Habakkuk 3:14 (KJV)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 3:12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.

Habakkuk 3:13 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.

Habakkuk 3:14 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.

Habakkuk 3:15 Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.

Habakkuk 3:16 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.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "didst", "strike", "through", "staves", "head", "villages", and "came". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "didst", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 13's "Thou wentest forth for the salvation of..." into verse 15's "Thou didst walk through the sea with...", so "thou" and "didst" 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 "thou" and "didst" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.