Reference: Habakkuk
American
One of the minor prophets. Of his life we know nothing, except that he appears to have been contemporary with Jeremiah, and to have prophesied about 610 B.C., shortly before Nebuchadnezzar's first invasion of Judea, 2Ki 24:1.
The BOOK OF HABAKKUK consists of three chapters, which all constitute on oracle. In Hab 1, he foretells the woes which the rapacious and terrible Chaldeans would soon inflict upon his guilty nation. In Hab 2, he predicts the future humiliation of the conquerors. Hab 3 is a sublime and beautiful ode, in which the prophet implores the succor of Jehovah in view of his mighty works of ancient days, and expresses the most assured trust in him. Nothing, even in Hebrew poetry, is more lofty and grand then this triumphal ode.
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In his days came up Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, and Jehoiakim will be to him a servant three years: and he will turn back and rebel against him.
Easton
embrace, the eighth of the twelve minor prophets. Of his personal history we have no reliable information. He was probably a member of the Levitical choir. He was contemporary with Jeremiah and Zephaniah.
Fausets
The cordially embraced one (favorite of God), or the cordial embracer. "A man of heart, hearty toward another, taking him into his arms. This Habakkuk does in his prophecy; he comforts and lifts up his people, as one would do with a weeping child, bidding him be quiet, because, please God, it would yet be better with him" (Luther). The psalm (Habakkuk 3) and title "Habakkuk the prophet" favor the opinion that Habakkuk was a Levite. The closing words, "to the chief singer on my stringed instruments," imply that Habakkuk with his own instruments would accompany the song he wrote under the Spirit; like the Levite seers and singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun (1Ch 25:1-5). A lyrical tone pervades his prophecies, so that he most approaches David in his psalms.
The opening phrase (Hab 1:1) describes his prophecy as "the burden which," etc., i.e. the weighty, solemn announcement. Habakkuk "saw" it with the inner eye opened by the Spirit. He probably prophesied in the 12th or 13th year of Josiah (630 or 629 B.C.), for the words "in your days" (Hab 1:5) imply that the prophecy would come to pass in the lifetime of the persons addressed. In Jer 16:9 the same phrase comprises 20 years, in Eze 12:25 six years.
Zep 1:7 is an imitation of Hab 2:20; now Zephaniah (Zep 1:1) lived under Josiah, and prophesied (compare Zep 3:5,15) after the restoration of Jehovah's worship, i.e. after the 12th year of Josiah's reign, about 624 B.C. So Habakkuk must have been before this. Jeremiah moreover began prophesying in Josiah's 13th year; now Jeremiah borrows from Habakkuk (compare Hab 2:13 with Jer 51:58); thus, it follows that 630 or 629 B.C. is Habakkuk's date of prophesying (Delitzsch).
Contents. - Habakkuk complains of the moral disorganization around, and cries to Jehovah for help (Hab 1:2-4); Jehovah in reply denounces swift vengeance (Hab 1:5-11) by the Chaldeans. Habakkuk complains that the Chaldees are worse than the Jews whom they are to be the instruments of chastising; they deal treacherously, sweep all into their net, and then "they sacrifice unto their net and burn incense unto their drag," i.e. idolize their own might and military skill, instead of giving the glory to God (De 8:17; Isa 10:13; 37:24-25). Habakkuk therefore, confident that God is of purer eyes than to behold evil (Hab 1:13), sets himself in an attitude of waiting for the Lord's own solution of this perplexing apparent anomaly (Hab 2:1); Jehovah desires him accordingly, "write the vision" of God's retributive justice plainly, so "that he may run that readeth it," namely, "run" to tell to all the good news of the foe's doom and Judah's deliverance, or, as Grotius, run through it, i.e. run through the reading without difficulty.
