Habakkuk lists severe losses: no fig blossoms, no fruit on the vines, no olives or fields producing food, and empty flocks and herds. Yet he says he will rejoice in the Lord and take joy in the God of his salvation. This conclusion is in Habakkuk 3:17–18.
Habakkuk ends his prayer by picturing total agricultural collapse: no figs, grapes, olives, grain, sheep, or cattle. In that scenario, he still chooses to celebrate Yahweh and to be glad in God as the one who rescues. Habakkuk 3 is a poetic prayer that looks back on Yahweh’s powerful interventions and rule over creation and nations, then turns toward the prophet’s present fear and waiting. After describing coming trouble and his trembling response, the prayer resolves into trust.
Habakkuk 3:17–19 presents a deliberately total picture of material loss: multiple crops fail and livestock disappear (explicit in verse 17). The point is not a single setback but the collapse of the main pillars of food and livelihood (explicit).
A common mistake is to turn the wording into a slogan. The better reading keeps the phrase tied to the passage, the speaker, and the problem the book is addressing.
Start with Habakkuk 3:17-18, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
17For though the fig tree doesn`t flourish, Nor fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive fails, The fields yield no food; The flocks are cut off from the fold, And there is no herd in the stalls:
18Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!