Habakkuk 3:9 (ASV)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 3:7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

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.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "quite", "bare", "oaths", "tribes", "sure", "word", "selah", and "thou". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "quite" and "bare", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Was Jehovah displeased with the rivers Was..." into verse 10's "The mountains saw thee and were afraid...", so "quite" and "bare" 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 "quite" and "bare" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.