Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Habakkuk
Chapter 3: Yet I Will Rejoice in the LORD
The book that began in anguished questions ends in a song of faith. Habakkuk turns his complaint into a prayer: 'O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years... in wrath remember mercy.' Then he sees a breathtaking vision of God on the march, coming 'from Teman' in blazing glory, the mountains scattering before Him, the sun and moon standing still, riding forth 'for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed.' The sight leaves the prophet trembling, 'rottenness entered into my bones.' And out of that trembling rises one of the greatest confessions of faith in all Scripture: though every crop fails and every stall stands empty, 'yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.' Faith that began by asking 'how long?' ends by dancing on the heights, singing to God whatever comes.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Habakkuk chapter 3, the prophet's prayer, the vision of God's mighty coming, and the triumphant confession of faith. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. This closing psalm is one of the great expressions of faith that rejoices in God regardless of circumstances. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
In Wrath Remember Mercy
A plea for revival and mercy in the midst of judgment.
God Came From Teman
The Almighty on the march in blazing glory.
For Thy People, With Thine Anointed
God going forth to save His own.
Yet I Will Rejoice
Joy in God though every crop fails.
O LORD, Revive Thy Work (Habakkuk 3:1-15)
Habakkuk prays for God to revive His work and remember mercy, then beholds a majestic vision of the LORD coming in glory and power, the earth and heavens shaken before Him, marching forth for the salvation of His people.
Thou Wentest Forth for the Salvation of Thy People
"A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. 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 wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. 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. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters."
Hebrew Study
"in wrath remember mercy," racham (רָחַם), to have compassion, tender mercy. This short plea is one of the great prayers of Scripture. Habakkuk has heard that judgment is coming, and he does not ask God to cancel His righteous wrath, but to temper it with compassion, "in wrath remember mercy." It is the cry of faith that trusts God's justice yet clings to His mercy, knowing that "he delighteth in mercy" (Micah 7:18) and that His "mercy rejoiceth against judgment" (James 2:13). Every believer under God's discipline can pray this: not "spare me all correction," but "in the midst of Your just dealings, remember mercy." And God answers it fully in the gospel, where "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Psalm 85:10), for at the cross wrath and mercy meet in Christ.
"Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed." The whole terrifying vision, God marching in glory, mountains scattering, sun and moon standing still, has one purpose: "the salvation of thy people." God's power is not raw force but saving power, moving "with thine anointed" (His mashiach, His anointed king or deliverer). Habakkuk recalls how God came in majesty at the Exodus and the conquest to save Israel, and sees in it the pattern of God's ever-saving character. Ultimately "thine anointed" points to the Messiah, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ, through whom God went forth for the salvation of His people. Even God's most fearsome displays of power serve His purpose to save.
Explanation
The book's final chapter is a psalm, "a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet," meant to be sung. It opens in reverent fear: "O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid." Having learned that judgment is coming, Habakkuk prays the prayer of faith: "revive thy work in the midst of the years... in wrath remember mercy." He asks God to keep His saving work alive in the dark years ahead, and to temper His wrath with compassion.
Then the prophet is given a majestic vision of God on the march, drawn from the great saving events of Israel's past, the Exodus, Sinai, the conquest. "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran," His "glory covered the heavens." Before Him go "pestilence" and "burning coals"; the "everlasting mountains were scattered"; "the sun and moon stood still." It is overwhelming power. Yet its aim is stated clearly: "Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed." God shatters the wicked and threshes the nations, but all of it to save His people. The God whose coming makes the prophet tremble is the God who rides "chariots of salvation."
Gospel Focus
"In wrath remember mercy" is a prayer every believer can make their own. Habakkuk does not presume that God will not judge, nor does he despair that judgment leaves no room for mercy. He holds both: God is just, and God is merciful, and faith asks Him to remember mercy even as His justice runs its course. This is the very tension the cross resolves. There, God's wrath against sin fell in full, and His mercy toward sinners triumphed, both at once, on Jesus. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). When you are under God's chastening hand, pray Habakkuk's prayer, and rest in the God who, in Christ, remembered mercy in the midst of wrath.