The issue must be awaited with patience, for it shall not disappoint; the lifted up soul, as that of the Chaldean foe and the unbelieving apostatizing Jew, is not accounted upright before God and therefore shall perish; but the just shall be accounted just by his faith and so shall live. The Chaldeans' doom is announced on the ground of this eternal principle of God's moral government. The oppressed nations "shall take up a parable," i.e. a derisive song (compare Isa 14:4; Mic 2:4), whom Habakkuk copies, against their oppressor. It is a symmetrical whole, five stanzas; three of three verses each, the fourth of four, and the last of two verses. Each stanza, except the last, begins with "woe." All have a closing verse introduced with "for," "but," or "because." Each strophe begins with the character of the sin, then states the woe, lastly confirms the woe (Hab 2:2-20).
The prayer-song (Habakkuk 3) is the spiritual echo, resuming the previous parts of the prophecy, for the enlightenment of God's people. Prayer, thanksgiving, and trust, are the spiritual key to unlock the mysteries of God's present government of the earth. The spirit appears tumultuously to waver (from whence the title "Shigionoth" from shagah, "to wander") between fear and hope; but faith at the end triumphs joyfully over present trials (Hab 3:17-19). Upon God's past manifestations for His people, at Paran, Teman, and the Red Sea, Habakkuk grounds the anticipated deliverance of his people from the foe, through Jehovah's interposition in sublime majesty; so that the believer can always rejoice in the God of his salvation and his strength.
The interests of God's righteous character, seemingly compromised in the Chaldees' successful violence, are what Habakkuk has most at heart throughout; to solve this problem is his one grand theme. Paul quotes Hab 1:5 in his warning to the unbelieving Jews at Antioch in Pisidia. Thrice Paul quotes Hab 2:4, "the just shall live by his faith" (one fundamental truth throughout the Bible, beginning with Abram in Ge 15:6); first in Ro 1:17, where the emphasis rests on "just," God's righteousness and the nature of justification being the prominent thought; secondly in Ga 3:11, where the emphasis is on "faith," the instrument of justification being prominent; thirdly in Heb 10:38, where the emphasis is on "live," the continued life that flows from justification being prominent.
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And he believed in Jehovah; and it shall be reckoned to him justice.
And thou saidst in thy heart, My strength and the bone of my handmade for me this wealth.
And David will separate, and the chiefs of the army, for service to the sons of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, prophesying with harps, with lyres and with cymbals: and there will be their number of men of work for their service. To the sons of Asaph: Zaccur and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, sons of Asaph upon the hand of Asaph prophesying upon the hands of the king. read more. To Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, upon the hands of their father Jeduthun, with the harp prophesying for confessing and praising to Jehovah. To Heman: the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamtiezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. All these the sons to Heman the king's seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God will give to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.
For he said, By strength of my hand I did, and by my wisdom, for I was discreet: and I will remove the bounds of the people, and their things prepared I plundered, and I will bring down as a strong one the inhabitants.
And thou tookest up this parable against the king of Babel, and thou saidst, How did he oppressing, cease! oppression ceased.
By the hand of thy servants thou didst reproach Jehovah, and wilt thou say, By the multitude of my chariots I came up to the height of the mountains, to the thighs of Lebanon; and I will cut down the stature of his cedars, the choicest of his cypresses: and I will go into the height of his extremity, the forest of his Carmel. I dug and drank water; and I will dry up with the sole of my footstep all the rivers of Egypt,
For thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel: Behold me causing to cease from this place to your eyes and in your days the voice of gladness and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
Thus said Jehovah of armies: The broad walls of Babel being demolished, shall be demolished, and her high gates shall be burnt in fire; the peoples shall labor in vain, the nations for the fire, and they shall be weary.
For I am Jehovah: I will speak, what word I will speak and it shall be done; it shall no more be protracted: for in your days, O house of contradiction, I will speak the word, and I did it, says the Lord Jehovah.
In that day a parable shall be lifted up against you, and a wailing of a wailing was wailed, saying, Being laid waste, we shall be laid waste: he will exchange a portion of my people: how he will remove to me; for turning away, he will divide our fields.
