Habakkuk 3:16 (KJV)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

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.

Habakkuk 3:17 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:

Habakkuk 3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "heard", "belly", "trembled", "lips", "quivered", "voice", "rottenness", and "entered". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "heard" and "belly", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "Thou didst walk through the sea with..." into verse 17's "Although the fig tree shall not blossom...", so "heard" and "belly" 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 "heard" and "belly" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.