Habakkuk 3:10 (ASV)

Passage

The mountains saw thee, and were afraid; The tempest of waters passed by; The deep uttered its voice, And lifted up its hands on high.

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 3:8 Was Jehovah displeased with the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers, Or thy wrath against the sea, That thou didst ride upon thy horses, Upon thy chariots of salvation?

Habakkuk 3:9 Thy bow was made quite bare; The oaths to the tribes were a [sure] word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

Habakkuk 3:10 The mountains saw thee, and were afraid; The tempest of waters passed by; The deep uttered its voice, And lifted up its hands on high.

Habakkuk 3:11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation, At the light of thine arrows as they went, At the shining of thy glittering spear.

Habakkuk 3:12 Thou didst march though the land in indignation; Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mountains", "thee", "afraid", "tempest", "waters", "passed", "deep", and "uttered". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mountains" and "thee", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "Thy bow was made quite bare The..." into verse 11's "The sun and moon stood still in...", so "mountains" and "thee" belong inside that flow. In Habakkuk context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "mountains" and "thee" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.