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Habakkuk 1

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Habakkuk's Complaint 1–4

1
The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. ​
2
O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! ​
3
Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. ​
4
Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. ​

God's Answer: The Rise of the Chaldeans 5–11

5
Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. ​
6
For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. ​
7
They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. ​
8
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. ​
9
They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. ​
10
And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.
11
Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. ​

Habakkuk's Second Lament 12–17

12
Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. ​
13
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? ​
14
And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15
They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. ​
16
Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. ​
17
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Habakkuk 1

Verse 1

Habakkuk the prophet — The name comes from chabaq, ‘to embrace’. ‘Burden’ (massa’) is the word that opens Nahum, and ‘did see’ is chazah, the verb for a prophet’s seeing. He is called ‘the prophet’ (navi) here and again over his prayer in 3:1. The book is his own dialogue with the LORD.

Verse 2

how long shall I cry — The plea is that of Ps 13:1, ‘How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD?’, and of Ps 22:2, ‘I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not’. ‘Cry’ is shava’, and ‘cry out’ is za’aq, the shout for rescue. ‘Violence’ is chamas, the word of Mic 6:12. ‘Save’ is yasha, the root of ‘the God of my salvation’ (Hab 3:18).

Verse 3

cause me to behold grievance — The prophet is made to ‘behold’ (nabat, to look steadily) ‘grievance’ (amal, trouble). In v.13 the same two words return of the LORD, who ‘canst not look on iniquity’: nabat and amal. ‘Strife’ is riv, the word of the LORD’s own case in Mic 6:2, and ‘contention’ is madon.

Verse 4

the law is slacked — ‘Law’ is torah, and ‘slacked’ is pug, to grow numb, the verb of Gen 45:26, ‘Jacob’s heart fainted’. ‘Judgment’ (mishpat) and ‘go forth’ (yatsa) occur twice: right judgment ‘doth never go forth’, and ‘wrong judgment proceedeth’. ‘Compass about’ is kathar; in Ps 142:7 it is ‘the righteous shall compass me about’.

Verse 5

I will work a work — The verse has pa’al and po’al, ‘work a work’, and tamah twice, ‘wonder marvellously’. ‘Believe’ is aman, the root of emunah, the ‘faith’ by which ‘the just shall live’ (Hab 2:4). Paul quotes the verse in Acts 13:41, where it is addressed to ‘despisers’: ‘a work which ye shall in no wise believe’.

Verse 6

I raise up the Chaldeans — The LORD names the nation. The Chaldeans came against Judah as ‘bands’ in 2 Kgs 24:2, and Jeremiah warns of ‘a mighty nation… an ancient nation’ from far (Jer 5:15). ‘Dwellingplaces’ is mishkan, the word used for the tabernacle. ‘Bitter’ (mar) and ‘hasty’ (mahar) describe the people.

Verse 7

their judgment and their dignity — ‘Dignity’ is se’et, an elevation, the word of ‘the excellency of dignity’ in Gen 49:3. ‘Judgment’ (mishpat) and ‘proceed’ (yatsa) are the pair of v.4, so what Judah’s courts did not send out these men send out from themselves. ‘Terrible’ is ayom, the word for an army ‘with banners’ in Song 6:4.

Verse 8

swifter than the leopards — Jeremiah has the wolf and the leopard together, with a lion, in Jer 5:6: ‘a lion… a wolf of the evenings… a leopard’. The ‘eagle that hasteth to eat’ is the figure of the curse in Deut 28:49: ‘a nation against thee from far… as swift as the eagle flieth’. ‘Evening wolves’ are the figure for Judah’s judges in Zeph 3:3.

Verse 9

gather the captivity as the sand — ‘Sup up’ translates megammah, a word found only here, set with the ‘east wind’ (qadim), as in ‘an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD’ (Hos 13:15). The captives are gathered ‘as the sand’ (chol), the measure that Joseph used of grain, ‘as the sand of the sea’ (Gen 41:49).

Verse 11

imputing this his power unto his god — ‘Mind’ is ruach, wind or spirit, and ‘change’ is chalaph, to sweep on. He ‘shall pass over’ (abar, as in Nah 1:8) and ‘offend’ (asham, to be guilty, the root of the trespass offering). Nebuchadnezzar spoke thus: ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built… by the might of my power?’ (Dan 4:30).

Verse 12

from everlasting — Qedem is the word of Mic 5:2, ‘from of old, from everlasting’, and ‘Holy One’ is qadosh. ‘O mighty God’ is tsur, ‘Rock’, as in ‘He is the Rock’ (Deut 32:4). ‘Correction’ is yakach, the verb of ‘rebuke’ in Mic 4:3 and ‘plead’ in Mic 6:2. The prophet reasons that the LORD set the Chaldeans in place for judgment.

Verse 13

of purer eyes than to behold evil — The words are those of Ps 5:4–5, ‘neither shall evil dwell with thee… thou hatest all workers of iniquity’. ‘Deal treacherously’ is bagad, as in Jer 12:1, ‘wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?’. ‘Holdest thy tongue’ is charash, to be silent, the word for the deaf in Mic 7:16.

Verse 15

they catch them in their net — Cherem is a net, the word of Mic 7:2, ‘hunt every man his brother with a net’, and mikmereth is the drag or dragnet. The LORD himself speaks of fishers and hunters sent against Israel (Jer 16:16). Their joy in the catch is told in ‘rejoice’ (samach) and ‘are glad’ (gil).

Verse 16

sacrifice unto their net — ‘Sacrifice’ is zabach and ‘burn incense’ is qatar, the verbs of worship, here offered to the means of the catch. Their ‘portion’ is ‘fat’ and their ‘meat plenteous’, which is why they honour it. The verse is the act that follows v.11, where the Chaldean ascribes ‘this his power’ to his god.

Verse 17

Shall they therefore empty their net — ‘Empty’ is ruq, to draw out, the verb of the enemy’s ‘I will draw my sword’ (Ex 15:9). ‘Spare’ is chamal, and ‘slay’ is harag. ‘Continually’ (tamid) is the word that closes Nahum, where wickedness ‘passed continually’ (Nah 3:19); the prophet asks whether the net is to go on being emptied.