verse 17 might be metaphors for adversity, but they are the kinds of things that happen when an army invades another country. The necessity to forbid the destruction of fruit trees in war (Deut. 20:19–20) reflects the fact that this was common practice, through carelessness or as a deliberate act of hostility. And an invading army will likewise kill and eat a country’s animals, without any thought for its future. Habakkuk can imagine the country going through this; and it does, when Babylon invades