Habakkuk 1 · ESV Study Bible

HABAKKUK 1 [†] a The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2[†] O LORD, b how long shall I cry for help,

and you will not hear?

Or cry to you c “Violence!”

and you will not save?

3[†] d Why do you make me see iniquity,

and why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction c and violence are before me;

strife and contention arise.

4[^][†] e So the law is paralyzed,

and justice never goes forth.

f For the wicked surround the righteous;

so justice goes forth perverted.

5[^][†] g “Look among the nations, and see;

wonder and be astounded.

h For I am doing a work in your days

that you would not believe if told.

6[†] For behold, i I am raising up the Chaldeans,

that bitter and hasty nation,

j who march through the breadth of the earth,

k to seize dwellings not their own.

7[†] They are dreaded and fearsome;

l their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

8[†] m Their horses are swifter than leopards,

more fierce than n the evening wolves;

their horsemen press proudly on.

Their horsemen come from afar;

o they fly like an eagle swift to devour.

9[†] They all come p for violence,

all their faces forward.

They gather captives r like sand.

10[†] At kings they scoff,

and at rulers they laugh.

s They laugh at every fortress,

for t they pile up earth and take it.

11[†] Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,

u guilty men, v whose own might is their god!”

12[†] Are you not w from everlasting,

O LORD my God, my Holy One?

x We shall not die.

O LORD, y you have ordained them as a judgment,

and you, O z Rock, have established them for reproof.

13[^][†] You who are a of purer eyes than to see evil

and cannot look at wrong,

b why do you idly look at traitors

and c remain silent when the wicked swallows up

the man more righteous than he?

14[†] You make mankind like the fish of the sea,

like crawling things that have no ruler.

15[†] d He [1] brings all of them up e with a hook;

he drags them out with his net;

he gathers them in his dragnet;

so he rejoices and is glad.

16[†] f Therefore he sacrifices to his net

and makes offerings to his dragnet;

for by them he lives in luxury, [2]

and his food is rich.

17[†] Is he then to keep on emptying his net

g and mercilessly killing nations forever?

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:9 violence. Habakkuk had seen violence in the land (v. 2), but the Babylonians took it to a whole new level. They gather captives like sand. The Babylonians continued the Assyrian policy of deporting captives to their land to discourage and disorient them.

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:14 Habakkuk’s charge against God is that he allows mankind to act like lower creatures (fish and crawling things) with no rulers or judges, so that wickedness goes unchecked.

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:6 I am raising up. God controls the political scene and uses nations for his own purposes (cf. Isa. 44:28; Dan. 2:21). Chaldeans. Another name for the Babylonians, but technically they were an ethnically diverse Aramean tribe in southern Babylon that began to take control as the Assyrians weakened. The Babylonians gained independence from Assyria in 626 B.C. and, continuing to increase in power, defeated Assyria in 605. Nebuchadnezzar led the Babylonians in this victory and consolidated the Babylonian Empire. After his father’s death in 605 B.C. he became king over the vast empire, which flourished until the Persians defeated it in 539. bitter and hasty nation. God knows the Babylonians well and uses their character traits to punish Judah.

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:4 the law is paralyzed. The Mosaic law had little impact on the hearts of these people and was not accomplishing its purpose. Instead, they were living according to their own greedy, self-centered desires. justice never goes forth. Habakkuk believes that God’s inactivity has caused injustice to become worse. The rich were using their power and money to get what they wanted; the rights of the poor were being trampled on. righteous. There was still a righteous remnant, but life was hard for them because they fell prey to the wicked and would not break God’s laws to get ahead.

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:15 He. That is, the “wicked” one in v. 13, a personification of the nation of Babylon. hook. See Amos 4:2. Captives were sometimes taken away with hooks in their noses—an intentionally painful and humiliating treatment. drags them out with his net. The image is that of a fish helplessly caught in a fishing net; Mesopotamian rock reliefs portray prisoners in nets being hauled off to captivity.

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:3 idly look at wrong. Habakkuk can hardly believe that his God appears to tolerate sin instead of punishing it (see v. 13).

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:13 purer eyes than to see evil. This is a classic statement of the puzzle of how an all-powerful God can allow sin to continue unchecked. Habakkuk cannot understand the justice of allowing wicked Babylon to punish a less wicked nation such as Judah. (He can call Judah more righteous because, even though most of its people were unfaithful to God’s covenants, some of them actually were faithful.) Habakkuk thinks that God’s holiness should have prohibited him from using the corrupt Babylonians.

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:11 whose own might is their god. The Babylonians had become so successful and powerful that they relied on their military might for protection, as others would have relied on their gods.

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:10 scoff … laugh. The powerful Babylonians had little regard for weaker kings or rulers whose meager fortifications offered little resistance. they pile up earth. One of the primary means of capturing a walled city was to construct earthen ramps so that movable towers could be pushed close enough to the walls to breach them (see Isa. 29:3; Jer. 32:24).

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:8 The Babylonians conquered their enemies so quickly that their horses seemed to come faster than swift leopards. Using horses allowed them to overtake their enemies before they had time to prepare. eagle. A bird of prey, depicting the Babylonians’ fierceness and voracious appetite for conquest.

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:16 he sacrifices to his net. See note on v. 11. The Babylonians appear quite proud of their weapons of destruction.

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:17 mercilessly killing nations forever? If a righteous God does not step in to end the Babylonians’ wicked plan, who will? Where is God’s justice, and how can he tolerate this?

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:7 their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. In pursuit of domination, the Babylonians were not bound by Judean legal systems, or even common decency. In their pride and arrogance they abused their power.

HABAKKUK—NOTE ON 1:1 Superscription. “Oracle” translates a common word for “burden” (Hb. massa’), but when used in the Prophets it may more specifically signify a prophetic oracle (see Isa. 14:4). Jeremiah 20:9 and Amos 3:8 suggest that once God gives a message, it becomes a “burden” until the prophet announces it. Prophets do not typically use the term “prophet” for themselves, but Habakkuk is called a prophet twice (Hab. 1:1; 3:1), possibly because his message differs significantly from that of most other prophets.