And see that all God's power aims at salvation: "Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed." The vision is fearsome, but its goal is to save. This is the God of the gospel, whose mighty acts, from the Exodus to the empty tomb, all serve His purpose to rescue His people, and who accomplished the greatest salvation of all "with thine anointed," the Messiah, Jesus. However dark the times, however shaken the mountains, God is on the march for the salvation of His people. The same power that scatters His enemies rides "chariots of salvation" for those who are His. Do not fear the God who comes in glory; take refuge in Him, for He goes forth to save.
Yet I Will Rejoice in the LORD (Habakkuk 3:16-19)
The vision leaves the prophet trembling to the bone, yet he resolves to rest and wait; and though every source of food and security fails, he rises to a triumphant confession of joy in the God of his salvation, who makes his feet like a deer's upon the heights.
The LORD God Is My Strength
"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. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments."
Hebrew Study
"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation." This is the summit of the book and one of the highest peaks of faith in all Scripture. The word "Yet" carries the whole weight: Habakkuk lists total ruin, no figs, no grapes, no olives, no crops, no flock, no herd, everything a person depends on for life, gone, and then says "Yet." His joy is not in his circumstances, which are catastrophic, but "in the LORD" and "in the God of my salvation." This is joy anchored not in what God gives but in who God is. The New Testament calls believers to the same, "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice" (Philippians 4:4), even to "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" (James 1:2). Faith's highest note is to rejoice in God when there is nothing else left to rejoice in.
"he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places." A "hind" (a deer) can run and leap surefooted on steep, rocky heights where others would fall. Habakkuk, who trembled with "rottenness" in his bones, is given the strength to stand and climb: God will make his feet "like hinds' feet" for "mine high places." The same image is a favorite of the psalmists, "he maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places" (Psalm 18:33). The God who is our "strength" does not merely keep us from falling; He lifts us to walk sure-footed above our troubles, on the heights, in communion with Him. Trembling faith becomes climbing faith, not by its own power, but because "the LORD God is my strength."
Explanation
The vision of God's coming overwhelms the prophet: "my belly trembled; my lips quivered... rottenness entered into my bones." Yet even his trembling has a purpose, "that I might rest in the day of trouble." He knows hard days are coming, invasion and loss, and he steadies himself to wait quietly for God.
Then comes the magnificent close. Habakkuk imagines the worst: total agricultural collapse, no blossom on "the fig tree," no "fruit in the vines," failed "olive," barren "fields," empty "fold" and "stalls." In an agrarian world, this is utter destitution, starvation itself. And into that bleak picture he speaks the greatest "yet" in the Bible: "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation." His joy does not depend on figs or flocks but on God. And he finds his strength there too: "The LORD God is my strength," who will make his feet "like hinds' feet" to "walk upon mine high places." The book that opened with "how long?" and "why?" ends with a man singing on the heights, sure-footed above his troubles, joyful in God whatever comes. It even closes with a musical direction, "To the chief singer on my stringed instruments", the prophet's anguish has become a hymn for God's people to sing.
Gospel Focus
The end of Habakkuk is one of the purest pictures of faith in the Bible, and it is deeply gospel. Notice the journey: the man who began by shouting questions at God, "how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?", ends by singing, "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD." Faith did not get all its questions answered; it got God. And having God, it can lose everything else, figs, vines, olives, fields, flock, herd, and still rejoice, because its joy was never in those things but "in the God of my salvation." This is the joy the gospel gives, joy that does not rise and fall with our circumstances because it rests on a God and a salvation that cannot be taken away. Paul learned it in prison, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content" (Philippians 4:11), and called us to "rejoice in the Lord alway."
