they ascribed to their gods, should fall before this unknown Power.
And the everlasting mountains were scattered; the perpetual hills did bow - all power, great or small, gave way before Him. All which withstood was scattered asunder, all which in pride lifted itself up was brought low, although before the coming of the Saviour it had ever gone with neck erect, and none could humble its pride. There is something so marvelous about those ancient mountains. There they stood before man was on the earth; they are so solid, man so slight; they have survived so many generations of man; they will long survive us; they seem as if they would stand forever; nothing could stand before the might of God. What symbol could be more apt? To the greater pride the heavier lot is assigned; the mountains lifted on high above the earth and, as it were, looking down upon it, are scattered or dispersed, as when a stone flieth in pieces under the stroke of the hammer. The "hills" are bowed down only; and this may be the pride of man humbled under the yoke of Christ.
His ways are everlasting - "Everlasting" is set over against "everlasting." The "everlasting" of the creature, that which had been as long as creation had been, co-existing with its whole duration, its most enduring parts, are as things past and gone; "the everlasting mountains, the hills of eternity," have been scattered in pieces and bowed, and are no more. Over against these stands the everpresent eternity of God. "His ways are everlasting," ordered everlastingly, existing everlastingly in the Divine Mind, and, when in act among us, without change in Him. The prophet blends in these great words, things seemingly contrary, ways which imply progress, eternity which is unchangeable "God ever worketh, and ever resteth; unchangeable, yet changing all; He changeth His works, His purpose unchanged" . "For Thou art Most High, and art not changed, neither in Thee doth today come to a close; yet in Thee it doth come to a close; because all such things also are in Thee. For they had no way to pass away, unless Thou heldest them together. 'And since Thy years fail not,' Thy years are one Today. How many of our's and our fathers' years have flowed away through Thy today; and from it received the measure and the mould of such being as they had; and still others shall flow away, and so receive the mould of their degree of being. But Thou art still the Same; and all things of tomorrow, and all beyond, and all of yesterday, and all behind it, Thou wilt do in this today, Thou hast done in this today"
To these His goings, a highway is made by the breaking down of all which exalted itself, as Isaiah had said, "The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low and the Lord Alone shall be exalted in that day" Isa 2:17; and "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low" Isa 40:3.
Bernard in Ps. Qui habitat. Serra. xi. 8: "The Everlasting ways of the Everlasting God are Mercy and Truth, by these Ways are the hills of the world and the proud demons, the princes of the darkness of this world, bowed down, who knew not the way of mercy and truth nor remembered its paths. What hath he to do with truth, who is a liar and the father of it, and of whom it is written, 'he abode not in the Truth?' But how far he is from Mercy, our misery witnesseth, inflicted on us by him. When was he ever merciful, 'who was a murderer from the beginning?' So then those swelling hills were bowed down from the Everlasting Ways, when through their own crookedness they sunk away from the straight ways of the Lord, and became not so much ways as precipices. How much more prudently and wisely are other hills bowed down and humbled by these ways to salvation! For they were not bowed from them, as parting from their straightness, but the Everlasting Ways themselves bowed down. May we not now see the hills of the world bowed down, when those who are high and mighty with devoted submission bow themselves before the Lord. and worship at His Feet? Are they not bowed down, when from their own destructive loftiness of vanity and cruelty, they are turned to the humble way of mercy and truth?" |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| "He stands, and sets the earth reeling: He looks, and makes nations tremble; primeval mountains burst in pieces, the early hills sink down: His are ways of the olden time. Hab 3:7. I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction: the curtains of the land of Midian tremble." God coming from afar has now drawn near and taken His stand, to smite the nations as a warlike hero (cf. Hab 3:8, Hab 3:9, and Hab 3:11, Hab 3:12). This is affirmed in עמד, He has