The lifting up which Habbakuk the prophet saw. How long, O Jehovah, did I cry for help, and thou wilt not bear? I will cry to thee violence, and thou wilt not save. read more. Wherefore wilt thou cause me to see vanity and cause me to look at labor? and oppression and violence before me, and there will be contention, and strife will be raised up. For this, the law will be slack, and judgment will not go forth forever: for the unjust surrounds the just; for this perverted judgment will go forth. See ye among the nations, and look, and wonder; ye shall wonder: for the working a work in your days ye will not believe if it shall be recounted.
See ye among the nations, and look, and wonder; ye shall wonder: for the working a work in your days ye will not believe if it shall be recounted.
See ye among the nations, and look, and wonder; ye shall wonder: for the working a work in your days ye will not believe if it shall be recounted. For behold me raising up the Chaldeans, the nation bitter and hasty, going upon the wide places of the land to possess the dwelling not to him. read more. He terrible and dreadful: his judgment and his elevation shall come forth from himself, And his horses were swift above panthers, and they were sharp above the wolves of the evening: and his horsemen were spread, and his horsemen shall come from far off; they shall fly as the eagle hastening to eat Wholly for violence shall he come: the host of their faces forwards, and he shall gather a captivity as the sand. And he shall scoff at kings, and princes a derision to him: at every fortress he shall deride, and he shall heap up dust and take it Then the spirit changed, and he will pass over, and he transgressed: this his strength is his God.
Being pure of eyes from beholding evil, and wilt not be able to look upon labor: wherefore wilt thou look upon the transgressors? wilt thou be silent in the unjust swallowing the just above him?
I will stand upon my watch, and be set me upon the fortress, and I will watch to see what he will speak in me, and what I shall turn back upon my reproof. And Jehovah will answer me and say, Write the vision, and grave upon the tablets, so that he shall run reading in it read more. For yet the vision for the appointment, and it shall breathe to the end, and it shall not lie: if it shall delay, wait for it; for coming, it will come; and it shall not delay. Behold, his soul being inflated in him, was not straight: and the just one shall live by his faithfulness.
Behold, his soul being inflated in him, was not straight: and the just one shall live by his faithfulness. And also if a proud man transgressing by wine, and he will not rest; who enlarged his soul as hades, and he as death, and he will not be satisfied, and he will gather to him all nations, and he will collect to him all peoples. read more. Shall not these all of them lift up a parable against him, and an enigma of an oracle against him, and it shall be said, Wo! to him multiplying that not to him. how long making heavy upon him goods taken in pledge? Shall they not rise up suddenly, biting thee? and they disquieting thee shall rise up, and thou wert for plunder to them. For thou didst spoil many nations, all the rest of the peoples shall spoil thee; from the bloods of man, and the violence of the land, of the city, and all dwelling in it. Wo! to him plundering an evil plunder to his house, to set his nest on high, to deliver from the hand of evil. Thou wilt counsel shame to thy house, cutting off many peoples, and causing thy soul to sin. For the stone from the wall shall cry out, and the cross-beam from the wood shall answer it. Wo! to him building a city with bloods, and preparing a city by iniquity. Behold, is it not from Jehovah of armies, and the peoples shall labor in a sufficiency of fire, and the peoples shall be wearied in a sufficiency of emptiness?
Behold, is it not from Jehovah of armies, and the peoples shall labor in a sufficiency of fire, and the peoples shall be wearied in a sufficiency of emptiness? For the earth shall be filled to know the glory of Jehovah as the waters shall cover over the sea? read more. Wo! to him giving his neighbor drink, pouring out thy leathern bottle, and also to be drunken so as to look upon their nakedness. Thou wert satisfied with dishonor rather than honor: drink thou also and be uncircumcised: the cup of the right hand of Jehovah shall turn upon thee, and ignominy upon thy glory. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of beasts shall terrify them from the bloods of man, and the violence of the earth, of the city, and all dwelling in it. What profited the carved image that he forming it carved it? the molten image and he teaching falsehood, that the former of his forming trusted upon it to make nothings being dumb? Wo! to him saying to the wood, Awake; and to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach. Being overlaid with gold and silver, and not any spirit in its midst. And Jehovah in his holy temple: be silent all the earth before his face.
