Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 6 April 2025
Omitting greyed-out text should bring spoken delivery time down closer to 40 minutes.
Read
passage from my translation:, starting at v.5
Look among the
nations, y’all, and view and be amazed! Wonder, for I am
accomplishing an accomplishment during y’all’s days; y’all
will not believe when it is recorded. Indeed, look at me raising up
the Chaldeans, the fierce and fast-moving nation, the one that
marches toward roomy-places of the earth to take possession of
dwellings that don’t belong to it. It is awesome and feared. Its
justice and its excellence go forth from itself. Its horses are more
fleet than leopards and more keen than evening wolves; its horsemen
are also raring-to-go. Indeed, its horsemen come from afar; they
swoop like an eagle rushing to devour. Every one comes for violence,
the mass of their faces eastward, and gathers captives in quantity
like the sand. As for him, he mocks at their kings, and rulers are a
laughingstock for him. And as for him, he laughs at every fortress
and heaps up dirt and takes it over. Then the wind changes and he
passes over, yet he is guilty whose own strength has become his god.
In the first verses of Habakkuk, the prophet talks to God about his struggle to trust God during a long stretch of time in which evil has gone unchecked. He cries, “How long, O LORD?” In the verses we will look at now, God answers in three ways:
First, to answer the “How long” by saying, “No longer,” in verse 5, “I’ve already been working on this issue. I have not been ignoring the problem; you just haven’t noticed what I have been doing.”
Using the same Greek verb used to translate Habakkuk’s word for “doing/working,” Jesus also said in John 5:17 “...My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” God is at work!
He is not an absent-minded, inattentive Old-Man-In-The Sky; He is the energetically-alert (1 Cor. 12:6), never-sleeping (Psalm 121:4), cosmic Good Shepherd (John 10:14), who is diligently at work.
Secondly, in verses 6-11, God informs Habakkuk of the means by which He is going to bring justice to bear upon the hopelessly corrupt wickedness in the land: it will be through a powerful and ruthless foreign army invasion.
And finally in v. 11, in case there is any question whether God’s plan for justice was comprehensive enough, God promises to hold that foreign nation accountable once they have brought His justice to bear upon the Jews.
Let’s step into each of these three points:
In the first couple of verses, we see that Habakkuk was looking around him at the violence and wickedness in his own community and also looking to God in prayer about it. But apparently, he was not looking at the nations – at the big picture, and that’s part of why He missed the fact that God had already been answering his prayer before he prayed it.
Don’t get me wrong; it is good to pay attention to what’s going on in your own community, and it is good to look to God in prayer; you will not have a healthy spiritual and family and church life if you don’t, but Habakkuk also had to be commanded to “look at the heathen/ nations.” Caring about what God is doing (or not doing) in other nations doesn’t come so naturally to us, but it is also part of a healthy walk with God.
It is important to note that these commands are not just addressed to Habakkuk; In the original Hebrew language, they have plural endings: The first command is, “y’all look/observe/watch among the nations.”
This is addressed to all the people who will listen to Habakkuk1. By extension, this is for you too.
God even said something similar to Jesus in Isaiah 46:6 “...Your being for me a servant to cause to establish the tribes of Jacob and to cause to turn back the preserved of Israel is insubstantial, I will also give you for a light of nations, to be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” (NAW)
Are you looking for the big picture, or is a provincial, myopic view of God’s work leading you to question His existence and care? Some ways to expand your vision are to read missionary biographies off the church library shelf, read missionary newsletters, subscribe to news sources that highlight what God is doing around the world, connect with Helping International Students, or take in seminars on missions at a conference or online or through the Perspectives course.
The next command is “y’all wonder/marvel/be astonished/amazed”
During His passion week when Jesus entered the temple and chased out the moneychangers, it says in Matthew 21:14-15 “Then lame men and blind men approached Him in the temple, and He healed them! [The parallel passage in John 12:20 seems to indicate that the people who approached Him were Greeks, so the people He healed may have been foreigners.] But after seeing these marvelous miracles of healing [and this is the same Greek word used to translate the word “marvel” in Habakkuk 1:5 – the marvels] which He did and the children crying out in the temple saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ the chief priests and the scribes became indignant…” Indignant? That’s the wrong response! “Look among the nations and marvel” at what Jesus is doing, and trust Him and follow Him all the more; don’t become indignant!