Ask yourself the searching question this chapter poses: if everything were stripped away, if the fig tree did not blossom and the stalls stood empty, would you still have joy? You would, if your joy is in the LORD Himself and not in His gifts. That is the joy Christ secures for us, for our salvation does not depend on our circumstances but on Him who died and rose for us, and "your joy no man taketh from you" (John 16:22). And the God who is that joy is also our strength, making trembling saints climb "high places" on "hinds' feet." Whatever your losses, however your bones tremble, look to "the God of my salvation," and let faith rise to its highest note: "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD."
Chapter 3 and the Book of Habakkuk in Review
Habakkuk 3 turns the book's questions into a song. The prophet prays, "O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years... in wrath remember mercy," and is given a majestic vision of God marching in glory, mountains scattering, sun and moon standing still, all "for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed." The sight leaves him trembling, yet steadied to "rest in the day of trouble." And then he rises to the book's triumphant summit: though every crop fails and every stall is empty, "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation," for "the LORD God is my strength," who makes his feet "like hinds' feet" to walk upon the heights.
So closes the book of Habakkuk, one of the great journeys of faith in Scripture. It began with a troubled prophet flinging honest questions at heaven, "how long?" and "why?", wrestling with why God tolerates evil and uses the wicked. It moved to the watchtower, where God answered with the word that anchors the gospel, "the just shall live by his faith," and pronounced sure judgment on the proud. And it ends here, not with every question answered, but with the questioner transformed, resting in God's justice, trusting His mercy, and rejoicing in Him whatever comes. For the Apostolic reader Habakkuk teaches us how to bring our hardest doubts to God honestly and come out the other side singing: living by faith, waiting for the vision, remembering mercy in wrath, and rejoicing in the God of our salvation even when the fig tree does not blossom. Faith that starts in "how long?" can end in a hymn on the high places.
- Faith prays "in wrath remember mercy," trusting God's justice and clinging to His compassion (3:2; Micah 7:18).
- God's most fearsome power aims at "the salvation of thy people... with thine anointed," fulfilled in Christ (3:13).
- Trembling before God's holiness can steady us "to rest in the day of trouble" (3:16).
- The greatest "yet" in the Bible: joy in God when everything else fails (3:17-18; Philippians 4:4).
- True joy rests in "the God of my salvation," not in His gifts, and cannot be taken away (John 16:22).
- God is our strength, giving "hinds' feet" to walk the high places above our troubles (3:19; Psalm 18:33).
Questions for Reflection
- Can you bring your hardest questions to God honestly, as Habakkuk did, and still trust Him?
- Is your joy anchored in the God of your salvation, or in the gifts He gives?
- If everything were stripped away, could you say, "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD"?
- Where do you need God to make your feet "like hinds' feet" to walk above your troubles?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Key terms: racham ("mercy," compassion, verse 2); "hinds' feet" (verse 19) are the sure feet of a deer on the heights. "Shigionoth" and "Selah" are musical/liturgical terms, marking this chapter as a psalm for worship. God's coming in glory drawn from the Exodus and Sinai: Deuteronomy 33:2; Judges 5:4-5; Psalm 18:7-15; 68:7-8, 17; 77:16-20; Exodus 19:16-18. "In wrath remember mercy": Micah 7:18; Psalm 85:10; Lamentations 3:22-23; James 2:13; Habakkuk 3:2. God's power exercised for salvation with His anointed: Exodus 15:1-13; Psalm 20:6; 2:2; Acts 4:26-27; Luke 2:11 (the Anointed, Christ). Rejoicing in God amid loss: Job 13:15; Psalm 42:5-11; 73:25-26; Romans 5:3-5; Philippians 4:4, 11-13; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-8; and joy no one can take, John 15:11; 16:22. God as strength giving hinds' feet: 2 Samuel 22:33-34; Psalm 18:32-33; 27:1; Isaiah 40:31; Song 2:8. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The prayer for mercy and the majestic vision of God coming to save His people: Habakkuk 3:1-15; Micah 7:18; Acts 4:26-27.
- Trembling faith rising to rejoice in the God of salvation: Habakkuk 3:16-19; Philippians 4:4; Psalm 18:33.