And Jehovah in his holy temple: be silent all the earth before his face.
If the fig tree shall not blossom, and no produce in the vines; the work of the olive failed, and the fields made not food; and the sheep being cut off from the fold, and no oxen in the stalls. I will exult in Jehovah, I will rejoice in the God saving me. read more. Jehovah the Lord my strength, and he will set my feet as the hinds, and upon my heights he will cause me to tread. For the overseer upon my stringed instruments.
The word of Jehovah which was to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.
Be silent from the face of the Lord Jehovah: for the day of Jehovah is near, for Jehovah prepared a swam he consecrated his called ones.
Jehovah is just in her midst; he will not do iniquity: in morning by morning he will give his judgment to the light, he as not wanting; and the evil will not know shame.
Jehovah removed thy judgments, be turned away thine enemy: the king of Israel, Jehovah in the midst of thee: thou shalt no more see evil.
For the justice of God in it is revealed from faith to faith: as has been written, And the just shall live by faith.
And that none is justified in the law before God, is manifest: for, The just shall live of faith.
And the just one shall live by faith; but if he draw down, my soul is not contented in him.
Hastings
The eighth of the Minor Prophets. Except for legends, e.g. in Bel and the Dragon (33
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And he will do evil in the eyes of Jehovah according to all which his fathers did.
The word that was to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Stand in the gate of the house of Jehovah, and call there this word, and say, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, all Judah coming into these gates to worship to Jehovah read more. Thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel, Make good your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Ye shall not trust to yourselves to words of falsehood, saving, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah are they. For if making good, ye shall make good your ways and your doings; if doing, ye shall do judgment between man and between his neighbor; Ye shall not oppress the stranger, the orphan and the widow, and innocent blood ye shall not pour out in this place, and after other gods ye shall not go, for evil to you; And I caused you to dwell in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers from forever even to forever. Behold, you trusting to yourselves upon words of falsehood not to receive profit. Stealing, killing, and committing adultery, and swearing for falsehood, and burning incense to Baal, and going after other gods which ye knew not; And ye came and stood before me in this house which my name was called upon it, and ye said, We were delivered to do all these abominations. Was this house which my name was called upon it a cave of those breaking down in your eyes? also I, behold, I saw, says Jehovah. But go now to my place which is in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell there at the first, and see what I did to it from the face of the evil of my people Israel. And now, because ye did all these works, says Jehovah, and I will speak to you, rising early and speaking, and ye heard not; and I will call you and ye answered not; And I did to the house which my name was called upon it, which ye are trusting in it, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. And I cast you out from my face, as I cast out all your brethren, all the seed of Ephraim.
Because they forsook me and rejected this place, and they will burn incense in it to other gods which they knew them not, they and their fathers, and the kings of Judah; and they filled this place with the blood of the innocent ones.
The lifting up which Habbakuk the prophet saw. How long, O Jehovah, did I cry for help, and thou wilt not bear? I will cry to thee violence, and thou wilt not save.
How long, O Jehovah, did I cry for help, and thou wilt not bear? I will cry to thee violence, and thou wilt not save. Wherefore wilt thou cause me to see vanity and cause me to look at labor? and oppression and violence before me, and there will be contention, and strife will be raised up.
Wherefore wilt thou cause me to see vanity and cause me to look at labor? and oppression and violence before me, and there will be contention, and strife will be raised up. For this, the law will be slack, and judgment will not go forth forever: for the unjust surrounds the just; for this perverted judgment will go forth.
For this, the law will be slack, and judgment will not go forth forever: for the unjust surrounds the just; for this perverted judgment will go forth.
For this, the law will be slack, and judgment will not go forth forever: for the unjust surrounds the just; for this perverted judgment will go forth.