When I published an E-zine on missions decades ago, I saw many amazing testimonies of God’s work among the nations. Some of my old acquaintances still keep it up – one being the 30-Days prayer guide folks. If you prayed through it this year these testimonies will be familiar, but here are two of them:
Gulnora was visiting a village in Uzbekistan, Central Asia, “The mullah...[that’s the Muslim preacher at the mosque] heard about my arrival and came towards me on the road. While still far off, he called out: ‘My daughter! You've returned at last! Do you remember that when you were here last time you gave me the New Testament in Uzbek? I am so grateful to you! Now I know every Friday what to read in our mosque, and I have a holy book which shows the way to God in my language. The other books that I have I could not understand, but this one helps me to prepare my sermons and give hope to those who listen!” Look among the nations, marvel and wonder for I am doing a work in your day...
Over in Gaza, an Israeli bomb struck an apartment building, burying Yasmin and her children deep under the rubble for five days without food or drink or light or even room to move. When rescuers finally got to them, they were “covered in dust, with bruises and scratches, but alive. Everybody was in awe. How could they be still alive...? Yasmin beamed…, ‘A man in a shining white gown came a few times to us and brought water and food. I asked him for his name, and the stranger replied, “I am Jesus the Messiah!”’”
If you don’t marvel in adoration of Jesus, you will eventually experience the shock and awe of His judgment instead.
This is the way that the Greek and Aramaic translations of this verse in Habakkuk interpreted it2. Even though it runs a little different from the Hebrew wording, it still expresses Biblical doctrine, as Isaiah and Paul explained:
Isaiah 28:14-21 “...listen to the word of Yahweh, men of scoffing, rulers of this people which is in Jerusalem... I will institute justice for a measuring-line and righteousness for a plumb-line, and hail will sweep away the refuge of a lie... Yahweh will stand up… He will get angry enough to do His work His strange work and to perform His service – His unfamiliar service…” That is, His work of judgment. (NAW)
Isaiah 29:9 & 14 “Pause and be amazed; blind yourselves and be blind; they have gotten drunk, but not through wine, they have tottered, but not through liquor... Therefore, look at me, adding to distinguish this people a distinction and a wonder, and wisdom of its wisemen will perish and the understanding of its understanding men will hide itself.” (NAW)
This whole verse shows up in the new Testament in Acts 13, when the Apostle Paul preached the Gospel in the synagogue at Psidian Antioch, calling Jews in (what is now the country of) Turkey to put their faith in Jesus: “...He whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you: ‘Behold, you despisers3, Marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, A work which you will by no means believe, Though one were to declare it to you.’” (Acts 13:37-41, NKJV)
Here Paul follows the Greek and Aramaic tradition of interpreting Habakkuk 1:5 in terms of hopeless doom upon those who will not believe God’s word. And what God had done in Paul’s day that was hard-to-believe was that He had sent His Son to take on flesh and suffer for our sins and die and then be resurrected so that everyone who trusts Him to save them from their sins will be saved.
But Paul isn’t the only one who quoted Habakkuk here. If I am correct in thinking that the Sons of Korah who wrote Psalm 44 led worship during the Reconstruction period in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, then they too borrowed from Habbakkuk’s words here in v. 5. (I know that folks debate over who the Sons of Korah were, but notice the correlation:)
Psalm 44:1-2 “O God, we've heard with our own ears; our fathers told/recounted for us the accomplishment You accomplished in their days - in the early days. It was You – Your hand – that disinherited nations. Instead You planted them [that is, the children of Israel]. You caused calamity to the peoples but them you released.” (NAW)
Psalm 44 is the sons of Korah remembering the history of the miracles God did in the process of establishing the children of Israel in the Promised Land. They are saying they won’t be like the unfaithful Jews of Habakkuk’s day who wouldn’t believe what was recorded/told to them about God’s wrath against sin and God’s salvation.
You see, there are two ways to respond to God’s word – that is, to the Holy Bible.
You can disbelieve it, like the rank and file of Jews did to Habakkuk (and the synagogue Jews did to Paul4) and suffer the wrath of God, or you can look in wonder at what God is doing among the nations, like Habakkuk and Paul and the Sons of Korah did, and repent of sin, trust in the Lord’s salvation, and walk with God in blessing.