stationed Himself, not "He steps forth or appears." This standing of Jehovah throws the earth and the nations into trembling. ימדד cannot mean to measure here, for there is no thought of any measuring of the earth, and it cannot be shown that mâdad is used in the sense of measuring with the eye (Ros. and Hitzig). Moreover, the choice of the poel, instead of the piel, would still remain unexplained, and the parallelism of the clauses would be disregarded. We must therefore follow the Chaldee, Ges., Delitzsch, and others, who take מדד as the poel of מוּד = טוּט, to set in a reeling motion. It is only with this interpretation that the two parallel clauses correspond, in which יתּר, the hiphil of נתר, to cause to shake or tremble, answers to ימדד. This explanation is also required by what follows. For just as Hab 3:7 unquestionably gives a further expansion of יתּר גּוים, so does לולם ... יתפּצצוּ contain the explanation of ימדד ארץ. The everlasting hills crumble (יתפּצצוּ from פּוּץ), i.e., burst and resolve themselves into dust, and the hills sink down, pass away, and vanish (compare the similar description in Nah 1:5 and Mic 1:4). הררי־עד (= הררי קדם, Deu 33:15) in parallelism with נּבעות עולם are the primeval mountains, as being the oldest and firmest constituents of the globe, which have existed from the beginning (מנּי עד, Job 20:4), and were formed at the creation of the earth (Psa 90:2; Job 15:7; Pro 8:25). הליכות עולם לו is not to be taken relatively, and connected with what precedes, "which are the old paths," according to which the hills of God are called everlasting ways (Hitzig); because this does not yield a sense in harmony with the context. It is a substantive clause, and to be taken by itself: everlasting courses or goings are to Him, i.e., He now goes along, as He went along in the olden time. הליכה, the going, advancing, or ways of God, analogous to the דּרך עפולם, the course of the primitive world (Job 22:15). The prophet had Psa 68:25 floating before his mind, in which hălı̄khōth 'ĕlōhı̄m denote the goings of God with His people, or the ways which God had taken from time immemorial in His guidance of them. As He once came down upon Sinai in the cloudy darkness, the thunder, lightning, and fire, to raise Israel up to be His covenant nation, so that the mountains shook (cf. Jdg 5:5); so do the mountains and hills tremble and melt away at His coming now. And as He once went before His people, and the tidings of His wondrous acts at the Red Sea threw the neighbouring nations into fear and despair (Exo 15:14-16); so now, when the course of God moves from Teman to the Red Sea, the nations on both sides of it are filled with terror. Of these, two are individualized in Hab 3:7, viz., Cushan and Midian. By Cushan we are not to understand the Mesopotamian king named Cushan Rishathaim, who subjugated Israel for eight years after the death of Joshua (Jdg 3:8.); for this neither agrees with אהלי, nor with the introduction of Midian in the parallel clause. The word is a lengthened form for Such, and the name of the African Ethiopians. The Midianites are mentioned along with them, as being inhabitants of the Arabian coast of the Red Sea, which was opposite to them (see at Exo 2:15). אהלי כ, the tents with their inhabitants, the latter being principally intended. The same remark applies to יריעות, lit., the tent-curtains of the land of Midian, i.e., of the tents pitched in the land of Midian. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| He stood - Gave his presence with Joshua, as one that stood by while the work was done. The land - The promised land. He beheld - Looked with a frowning countenance. Drove asunder - Cast them out, his eye did this, for he looked on them, and did this. His ways - The wisdom, goodness, justice, holiness, and power of God, which he shews in governing his people. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
He stood, and measured the earth - ארץ erets, the land; he divided the promised land among the twelve tribes. This is the allusion; and this the prophet had in his eye. God not only made a general assignment of the land to the Hebrews; but he even divided it into such portions as the different families required. Here were both power and condescension. When a conqueror had subdued a country, he divided it among his soldiers. Among the Romans, those among whom the conquered lands were divided were termed beneficiary; and the lands beneficia, as being held on the beneficence of the sovereign.
He beheld, and drove asunder the nations - The nations of Canaan, the Hittites, Hivites, Jebusites, etc., and all who opposed his people. Even his look dispersed them.
