Habakkuk 3:9

(9) Thy bow was made quite naked.—Better, Thy bow shall be bared, even the chastisements sworn by Thy word. Selah. With rivers shalt thou cleave the earth. God’s chastisements, which are compared in Psalms 21:12 to arrows fitted to the string, are here represented as a bow taken out of the case, and so “made naked,” or “bared.” The word matteh, “rod,” “stem” (hence, also, “tribe”), used to denote an instrument of chastisement in Micah 6:9, Isaiah 30:32, here apparently means the punishment, or chastisement, of heathen iniquities, which God has sworn (see Deuteronomy 32:40-41) to execute. On the term Selah see Psalms 3:4 note. With rivers shalt thou cleave the earth, i.e., the rocks shall send forth new watercourses at Jehovah’s bidding, so that “rivers run in the dry places.” (See Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11.)