So, in answer to Habbakuk’s fear that maybe God wasn’t going to implement justice in a timely way, God says, “I’m already on it!” Then in verses 6-11, God reveals how He’s going to do it.
In v.6 God introduces the Chaldeans.
This is an ethnic title for a people who lived in Mesopotamia, that is between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now southern Iraq.
Genesis 11:28 says that Abraham’s father Terah, lived in “Ur of the Chaldeans5,”
The NIV calls them “Babylonians,” which is a different Hebrew word, but Babylon did become the capitol city of their empire. Babylon was about 250 miles SouthEast of Nineveh6.
As the Chaldeans/Babylonians conquered and accumulated more and more ethnic groups into its empire, the Chaldeans maintained political superiority, and the book of Daniel, in particular, mentions them running the politics of the empire.7
The Chaldeans may have thought they raised themselves up to greatness among the nations of the world, but God says He is the one who “raised” them up, and because this is the answer to Habakkuk’s question (“How long [must I suffer under the injustice of corrupt government here in Jerusalem]?”), God’s purpose is revealed in “raising up... this nation;” it was raised up to punish the wicked in Jerusalem. (Now, for what it’s worth, God often accomplishes more than one thing at a time in what He does, but this is the one purpose highlighted at the outset of Habakkuk.)
And, appropriate to the task of inspiring awe and bringing justice, God made this people group “fierce/bitter/ruthless and hasty/fast-moving.” It’s a little unclear whether the latter trait was intended to denote physical speed or emotional “impetuousness,” but they seemed to have both.
Their attack on the invincible city of Nineveh and then their attack on all the allied nations south and west of them at the battle of Carchemish, were incredibly aggressive,
and the fact that they actually won both of those wars, against all odds, really is impressive.
Around 380 AD, Jerome noted that “almost all the Greeks who had written histories of the barbarians witnessed” of the “might and warlike boldness” of the Chaldeans. (Pusey)
“God thus intimates that he can employ the vices of men in executing his judgments… yet God is not implicated in their wickedness...” ~Calvin
The Chaldeans were also an empire-building nation, sending its army into all the surrounding nations to conquer them and claim their cities and farmland as their “possession.”
Once again, it is God Who is orchestrating this.
He was the one who had brought the Israelites into the Promised Land to “dispossess” the “seven [Canaanite] nations” (Deut. 7:1) whose “iniquity was... complete” (Gen. 15:16),
but He had warned the Israelites that
"...if your heart turns away so that you do not heed... [my] commandments... and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them… you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.” (Deut. 30:16-18, NKJV)
Deuteronomy 28:45-52 "...The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift8 as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand9, a nation of fierce10 countenance… They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land…” (NKJV)
Leviticus 26:27-33 “If y'all don't give heed to me... and y'all keep walking defiantly in relation to me, then I will walk with furious defiance in relation to you... And I myself will cause the land to be desolate, and y'all's enemies who settle11 in it will wreak desolation upon it. And it is y'all that I will scatter into the nations…” (NAW)
God is telling Habakkuk that the time has come to do just this. The Chaldeans will march in and be the next possessors of the land. This is God executing justice.
And history bears out the fact that this is exactly what happened. 2 Kings 24:2-4 “...the LORD sent against him [that is, against King Jehoiakim of Judah] raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken by His servants the prophets [like Habakkuk and Jeremiah]. Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed..." (NKJV)
They have their own idea of what right and wrong is, and their own idea of where greatness and dignity come from12. “The dignity is real but faulty, as being held independently of God.” ~ E. B. Pusey, 1880 AD
The phrase “of/from itself” is emphasized in the Hebrew text here.
Unfortunately, most English translations change the Hebrew pronouns from singular to plural, but Habakkuk is still talking about the singular Chaldean nation.
This is in contrast with the way things should be, which as Rom. 11:36 put it, “[From] Him [the Lord] and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.” (NKJV)
But God is using the self-centeredness of the wicked for the punishment of His people. The Chaldean nation is self-sufficient – doesn’t care what anybody else things, since it is the new world power, and that’s part of what’s so terrifying about them. That was God’s judgment upon His people who would not uphold His justice and majesty.
