2 How long , O Lord , will I call for help , And You will not hear ? I cry out to You, "Violence !" Yet You do not save . 3 Why do You make me see iniquity , And cause me to look on wickedness ? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises . 4 Therefore e the law is [1]ignored And justice [2]is never e upheld . For the wicked surround the righteous ; Therefore e justice comes out perverted .
5 " Look among the nations ! Observe ! Be astonished ! Wonder ! Because I am doing something in your days - You would not believe if [3]you were told . 6 "For behold , I am raising up the Chaldeans , That [4]fierce and impetuous people Who march [5]throughout the earth To [6] seize dwelling places which are not theirs. 7 "They are dreaded and feared ; Their justice and [7]authority [8]originate with themselves. 8 "Their horses are swifter than leopards And [9]keener than wolves in the evening . Their [10]horsemen come galloping , Their horsemen come from afar ; They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour . 9 "All of them come for violence . [11]Their horde of faces moves forward . They collect captives like sand . 10 "They mock at kings And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress And heap up rubble to capture it. 11 "Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty , They whose strength is their god ."
12 Are You not from everlasting , O Lord , my God , my Holy One ? We will not die . You, O Lord , have appointed them to judge ; And You, O Rock , have established them to correct . 13 Your eyes are too pure to [12]approve evil , And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously ? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they? 14 Why have You made men like the fish of the sea , Like creeping things without a ruler over them? 15 The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook , Drag them away with their net , And gather them together in their fishing net . Therefore e they rejoice and are glad . 16 Therefore e they offer a sacrifice to their net And [13]burn incense to their fishing net ; Because through these things their [14]catch is [15]large , And their food is [16]plentiful . 17 Will they therefore e empty their net And continually slay nations without sparing ?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Habakkuk 1:2-17
Commentary on Habakkuk 1:1-11
(Read Habakkuk 1:1-11)
The servants of the Lord are deeply afflicted by seeing ungodliness and violence prevail; especially among those who profess the truth. No man scrupled doing wrong to his neighbour. We should long to remove to the world where holiness and love reign for ever, and no violence shall be before us. God has good reasons for his long-suffering towards bad men, and the rebukes of good men. The day will come when the cry of sin will be heard against those that do wrong, and the cry of prayer for those that suffer wrong. They were to notice what was going forward among the heathen by the Chaldeans, and to consider themselves a nation to be scourged by them. But most men presume on continued prosperity, or that calamities will not come in their days. They are a bitter and hasty nation, fierce, cruel, and bearing down all before them. They shall overcome all that oppose them. But it is a great offence, and the common offence of proud people, to take glory to themselves. The closing words give a glimpse of comfort.
Commentary on Habakkuk 1:12-17
(Read Habakkuk 1:12-17)
However matters may be, yet God is the Lord our God, our Holy One. We are an offending people, he is an offended God, yet we will not entertain hard thoughts of him, or of his service. It is great comfort that, whatever mischief men design, the Lord designs good, and we are sure that his counsel shall stand. Though wickedness may prosper a while, yet God is holy, and does not approve the wickedness. As he cannot do iniquity himself, so he is of purer eyes than to behold it with any approval. By this principle we must abide, though the dispensations of his providence may for a time, in some cases, seem to us not to agree with it. The prophet complains that God's patience was abused; and because sentence against these evil works and workers was not executed speedily, their hearts were the more fully set in them to do evil. Some they take up as with the angle, one by one; others they catch in shoals, as in their net, and gather them in their drag, their enclosing net. They admire their own cleverness and contrivance: there is great proneness in us to take the glory of outward prosperity to ourselves. This is idolizing ourselves, sacrificing to the drag-net because it is our own. God will soon end successful and splendid robberies. Death and judgment shall make men cease to prey on others, and they shall be preyed on themselves. Let us remember, whatever advantages we possess, we must give all the glory to God.