For this, the law will be slack, and judgment will not go forth forever: for the unjust surrounds the just; for this perverted judgment will go forth. See ye among the nations, and look, and wonder; ye shall wonder: for the working a work in your days ye will not believe if it shall be recounted.
See ye among the nations, and look, and wonder; ye shall wonder: for the working a work in your days ye will not believe if it shall be recounted.
See ye among the nations, and look, and wonder; ye shall wonder: for the working a work in your days ye will not believe if it shall be recounted. For behold me raising up the Chaldeans, the nation bitter and hasty, going upon the wide places of the land to possess the dwelling not to him.
For behold me raising up the Chaldeans, the nation bitter and hasty, going upon the wide places of the land to possess the dwelling not to him.
For behold me raising up the Chaldeans, the nation bitter and hasty, going upon the wide places of the land to possess the dwelling not to him. He terrible and dreadful: his judgment and his elevation shall come forth from himself,
He terrible and dreadful: his judgment and his elevation shall come forth from himself,
He terrible and dreadful: his judgment and his elevation shall come forth from himself, And his horses were swift above panthers, and they were sharp above the wolves of the evening: and his horsemen were spread, and his horsemen shall come from far off; they shall fly as the eagle hastening to eat
And his horses were swift above panthers, and they were sharp above the wolves of the evening: and his horsemen were spread, and his horsemen shall come from far off; they shall fly as the eagle hastening to eat
And his horses were swift above panthers, and they were sharp above the wolves of the evening: and his horsemen were spread, and his horsemen shall come from far off; they shall fly as the eagle hastening to eat Wholly for violence shall he come: the host of their faces forwards, and he shall gather a captivity as the sand.
Wholly for violence shall he come: the host of their faces forwards, and he shall gather a captivity as the sand.
Wholly for violence shall he come: the host of their faces forwards, and he shall gather a captivity as the sand. And he shall scoff at kings, and princes a derision to him: at every fortress he shall deride, and he shall heap up dust and take it
And he shall scoff at kings, and princes a derision to him: at every fortress he shall deride, and he shall heap up dust and take it
And he shall scoff at kings, and princes a derision to him: at every fortress he shall deride, and he shall heap up dust and take it Then the spirit changed, and he will pass over, and he transgressed: this his strength is his God.
Then the spirit changed, and he will pass over, and he transgressed: this his strength is his God.
Then the spirit changed, and he will pass over, and he transgressed: this his strength is his God. Art thou not from of old, O Jehovah, my holy God? We shall not die. O Jehovah, thou didst set him for judgment; and O Rock, thou didst found him for correction. read more. Being pure of eyes from beholding evil, and wilt not be able to look upon labor: wherefore wilt thou look upon the transgressors? wilt thou be silent in the unjust swallowing the just above him?
Being pure of eyes from beholding evil, and wilt not be able to look upon labor: wherefore wilt thou look upon the transgressors? wilt thou be silent in the unjust swallowing the just above him? And wilt thou make man as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping thing no ruler over him? read more. And he brought up a completion with the book, he will drag him in his net, and he will gather him in his fishnet: for this he will rejoice and be glad. For this he will sacrifice to his net and burn incense to his fish-net; for by them his portion fat and his food. growing fat For this, will he empty his net; and he will not spare to slay the nations continually.
For this, will he empty his net; and he will not spare to slay the nations continually.
I will stand upon my watch, and be set me upon the fortress, and I will watch to see what he will speak in me, and what I shall turn back upon my reproof. And Jehovah will answer me and say, Write the vision, and grave upon the tablets, so that he shall run reading in it read more. For yet the vision for the appointment, and it shall breathe to the end, and it shall not lie: if it shall delay, wait for it; for coming, it will come; and it shall not delay. Behold, his soul being inflated in him, was not straight: and the just one shall live by his faithfulness.
Behold, his soul being inflated in him, was not straight: and the just one shall live by his faithfulness. And also if a proud man transgressing by wine, and he will not rest; who enlarged his soul as hades, and he as death, and he will not be satisfied, and he will gather to him all nations, and he will collect to him all peoples.