Jeremiah 39:1-9 describes the “dreadfulness” of Chaldean “justice”: “In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month [so 25-50 years after Habakkuk’s prophecy], Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month [so after a year-and-a-half], the city was penetrated. Then all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate... And when they had captured [Zedekiah], they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon. And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people… Then... carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people…” (NKJV) That’s justice, Chaldean-style – truly barbaric and horrific, but it shows that God takes unrepentant rebellion against Him very seriously.
Many of these words used to translate into the Greek language, Habbakuk’s Hebrew words describing God’s judgment, are also used in the New Testament especially13 to describe God’s judgment, for instance Hebrews 10:26-31 “For, if we keep sinning willingly after receiving the full-knowledge of the truth, a sacrifice for sins is no longer left [available]; instead there is a certain fearsome receiving of judgment and an intensity of fire about to devour those in opposition... For we know the One who said, ‘Vengeance belongs to me; I myself will render payback’ ... To fall into the hands of the Living God is fearsome!” (NAW)
First, the horses are described as “more fleet/swift than leopards14 and more fierce/keen than evening wolves (at dusk).”
comporting with the prophecy made at the same time in Jeremiah 5:6 “...A wolf of the deserts shall destroy them; A leopard will watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, Because their transgressions are many; Their backslidings have increased." (NKJV, cf. Hosea 13:7)
Then the Chaldean horsemen are described in v.8 with a rare Hebrew word which could mean “raring-to-go/spreading themselves out/galloping headlong/pressing proudly on” and to this, Habbakuk adds the more-familiar metaphor of an “eagle” “flying” in to attack,
a metaphor which Jeremiah also used: ‘...His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered! … Our pursuers were swifter Than the eagles of the heavens…” (Jer. 4:13, NKJV, Cf. Lam. 4:19, Ezek. 17:3, Dan. 7:4)
Because of their speed and endurance, the Chaldeans could strike from “distant” army bases, capitalizing on the element of surprise and leaving no time for defensive preparations. It was foolish for the political leaders of Jerusalem to think they could hold out against such an army.
They were not stopping-by peacefully for tea and crumpets; they were out to wreak havoc.
The bird of prey doesn’t think, “Oh that poor animal looks so weak and sick, I shouldn’t pick on him.” No! That’s the one he will eat.
But this is God’s specific answer to Habakkuk’s plea in verse 2 to stop the “violence” in Israel. God uses the same word for “violence” here in verse 9 to say, “I am going to stop the “violence” of Jerusalem with the “violence” of Babylon.
There is some debate about what the middle of verse 9 means,
because there are no prepositions such as “to/from/like/as” in the original Hebrew,
and because the Hebrew word for “east” is also the name of a hot, dry wind-current that comes toward Israel from the East, so English versions vary.
I would argue that all the other times in the Bible that this word is spelled this way15, all the standard English Bibles always translate it “East,” so it seems inconsistent for some of them to translate it as the “wind” in this one instance, but, either way it is translated, it still makes sense:
the Chaldean army will not bring comfort; they will bring famine to Israel, like a blistering wind from the desert (Jer. 4:11),
and we know that Nebuchadnezzar attacked Judea from the West, starting from a base near the Mediterranean coast and moving in an eastward direction, so his soldiers would have been facing East when they came upon Jerusalem.
The power of their movement is underscored by what a vast number of captives16 they were capable of rounding up.
We’ll see another reference to this in chapter 2 verse 5.
We know from history that the Chaldean policy was to take into captivity the populations of cities they captured and re-locate them back in their capitol city of Babylon.
The repeated words for “mock/scoff/deride” and “laugh” all denote that the enemies are having fun. They’ve got a system down for capturing fortified cities, so it isn’t all that hard for them, and they are just finding it entertaining.
Jeremiah and Ezekiel also mention the Chaldean army’s systematic use of siege mounds to conquer fortified cities17.
They would cart load after load of dirt up to the outer wall of the city until they had build an earthen ramp that could be used to run right over the wall into the city.
Their cavalier attitude towards the weighty matters of “kings... and princes/rulers” and their people adds-to how frightening these Chaldeans are as an enemy.
Like a cat that maims a bird with a minimum of effort and then amuses itself with the bird’s pathetic attempts to escape while in mortal agony, they will be impervious to the grief and heartache of their victims.
This was God’s judgment against wickedly-cruel Jews who knew what God had said about right and wrong, yet had utterly rebelled against God.