The everlasting mountains were scattered - Or, broken asunder. This may refer to the convulsions on Mount Sinai; and to the earth quake which announced the descent of the Most High. See Exo 19:18. "God occupied the summit of the eternal Mount Sinai; and led his people over the eternal mountains of Arabia Petraea; and this sense is preferable to the figurative one, that his ways or doings are predetermined front everlasting." - Newcome.
The epithets עד ad, and עולם olam, eternal, and everlasting, are applied to mountains and immense rocks, because no other parts of nature are less subject to decay or change, than these immense masses of earth and stone, and that almost indestructible stone, granite, out of which Sinai appears to be formed. A piece of the beautiful granite of this mountain now lies before me. This is a figurative description of the passage of the Israelites through the deserts of Arabia, over mountains, rocks, and through the trackless wilderness; over and through which God, by his power and providence, gave them a safe passage.
The following beautiful piece from the Fragments of Aeschylus will illustrate the preceding description, and please the learned reader.
Χωριζε θνητων τον Θεον, και μη δοκει
Ομοιον αυτῳ σαρκινον καθεσταναι·
Ουκ οισθα δ' αυτον· ποτε μεν ὡς πυρ φαινεται
Απλαστον ὁρμῃ ποτε δ' ὑδωρ, ποτε δε γνοφος.
Και θηρσιν αυτος γινεται παρεμφερης,
Ανεμῳ, νεφει τε, κᾳστραπῃ, βροντῃ, βροχῃ.
Ὑπηρετει δ' αυτῳ θαλασσα, και πετραι,
Και πασα πηγη, χ' ὑδατος συστηματα·
Τρεμει δ' ορη και γαια και πελωριος
Βυθος θαλασσης, κωρεων ὑψος μεγα,
Οταν επιβλεψῃ γοργον ομμα δεσποτου.
Aeschyli Fragm.
Confound not God with man; nor madly deem
His form is mortal, and of flesh like thine.
Thou know'st him not. Sometimes like fire he glows
In wrath severe; sometimes as water flows;
In brooding darkness now his power conceals
And then in brutes that mighty power reveals.
In clouds tempestuous we the Godhead find;
He mounts the storm, and rides the winged wind;
In vivid lightnings flashes from on high;
In rattling thunders rends the lowering sky;
Fountains and rivers, seas and floods obey,
And ocean's deep abyss yields to his sway;
The mountains tremble, and the hills sink down,
Crumbled to dust by the Almighty's frown.
When God unfolds the terrors of his eye,
All things with horror quake, and in confusion lie.
J. B. B. Clarke. |
3 The voice [06963] of him that crieth [07121] in the wilderness [04057], Prepare [06437] ye the way [01870] of the LORD [03068], make straight [03474] in the desert [06160] a highway [04546] for our God [0430].
17 And the loftiness [01365] of man [0120] shall be bowed down [07817], and the haughtiness [07312] of men [0582] shall be made low [08213]: and the LORD [03068] alone shall be exalted [07682] in that day [03117].
28 Saying [3004], Did [3853] not [3756] we straitly [3852] command [3853] you [5213] that ye should [1321] not [3361] teach [1321] in [1909] this [5129] name [3686]? and [2532], behold [2400], ye have filled [4137] Jerusalem [2419] with your [5216] doctrine [1322], and [2532] intend [1014] to bring [1863] this [5127] man's [444] blood [129] upon [1909] us [2248].
24 Now [1161] when [5613] [5037] the high priest [2409] and [2532] the captain [4755] of the temple [2411] and [2532] the chief priests [749] heard [191] these [5128] things [3056], they doubted [1280] of [4012] them [846] whereunto [5101] [302] this [5124] would grow [1096].