And also if a proud man transgressing by wine, and he will not rest; who enlarged his soul as hades, and he as death, and he will not be satisfied, and he will gather to him all nations, and he will collect to him all peoples. Shall not these all of them lift up a parable against him, and an enigma of an oracle against him, and it shall be said, Wo! to him multiplying that not to him. how long making heavy upon him goods taken in pledge? read more. Shall they not rise up suddenly, biting thee? and they disquieting thee shall rise up, and thou wert for plunder to them. For thou didst spoil many nations, all the rest of the peoples shall spoil thee; from the bloods of man, and the violence of the land, of the city, and all dwelling in it. Wo! to him plundering an evil plunder to his house, to set his nest on high, to deliver from the hand of evil. Thou wilt counsel shame to thy house, cutting off many peoples, and causing thy soul to sin. For the stone from the wall shall cry out, and the cross-beam from the wood shall answer it. Wo! to him building a city with bloods, and preparing a city by iniquity. Behold, is it not from Jehovah of armies, and the peoples shall labor in a sufficiency of fire, and the peoples shall be wearied in a sufficiency of emptiness? For the earth shall be filled to know the glory of Jehovah as the waters shall cover over the sea? Wo! to him giving his neighbor drink, pouring out thy leathern bottle, and also to be drunken so as to look upon their nakedness. Thou wert satisfied with dishonor rather than honor: drink thou also and be uncircumcised: the cup of the right hand of Jehovah shall turn upon thee, and ignominy upon thy glory. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of beasts shall terrify them from the bloods of man, and the violence of the earth, of the city, and all dwelling in it.
For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of beasts shall terrify them from the bloods of man, and the violence of the earth, of the city, and all dwelling in it. What profited the carved image that he forming it carved it? the molten image and he teaching falsehood, that the former of his forming trusted upon it to make nothings being dumb? read more. Wo! to him saying to the wood, Awake; and to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach. Being overlaid with gold and silver, and not any spirit in its midst. And Jehovah in his holy temple: be silent all the earth before his face.
Morish
Nothing is said of the prophet's ancestors, nor as to when he prophesied. He is generally placed in the time of Josiah or a little later: it was before the captivity of Judah, for that is foretold.
Hab. 1. The prophet exhibits the exercise of a heart full of sympathy towards the people of God. The evil among them greatly distressed him, and he cried mightily unto God. In Hab 1:5-11 is God's answer. He will raise up the Chaldeans, a "bitter and hasty nation," to punish them. The character and violence of the Chaldeans are described.
In the verses from Hab 1:12 to Hab 2:1, the prophet pleads with God not to be unmindful that the Chaldeans were worse than Judah. He will watch for God's answer.
In Hab 2:2-20 is God's reply. The prophet was told to write the vision so plainly that he who read it might run. The vision was for an appointed time, but it hasted to the end. The restless, grasping pride of the Chaldeans God would in due time judge; but meanwhile "the just shall live by his faith." The rapacity of the Babylonian is spoken of, and then woes are pronounced against the oppressor, for his covetousness, his blood-shedding, his debauchery, and his idolatry.
In contrast to all this the announcement is made that "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the bed of the sea." This looks forward to the millennium, passing over the partial return of the people in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The prophet is assured that "The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him." Judgement on the Gentile rulers of God's people will, at the time of the end, immediately precede and lead to the kingdom.
Hab. 3 is a prayer of the prophet. 'Upon Shigionoth,' reads in the margin "according to variable songs or tunes," which signification seems confirmed by the subscription, "To the chief singer on stringed instruments." The prophet realises the presence of God while he reviews His past dealings against Israel's enemies, and sees in them the pledge of the future salvation. At the close, while faith has to wait for the blessing he rejoices in God, saying, "I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places."