The prophet Ezekiel made it personal: Ezekiel 22:4-6 “...I [the LORD] have made you [Jerusalem] a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; your name is defiled; you are full of tumult. Behold, the princes18 of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood.” (NKJV)
So God’s answer to Habakkuk’s cry, “How long?” is answered by God saying He was already working on a solution and that it would involve an invasion from Babylon, but to round things out, God hints, in v.11, at the fact that the bigger picture of justice will also include holding the Chaldeans accountable, in turn, for their injustices.
Suddenly all that scary language about the powerful movement of the Chaldeans in the previous verses changes in tone.
It starts sounding like instability – a “change” of the “wind” (or a “change” of “mind;” the Hebrew word can mean either “spirit” or “wind”) and the Chaldean threat apparently “passes by19.” God’s chastisement of His people will not last forever. (Cf. Isa. 28:28, 57:16)
It starts sounding like blasphemy – “his strength is his god20.”
Sounds exactly like what the Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar said in Daniel 4:30 "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power21 and for the honor of my majesty?" (NKJV) This was the same king that make a 90-foot-tall statue of himself and made everybody bow down to it.
God will not tolerate any other god placed before Him, so he humbled Nebuchadnezzar with insanity until he acknowledged that Yahweh is the most high God.
V.11 also sounds like evil will be held accountable to justice: “he offends/will be held guilty.” God will bring Babylon’s sins to punishment once He has used them for His purposes with Israel. Jeremiah 2:3 “...All that devour him [Israel] will offend[be guilty]; Disaster will come upon them, says the LORD.” (NKJV)
Now, any “guilt” is a death sentence in God’s system of justice, but Any Israelite who heard that word “asham/guilt” would immediately think of what the Pentateuch says every time it says someone is “guilty” – do you remember what is always in the very next verse? Every time God declares someone guilty for wrongdoing in Genesis through Deuteronomy, the very next thing He says is, “Confess your guilt, sacrifice an animal, and I will pardon you!” For instance, the very first time this verb “to be guilty” occurs in Leviticus 4:13ff “...If they commit one of any of Yahweh's prohibitions which should not be done and thus become guilty... offer a young bull, a son of the herd for a sin-offering… and it will be pardoned for them.” (NAW)
Psalm 34:22 “...all those who take refuge in Him will not bear guilt.” (NAW)
In the New Testament we see that “[W]e have redemption through His [Jesus’] blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Eph. 1:7, NKJV)
John 3:16 “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (NASB)
Habakkuk’s appeal to the dread of coming judgment22 is a last call to repentance intended to create a watershed moment for God’s people: Either they will harden their hearts beyond even the most primal ability to fear God, or they will repent and be saved at the last moment.
The Prophet Joel said this explicitly just before God brought the same judgment down on the northern kingdom of Israel: Joel 2:11-13 “The LORD utters His voice before His army; Surely His camp is very great, For strong is he who carries out His word. The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it? ‘Yet even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not [just] your garments.’ Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.” (NASB)
God is just, He will correct injustice. Look among the nations and wonder at His works, keep repenting of your rebellion against Him, and keep trusting in Jesus to give you mercy instead of justice.
