He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.
He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways [are] everlasting. (f) Signifying that God has wonderful means, and always has a marvellous power when he will deliver his Church.
He says that God possessed every power to subdue the earth to himself, and that he could at his will destroy it, yea, dissolve mountains as veil as nations. Some of the Jews understood this of the ark, which stood at that time in Gilead.
This passage draws its language throughout from earlier revelations of God in Israel's history, especially Moses' song in Deuteronomy and the Psalms. Habakkuk is not merely recalling past wonders as comfort; he is predicting a future coming of the Lord to judge the nations, as the future tense at the head of the description makes clear.
AI summary
Commenting on Habakkuk 3:3-15