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See ye among the nations, and look, and wonder; ye shall wonder: for the working a work in your days ye will not believe if it shall be recounted. For behold me raising up the Chaldeans, the nation bitter and hasty, going upon the wide places of the land to possess the dwelling not to him. read more. He terrible and dreadful: his judgment and his elevation shall come forth from himself, And his horses were swift above panthers, and they were sharp above the wolves of the evening: and his horsemen were spread, and his horsemen shall come from far off; they shall fly as the eagle hastening to eat Wholly for violence shall he come: the host of their faces forwards, and he shall gather a captivity as the sand. And he shall scoff at kings, and princes a derision to him: at every fortress he shall deride, and he shall heap up dust and take it Then the spirit changed, and he will pass over, and he transgressed: this his strength is his God. Art thou not from of old, O Jehovah, my holy God? We shall not die. O Jehovah, thou didst set him for judgment; and O Rock, thou didst found him for correction.
I will stand upon my watch, and be set me upon the fortress, and I will watch to see what he will speak in me, and what I shall turn back upon my reproof. And Jehovah will answer me and say, Write the vision, and grave upon the tablets, so that he shall run reading in it read more. For yet the vision for the appointment, and it shall breathe to the end, and it shall not lie: if it shall delay, wait for it; for coming, it will come; and it shall not delay. Behold, his soul being inflated in him, was not straight: and the just one shall live by his faithfulness. And also if a proud man transgressing by wine, and he will not rest; who enlarged his soul as hades, and he as death, and he will not be satisfied, and he will gather to him all nations, and he will collect to him all peoples. Shall not these all of them lift up a parable against him, and an enigma of an oracle against him, and it shall be said, Wo! to him multiplying that not to him. how long making heavy upon him goods taken in pledge? Shall they not rise up suddenly, biting thee? and they disquieting thee shall rise up, and thou wert for plunder to them. For thou didst spoil many nations, all the rest of the peoples shall spoil thee; from the bloods of man, and the violence of the land, of the city, and all dwelling in it. Wo! to him plundering an evil plunder to his house, to set his nest on high, to deliver from the hand of evil. Thou wilt counsel shame to thy house, cutting off many peoples, and causing thy soul to sin. For the stone from the wall shall cry out, and the cross-beam from the wood shall answer it. Wo! to him building a city with bloods, and preparing a city by iniquity. Behold, is it not from Jehovah of armies, and the peoples shall labor in a sufficiency of fire, and the peoples shall be wearied in a sufficiency of emptiness? For the earth shall be filled to know the glory of Jehovah as the waters shall cover over the sea? Wo! to him giving his neighbor drink, pouring out thy leathern bottle, and also to be drunken so as to look upon their nakedness. Thou wert satisfied with dishonor rather than honor: drink thou also and be uncircumcised: the cup of the right hand of Jehovah shall turn upon thee, and ignominy upon thy glory. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of beasts shall terrify them from the bloods of man, and the violence of the earth, of the city, and all dwelling in it. What profited the carved image that he forming it carved it? the molten image and he teaching falsehood, that the former of his forming trusted upon it to make nothings being dumb? Wo! to him saying to the wood, Awake; and to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach. Being overlaid with gold and silver, and not any spirit in its midst. And Jehovah in his holy temple: be silent all the earth before his face.
Watsons
HABAKKUK, the author of the prophecy bearing his name, Hab 1:1, &c. Nothing is certainly known concerning the tribe or birth place of Habakkuk. He is said to have prophesied about B.C. 605, and to have been alive at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. It is generally believed that he remained and died in Judea. The principal predictions contained in this book are, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the Jews by the Chaldeans or Babylonians; their deliverance from the oppressor "at the appointed time;" and the total ruin of the Babylonian empire. The promise of the Messiah is confirmed; the overruling providence of God is asserted; and the concluding prayer, or rather hymn, recounts the wonders which God had wrought for his people, when he led them from Egypt into Canaan, and expresses the most perfect confidence in the fulfilment of his promises. The style of Habakkuk is highly poetical, and the hymn in the third chapter is perhaps unrivalled for sublimity, simplicity, and power.