DouayB (Vulgate) |
LXXC |
BrentonD (Vaticanus) |
KJVE |
NAW |
Masoretic HebrewF |
5
Behold ye among the nations, and see:
wonder,
and be astonished: for a work is
done in your days, [which]
no |
5
ἴδετε, οἱ |
5
Behold, ye |
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. |
5 Look among the nations, y’all, and view and be amazed! Wonder, for I am accomplishing an accomplishment during y’all’s days; y’all will not believe when it is recorded. |
(ה) רְאוּ בַגּוֹיִםQ וְהַבִּיטוּ וְהִתַּמְּהוּR תְּמָהוּ כִּי פֹעַלS פֹּעֵל בִּימֵיכֶם Tלֹא תַאֲמִינוּ כִּי יְסֻפָּרU. |
6
For behold,
I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter
and swift
nation,
marching
|
6
διότι ἰδοὺ [ἐγὼ]
ἐξεγείρω [ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶςW]
τοὺς Χαλδαίους [τοὺς
μαχητάςX],
τὸ ἔθνος τὸ πικρὸν
καὶ τὸ ταχινὸν
τὸ πορευόμενον
|
6 Wherefore, behold, I stir up the Chaldeans, the bitter and hasty nation, that walks upon the breadthX of the earth, to inherit tabernacles not his own. |
6
For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that
bitter
and hasty
nation, which shall march through the breadthX
of the land, to possess [the]
dwellingplaces
that are
not |
6 Indeed, look at me raising up the Chaldeans, the fierce and fast-moving nation, the one that marches toward roomy-places of the earth to take possession of dwellings that don’t belong to it. |
(ו) כִּי הִנְנִי Zמֵקִים אֶת הַכַּשְׂדִּים הַגּוֹי הַמַּר וְהַנִּמְהָרAA הַהוֹלֵךְ לְמֶרְחֲבֵיAB אֶרֶץ לָרֶשֶׁת מִשְׁכָּנוֹת לֹּא לוֹ. |
7
AC |
7 φοβερὸςAD καὶ ἐπιφανής ἐστιν, ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸ κρίμα αὐτοῦ ἔσται, καὶ τὸ λῆμμα αὐτοῦ [ἐξ αὐτοῦAE] ἐξελεύσεται· |
7 He is terrible and famous; his judgment shall proceed of himself, and his dignity [shall come out of himself]. |
7
|
7 It is awesome and feared. Its justice and its excellence go forth from itself. |
(ז) AFאָיֹם וְנוֹרָא הוּא מִמֶּנּוּ מִשְׁפָּטוֹ וּשְׂאֵתוֹ יֵצֵא. |
8
X |
8
καὶ
ἐξαλοῦνταιAH
ὑπὲρ παρδάλεις οἱ ἵπποι αὐτοῦ
καὶ ὀξύτεροι ὑπὲρ
τοὺς λύκους τῆς |
8
And his horses shall [bound]
more swift |
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. |
8 Its horses are more fleet than leopards and more keen than evening wolves; its horsemen are also raring-to-go. Indeed, its horsemen come from afar; they swoop like an eagle rushing to devour. |
(ח) וְקַלּוּAM מִנְּמֵרִיםAN סוּסָיו וְחַדּוּAO מִזְּאֵבֵיAP עֶרֶב וּפָשׁוּAQ פָּרָשָׁיו וּפָרָשָׁיו מֵרָחוֹק יָבֹאוּAR יָעֻפוּ כְּנֶשֶׁר חָשׁ לֶאֱכוֹל. |
9
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
9 Every one comes for violence, the mass of their faces eastward, and gathers captives in quantity like the sand. |
(ט)כֻּלֹּה לְחָמָס יָבוֹאAX מְגַמַּתAY פְּנֵיהֶם קָדִימָהAZ וַיֶּאֱסֹףBA כַּחוֹל שֶׁבִי. |
10
And [their]
|
10
καὶ αὐτὸς
ἐν βασιλεῦσιν
ἐντρυφήσειBB,
καὶ τύραννοι παίγνιαBC
αὐτοῦ, [καὶ]
αὐτὸς εἰς
πᾶν ὀχύρωμα ἐμπαίξεται
καὶ βαλεῖ |
10
And he shall be
at his ease with kings, and
princes are his toys,
[and]
he shall mock
at every strong-hold, and shall cast a |
10
And |
10 As for him, he mocks at their kings, and rulers are a laughingstock for him. /And\ as for him, he laughs at every fortress and heaps up dirt and takes it over. |
(י) וְהוּא BEבַּמְּלָכִים BFיִתְקַלָּס וְרֹזְנִיםBG מִשְׂחָקBH לוֹ BIהוּא לְכָל מִבְצָר יִשְׂחָק וַיִּצְבֹּרBJ עָפָר וַיִּלְכְּדָהּBK. |
11
Then shall [his]
spirit |
11
τότε μεταβαλεῖ
τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ διελεύσεται καὶ
|
11
Then shall he change
[his]
spirit, and he shall pass through, and |
11
Then shall his
|
11 Then the wind changes and he passes over, yet he is guilty whose own strength has become his god. |
(יא) אָז חָלַף רוּחַBM וַיַּעֲבֹר וְאָשֵׁםBN זוּ כֹחוֹ לֵאלֹהוֹ. |
1Firth missed this in his commentary. Matthew Henry was the only commentator I read who thought it was the nations themselves who were commanded to look, but everyone else took the correct view that the command was to the Jews.