8 When [3753] Pilate [4091] therefore [3767] heard [191] that [5126] saying [3056], he was [5399] the more [3123] afraid [5399];
1 Now [1161] when Jesus [2424] was born [1080] in [1722] Bethlehem [965] of Judaea [2449] in [1722] the days [2250] of Herod [2264] the king [935], behold [2400], there came [3854] wise men [3097] from [575] the east [395] to [1519] Jerusalem [2414],
2 Saying [3004], Where [4226] is [2076] he that is born [5088] King [935] of the Jews [2453]? for [1063] we have seen [1492] his [846] star [792] in [1722] the east [395], and [2532] are come [2064] to worship [4352] him [846].
3 When [1161] Herod [2264] the king [935] had heard [191] these things, he was troubled [5015], and [2532] all [3956] Jerusalem [2414] with [3326] him [846].
15 Then [0227] the dukes [0441] of Edom [0123] shall be amazed [0926]; the mighty men [0352] of Moab [04124], trembling [07461] shall take hold [0270] upon them; all the inhabitants [03427] of Canaan [03667] shall melt away [04127].
16 Fear [0367] and dread [06343] shall fall [05307] upon them; by the greatness [01419] of thine arm [02220] they shall be as still [01826] as a stone [068]; till thy people [05971] pass over [05674], O LORD [03068], till the people [05971] pass over [05674], which [02098] thou hast purchased [07069].
2 And he smote [05221] Moab [04124], and measured [04058] them with a line [02256], casting them down [07901] to the ground [0776]; even with two [08147] lines [02256] measured [04058] he to put to death [04191], and with one full [04393] line [02256] to keep alive [02421]. And so the Moabites [04124] became David's [01732] servants [05650], and brought [05375] gifts [04503].
4 Their line [06957] is gone out [03318] through all the earth [0776], and their words [04405] to the end [07097] of the world [08398]. In them hath he set [07760] a tabernacle [0168] for the sun [08121],
15 And [2532] he said [2036] unto them [846], Go ye [4198] into [1519] all [537] the world [2889], and preach [2784] the gospel [2098] to every [3956] creature [2937].
18 And [2532] Jesus [2424] came [4334] and spake [2980] unto them [846], saying [3004], All [3956] power [1849] is given [1325] unto me [3427] in [1722] heaven [3772] and [2532] in [1909] earth [1093].
6 And [2532] the devil [1228] said [2036] unto him [846], All [537] this [5026] power [1849] will I give [1325] thee [4671], and [2532] the glory [1391] of them [846]: for [3754] that is delivered [3860] unto me [1698]; and [2532] to [3739] whomsoever [1437] I will [2309] I give [1325] it [846].
5 That [2443] your [5216] faith [4102] should [5600] not [3361] stand [5600] in [1722] the wisdom [4678] of men [444], but [235] in [1722] the power [1411] of God [2316].
13 The LORD [03068] standeth up [05324] to plead [07378], and standeth [05975] to judge [01777] the people [05971].
56 And [2532] said [2036], Behold [2400], I see [2334] the heavens [3772] opened [455], and [2532] the Son [5207] of man [444] standing [2476] on [1537] the right hand [1188] of God [2316].
21 And he stretched [04058] himself upon the child [03206] three [07969] times [06471], and cried [07121] unto the LORD [03068], and said [0559], O LORD [03068] my God [0430], I pray thee, let this child's [03206] soul [05315] come [07725] into him [07130] again [07725].
15 Now when Pharaoh [06547] heard [08085] this thing [01697], he sought [01245] to slay [02026] Moses [04872]. But Moses [04872] fled [01272] from the face [06440] of Pharaoh [06547], and dwelt [03427] in the land [0776] of Midian [04080]: and he sat down [03427] by a well [0875].
8 Therefore the anger [0639] of the LORD [03068] was hot [02734] against Israel [03478], and he sold [04376] them into the hand [03027] of Chushanrishathaim [03573] king [04428] of Mesopotamia [0763]: and the children [01121] of Israel [03478] served [05647] Chushanrishathaim [03573] eight [08083] years [08141].
