The description moves on from the natural world to its inhabitants and thus provides an introduction to the purpose of the entire theophany given in verse 13. (See comments on the theophany in verse 3.)
Thou didst bestride the earth in fury is expressed in modern terms in Good News Translation as “You marched across the earth in anger.” For the idea of God marching, compare Psalm 68.7. For alternative ways to translate in anger or in fury, see the comment on Nahum 1.3.
The second line is parallel in form to the first line: thou didst trample the nations in anger. Again Good News Translation puts this into modern speech: “in fury you trampled the nations.” The Hebrew word translated trample is frequently used of threshing crops like wheat or barley. This was usually done by having an ox walk round and round in a pit, treading the sheaves of grain with his feet to separate the ears of grain from the stalks (compare Deut 25.4). Sometimes the ox would drag a sledge with sharp stones or knives on the bottom to help the process. This operation was sometimes used in a figurative way to speak of punishment (see Isa 41.15; Amos 1.3; Micah 4.13). This is the case here also. When God is spoken of as trampling the nations, the meaning is that he is punishing them for their wickedness. In some languages it may be necessary to state this in plain language. Two alternative translation models are the following:
• When you were angry, you marched across the earth.
When you were furious, you trampled on the nations.
Or:
• You marched angrily across the earth,
and trampled furiously on the nations.
In some languages it will be necessary to combine the two clauses and say “You were furious, so you marched across the earth and trampled on all the people in the world.” See Nahum 1.6 for comments on the translation of “furious.”
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on the Book of Habakkuk. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .