Habakkuk 1
1
1The pronouncement#Is 13:1; 30:6; Jr 18:18; Ezk 12:10; Hab 1:1; Zch 9:1; 12:1; Mal 1:1 that the prophet Habakkuk saw.#Nm 24:4; Jb 19:26; Is 13:1
Habakkuk’s First Prayer
2How long,#Ps 4:2; 6:3; 13:1 Lord, must I call for help#Jb 19:7; Ps 5:2; Lm 3:8
and you do not listen
or cry out to you about violence#Jr 6:7; Ezk 7:11,23; 8:17; 12:19; 45:9; Mc 6:12; Hab 1:9; 2:8,17
and you do not save?
3Why do you force me to look at injustice?#Jb 4:8; Ps 5:5; Is 5:7
Why do you tolerate#1:3 Lit observe, also in v. 13 wrongdoing?
Oppression and violence are right in front of me.
Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.
4This is why the law is ineffective
and justice never emerges.
For the wicked restrict#Jdg 20:43; Ps 22:12 the righteous;
therefore, justice#Ex 23:6 comes out perverted.
God’s First Answer
5Look at the nations#1:5 DSS, LXX, Syr read Look, you treacherous people#Ps 2:1 and observe#Gn 15:5 —
be utterly astounded!#Gn 43:33; Ps 48:5; Ec 5:8
For I am doing something in your days
that you will not believe#Gn 15:6
when you hear about it.#Ac 13:41
6Look! I am raising up#Ru 4:5 the Chaldeans,#1:6 = the Babylonians
that bitter,#Jdg 18:25 impetuous nation
that marches across the earth’s open spaces
to seize territories not its own.
7They are fierce#Sg 6:4,10 and terrifying;
their views of justice and sovereignty
stem from themselves.
8Their horses are swifter#2Sm 1:23 than leopards#Is 11:6; Jr 5:6; 13:23; Hs 13:7
and more fierce#1:8 Or and quicker than wolves of the night.
Their horsemen charge ahead;
their horsemen come from distant lands.
They fly like eagles, swooping to devour.#Dt 28:49
9All of them come to do violence;
their faces#Gn 48:11 are set in determination.#1:9 Hb obscure
They gather#Dt 11:14 prisoners like sand.#Jos 11:4
10They mock#2Kg 2:23 kings,
and rulers are a joke to them.
They laugh#2Ch 30:10 at every fortress
and build siege ramps to capture#Nm 21:32 it.
11Then they sweep#Is 8:8 by like the wind
and pass through.
They are guilty;#1:11 Or wind, and transgress and incur guilt their strength is their god.
Habakkuk’s Second Prayer
12Are you not from eternity, Lord my God?#1Ch 29:10; Ps 90:2; 93:2; 103:17; Mc 5:2
My Holy One,#Is 1:4 you#1:12 Alt Hb tradition reads we will not die.
Lord, you appointed them to execute judgment;
my Rock,#Dt 32:4; Ps 18:2 you destined them to punish us.
13Your eyes#2Ch 6:20; 16:9 are too pure#Ex 25:11; Ps 12:6; 19:9; 51:10; Pr 22:11; Ezk 36:25 to look on evil,
and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
So why do you tolerate those who are treacherous?#Jdg 9:23
Why are you silent
while one#1:13 = Babylon who is wicked swallows up
one#1:13 = Judah who is more righteous than himself?
14You have made mankind
like the fish of the sea,#Ec 9:12
like marine creatures that have no ruler.
15The Chaldeans pull them all up with a hook,
catch them in their dragnet,#2Kg 19:28; 2Ch 33:11; Is 37:29; Jr 16:16; Ezk 19:4,9; 29:4; 38:4; Am 4:2
and gather them in their fishing net;
that is why they are glad and rejoice.
16That is why they sacrifice to their dragnet
and burn incense to their fishing net,
for by these things their portion is rich
and their food plentiful.#Dt 8:17; Is 10:13; 37:24–25
17Will they therefore empty their net
and continually slaughter nations without mercy?
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Habakkuk 1
1
1 # See Nah. 1:1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2O Lord, #Ps. 13:1; 89:46 how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you #Mic. 6:12“Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 # See Jer. 9:2-6 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction #[See ver. 2 above]and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 # [Mic. 7:3] So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
# [Job 21:7; Jer. 12:1] For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
The Lord’s Answer
5 # Cited Acts 13:41 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
# [Isa. 28:21; 29:14] For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6For behold, #See Jer. 5:15 I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
# [ch. 2:5] who march through the breadth of the earth,
# [ch. 2:6] to seize dwellings not their own.
7They are dreaded and fearsome;
# [ver. 10, 11] their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 #
Jer. 4:13 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than #Jer. 5:6; Zeph. 3:3 the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
# See Deut. 28:49 they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9They all come #[ch. 2:17] for violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives #See Josh. 11:4like sand.
10At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
# [Nah. 3:12] They laugh at every fortress,
for #[Ezek. 4:2]they pile up earth and take it.
11Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
# [Hos. 13:16] guilty men, #[ver. 7]whose own might is their god!”
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12Are you not #Deut. 33:27; Ps. 90:2; 93:2 from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
# [Mal. 3:6] We shall not die.
O Lord, #See Isa. 10:5-7 you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O #See Deut. 32:4Rock, have established them for reproof.
13You who are #[Ps. 5:5] of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
#
Jer. 12:1 why do you idly look at traitors
and #Ps. 35:22remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
14You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.
15 #
Jer. 16:16; Amos 4:2 He#1:15 That is, the wicked foe brings all of them up #[Isa. 19:8]with a hook;
he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
so he rejoices and is glad.
16 # [ver. 11] Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,#1:16 Hebrew his portion is fat
and his food is rich.
17Is he then to keep on emptying his net
# [ch. 2:10] and mercilessly killing nations forever?
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