Habakkuk 3:14

¹² You marched across the earth with fury; You threshed the nations in wrath.

¹³ You went forth for the salvation of Your people, to save Your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked and stripped him from head to toe. Selah

With his own spear You pierced his head, when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though ready to secretly devour the weak.

¹⁵ You trampled the sea with Your horses, churning the great waters.

¹⁶ I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: With his own spear You pierced his head, when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though ready to secretly devour the weak.
KJV: 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.
WEB: You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.
ASV: Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors: They came as a whirlwind to scatter me; Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
DARBY: Thou didst strike through with his own spears the head of his leaders: They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me, Whose exulting was as to devour the afflicted secretly.
BLB: You pierced the head of his warriors with his staves; they stormed out to scatter me, [in] their rejoicing as one who devours the afflicted in [his] hiding place.

ÅB: Du gjennomborer med hans[^5] eget spyd hodene på hans skarer, som stormer fram for å sprede meg og gleder seg slik som de skulle til å fortære en fattig i skjul.
OTB: Med hans eget spyd gjennomboret Du
hodet til hans krigere.
De stormet ut for å spre oss,
hoverende som om de skulle sluke de undertrykte i hemmelighet.
B1930: Du gjennemborer med hans eget spyd hodene på hans skarer, som stormer frem for å sprede mig og gleder sig likesom de skulde til å opete en arming i lønndom. / < den ugudeliges; HAB 3, 13.>

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Zechariah 9:14
Then the LORD will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will sound the ram’s horn and advance in the whirlwinds of the south.
Read in context
Daniel 11:40
At the time of the end, the king of the South will engage him in battle, but the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships, invading many countries and sweeping through them like a flood.
Read in context
Psalms 118:10–12
All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
Read in context
Exodus 11:4–7
So Moses declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt,
Read in context
Exodus 1:10–16
Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”
Read in context
Exodus 12:12–13
On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
Read in context
Judges 7:22
And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.
Read in context
Psalms 10:8
He lies in wait near the villages; in ambush he slays the innocent; his eyes watch in stealth for the helpless.
Read in context