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.
Those interpreters are mistaken in my view, who connect the verb, “I have heard,” with the last verse, as though the Prophet had said, that he had conceived dread from those evidences of God’s power: for the Prophet had no occasion to fear in regarding God as armed with unexpected power for the salvation of his people; there was no reason for such a thing.
I trembled at the news of coming calamities; my lips quivered, my bones felt rottenness, I had no strength left. Yet I was touched with tender concern for the church's trials, and I trembled not from cowardice but from fear of God's judgments. In heaven there shall be no more trembling, but everlasting triumphs.
AI summary
Commenting on Habakkuk 3:16-19
When I heard, my belly trembled,.... His bowels, his heart within him, at the report made of what would come to pass in future time; and not so much at hearing of the judgments of God that should come upon the enemies of his Church, antichrist and his followers; though even these are awful and tremendous to good men; see Psa 119:120 but upon hearing...