Albert Barnes Commentary Habakkuk 3:12

"Thou didst march though the land in indignation; Thou didst thresh the nations in anger." — Habakkuk 3:12 (ASV)

Thou didst march the earth in indignation - The word “tread” is used for very solemn manifestations of God (Judges 5:4; Psalms 68:8; for the procession of the ark, 2 Samuel 6:13. It is denied concerning idols, Jeremiah 10:5) and for His going to give victory to His own over their enemies.

Not the land only, as of old, but the entire earth is the scene of His judgments. This is the earth that was full of His praise, the earth He meted out (Habakkuk 3:3; Habakkuk 3:6), the earth that contained the nations whom He chastened—the whole earth.

Thou dost thresh the heathen in anger - Not then only, but at all times until the end, distress of nations and perplexity are among the shoots of the fig tree, which indicate that the everlasting summer (Luke 21:25–31) is nigh at hand. Jerusalem, when it had slain the Prince of Life, was given over to desolation and regarded as pagan. It became the synagogue, not the Church; and so in the destruction of Jerusalem (as it is an image of the destruction of the world) was that again fulfilled: Thou dost march through the earth in indignation, Thou dost thresh the heathen in anger.