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The revelation which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Verse 1. Burden. Such prophecies more especially are called burdens, as threaten grievous evils and punishments. Challoner.—He says not against whom, because the menace is directed to persecutors in general. Worthington.
LORD, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save?
Verse 2. Save. Some think that he expresses the sentiments of the weak, like David, (Psalms 72:2) or what he had formerly entertained. The language of the prophets is very bold. Exodus 32:32. Job 3:3. Jeremiah 20:14. Jonah 4:8. Calmet.
When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name (Hebrew “יהוה”, usually pronounced Yahweh).
Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.
Verse 3. Opposition. Septuagint “the judge receives” bribes. Bible.—Such was the state of Juda after Josias. Jeremiah 21:12.
Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.
“Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days which you will not believe though it is told you.
Verse 5. Among. Septuagint ye despisers. Saint Paul nearly agrees with this version. Acts 13:41. The copies vary, as the Hebrew has done. Calmet.—The apostle gives the mystical sense; the literal is very obscure. Worthington.—God answers the prophet’s complaints, and shews that the Chaldees shall punish the guilty, and afterwards be themselves chastised.
For, behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation who march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
Verse 6. Chaldeans. Nabuchodonosor was the first of this nation who attacked Joakim, and having conquered all as far as the Nile, returned to succeed Nabopolassar. He afterwards came upon Jechonias and Sedecias, and so forth The prophet might have all this in view, particularly the first invasion. Calmet.—Bitter; warlike, as all the Greek historians remark. Saint Jerome—The Chaldees were not yet arrived at such greatness, and of course this is not the Habacuc specified Daniel 14. Worthington.—Yet the same prophet might foresee it. Bible.
“Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
Verse 7. Proceed. They admit no authority but their own. Calmet.—This pride will prove their ruin. Bible.
Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.
Verse 8. Leopards: the swiftest quadrupeds. Calmet.—The horses near the Euphrates were swift and warlike. Oppian.—Swifter. Hebrew “sharper” ( Bible.) in seeing, even when there is no moon. Elian x. 26.—Evening. Septuagint “Arabian.” Bible.—It may denote the hyena of that country, which is most terrible. Guevar.
All of them come for violence. Their hordes face forward. They gather prisoners like sand.
Verse 9. Burning. Hebrew also, “eastern,” which is hot, and raises the sand of Arabia so as to be very detrimental. Calmet.—Out of 2,000 travellers from Mecca to Aleppo, only twenty-nine escaped such a storm, or kamsin, in that vast desert, Aug. 23, 1813. Rock. 312. Bible.—Sand, from various countries. Isaiah 20:4. Beros. cited c. Ap. i.
Yes, they scoff at kings, and princes are a derision to them. They laugh at every stronghold, for they build up an earthen ramp and take it.
Verse 10. Prince, or “it,” the nation. verse 10. Hebrew “They,” and so forth—Laughingstock, (ridicule.) Nabuchodonosor raised or deposed princes as in jest. Bible.—Sennacherib’s officers were or had been kings. Isaiah 10:8.—Mount. Thus cities were chiefly taken. Ezekiel 4:1. Calmet.
Then they sweep by like the wind and go on. They are indeed guilty, whose strength is their god.”
Verse 11. Spirit; that is the spirit of the king of Babylon. It alludes to the judgment of God upon Nabuchodonosor, recorded Daniel 4 and to the speedy fall of the Chaldean empire. Challoner.—It shall yield to the Medes, and so forth after conquering the Assyrians. Worthington.—Fall. Hebrew “sin.” Septuagint “obtain pardon.”—God: “idol.” Chal. “This is the strength of my God.” Septuagint God forced the proud king to confess that his great exploits were not to be attributed to himself or to idols. Bible.
Aren’t you from everlasting, LORD my God, my Holy One? We will not die. LORD, you have appointed them for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.
Verse 12. Die? We hope that this scourge will not entirely ruin us.—Correction, like Pharao. Exodus 9:16.
The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,
Verse 13. Look, with approbation ( Calmet.) or connivance.
and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things that have no ruler over them?
Verse 14. Ruler. People are subdued by Nabuchodouosor. Bible.—They make little resistance. Calmet.
He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.
Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious and his food is good.
Verse 16. Drag, adoring his own arms and prowess, (Sanct.) like Mezentius and Capaneus:
Dextra mihi Deus, (Æn. x.)
Te voco, te solum, superum contemptor, adoro. Stat. x.
—Guevare thinks fishes were adored, as they were among the Syrians. Nabuchodonosor attributed all to his own genius, or to Bel, whose statue he set up. Daniel 3. Calmet.—Victorious nations thus honour themselves and not God.
Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
Verse 17. Nations, of every country. Worthington.—Few have been so much addicted to war as Nabuchodonosor. Calmet.