7 I saw [07200] the tents [0168] of Cushan [03572] in affliction [0205]: and the curtains [03407] of the land [0776] of Midian [04080] did tremble [07264].
14 The people [05971] shall hear [08085], and be afraid [07264]: sorrow [02427] shall take hold [0270] on the inhabitants [03427] of Palestina [06429].
15 Then [0227] the dukes [0441] of Edom [0123] shall be amazed [0926]; the mighty men [0352] of Moab [04124], trembling [07461] shall take hold [0270] upon them; all the inhabitants [03427] of Canaan [03667] shall melt away [04127].
16 Fear [0367] and dread [06343] shall fall [05307] upon them; by the greatness [01419] of thine arm [02220] they shall be as still [01826] as a stone [068]; till thy people [05971] pass over [05674], O LORD [03068], till the people [05971] pass over [05674], which [02098] thou hast purchased [07069].
5 The mountains [02022] melted [05140] from before [06440] the LORD [03068], even that Sinai [05514] from before [06440] the LORD [03068] God [0430] of Israel [03478].
25 The singers [07891] went before [06923], the players on instruments [05059] followed after [0310]; among [08432] them were the damsels [05959] playing with timbrels [08608].
15 Hast thou marked [08104] the old [05769] way [0734] which wicked [0205] men [04962] have trodden [01869]?
25 Before the mountains [02022] were settled [02883], before [06440] the hills [01389] was I brought forth [02342]:
7 Art thou the first [07223] [07223] man [0120] that was born [03205]? or wast thou made [02342] before [06440] the hills [01389]?
2 Before the mountains [02022] were brought forth [03205], or ever thou hadst formed [02342] the earth [0776] and the world [08398], even from everlasting [05769] to [05704] everlasting [05769], thou art God [0410].
4 Knowest [03045] thou not this of old [05703], since man [0120] was placed [07760] upon earth [0776],
15 And for the chief things [07218] of the ancient [06924] mountains [02042], and for the precious things [04022] of the lasting [05769] hills [01389],
4 And the mountains [02022] shall be molten [04549] under him, and the valleys [06010] shall be cleft [01234], as wax [01749] before [06440] the fire [0784], and as the waters [04325] that are poured [05064] down a steep place [04174].
5 The mountains [02022] quake [07493] at him, and the hills [01389] melt [04127], and the earth [0776] is burned [05375] at his presence [06440], yea, the world [08398], and all that dwell [03427] therein.
7 I saw [07200] the tents [0168] of Cushan [03572] in affliction [0205]: and the curtains [03407] of the land [0776] of Midian [04080] did tremble [07264].
12 Thou didst march through [06805] the land [0776] in indignation [02195], thou didst thresh [01758] the heathen [01471] in anger [0639].
11 The sun [08121] and moon [03394] stood still [05975] in their habitation [02073]: at the light [0216] of thine arrows [02671] they went [01980], and at the shining [05051] of thy glittering [01300] spear [02595].
9 Thy bow [07198] was made quite [06181] naked [05783], according to the oaths [07621] of the tribes [04294], even thy word [0562]. Selah [05542]. Thou didst cleave [01234] the earth [0776] with rivers [05104].
8 Was the LORD [03068] displeased [02734] against the rivers [05104]? was thine anger [0639] against the rivers [05104]? was thy wrath [05678] against the sea [03220], that thou didst ride [07392] upon thine horses [05483] and thy chariots [04818] of salvation [03444]?
7 I saw [07200] the tents [0168] of Cushan [03572] in affliction [0205]: and the curtains [03407] of the land [0776] of Midian [04080] did tremble [07264].
18 And mount [02022] Sinai [05514] was altogether on a smoke [06225], because [06440] [0834] the LORD [03068] descended [03381] upon it in fire [0784]: and the smoke [06227] thereof ascended [05927] as the smoke [06227] of a furnace [03536], and the whole mount [02022] quaked [02729] greatly [03966].