2And
so did Calvin: “[T]here would be a new mode of teaching, which
would overwhelm the unwilling with astonishment… [L]earn now from
the Gentiles what ye have hitherto refused to learn from the holy
mouth of God himself… so as his word has been counted by you
incredible, so also incredible shall be his judgment.”
Pusey,
on the other hand, took an approach more like the one I started out
with, but with a twist: “God bids them look out among [the
nations] for the instrument of His displeasure… Deut. 32:21 ‘I
will move them to jealousy with not-a-people…’” (Cf. Keil
“Look among the nations, for it is thence that the terrible storm
will burst...”)
3The Hebrew manuscripts read “among the nations,” but Paul follows the Greek and Aramaic manuscripts which read “despisers/insolent.”
4Not to mention Jeremiah (5:12), Isaiah (53:1), etc.
5The Hebrew word for Chaldean is pronounced Kesediym, and Keil asserted they were descendants of Abraham’s nephew Kesed (Gen. 22:22).
6https://bible-history.com/old-testament/distance-from-babylon
7Daniel 2:10; 3:8, 4:7, 5:7, 11
8The Hebrew word here (דּאה) is somewhat synonymous to Habakkuk’s word נמהר.
9cf. Jer. 5:15 “Behold, I will bring a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel," says the LORD. "It is a mighty nation, It is an ancient nation, A nation whose language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say." (NKJV)
10The Hebrew word here (עז) is a synonym to the one Habakkuk uses – מר.
11The Hebrew word here (הישׁבים) is fairly synonymous with Habakkuk’s word משכנות.
12Lehrman called it “autocratic arrogance” and quoted Sferno as saying, “They will acknowledge no superior wisdom to which they should defer.”
13The only GNT instances of the LXX words in Hab. 1:7 are: φοβερος - Heb. 10:27, 31; 12:21, ἐπιφανῆ - Acts 2:20. Likewise, with only one exception each, the Greek words for “horse” and “sharp/swift” in the LXX of v.8 only occur in the GNT in judgment scenes in the book of Revelation.
14Pusey and Keil translated “panthers,” which might have been better-known where they lived in England and Germany. The cheetah, also in the leopard family, is the fastest land animal. Modern Hebrew has a different word for “panther” (פנתר) and for “cheetah” (ברדלס).
15That is, with a he (directional) suffix, namely Ezek. 11:1; 45:7; 47:1, 18; 48:3, 8, 18, 21, 23-26, and 32. See Endnotes for further commentary.
16All the other instances of this phrase “like sand” in the HOT (Gen. 41:49, Jos. 11:4; Jdg. 7:12; 1 Sam. 13:5; 2 Sam. 17:11; 1 Ki. 4:20; 5:9; Isa. 48:19, cf. Rev. 20:8) imply “numerousness” rather than a reference to the way sand acts.
17Jeremiah
32:24 “Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to
take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans
who fight against it, because of the sword and famine and
pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it!"
(NKJV)
Ezekiel 26:8 “He will slay with the sword your
[Tyre’s] daughter villages in the fields; he will heap up a siege
mound against you, build a wall against you, and raise a defense
against you." (NKJV)
18Ezekiel used a synonym (נְשִׂיאֵי) to the word Habakkuk used for “princes” (רֹזְנִים).
19Some commentators (Calvin, Pusey) suggested that this is a word picture of a river of Chaldean soldiers overflowing a valley, but Keil argued that this verb would never be used to describe the overflow of water.
20Keil: “he offends by deifying his own power.” The last book gives us a picture of strength properly attributed: Revelation 7:12 “...Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” (NKJV)
21 תְקַף חִסְנִי an Aramaic synonymous phrase to Habakkuk’s כח.
22cf. Calvin on v. 6 “[H]e intended to terrify the Jews who had heedlessly despised all [previous] threatenings.”
AMy
original chart includes the following copyrighted English versions:
NASB, NIV, ESV, Bauscher’s version of the Peshitta, and Cathcart’s
version of the Targums, but I remove these columns from my public,
non-copyrighted edition of this chart so as not to infringe on their
copyrights. NAW is my translation. When a translation adds words not
in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use
of italics or greyed-out text, I put the added words in [square
brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different
from all the other translations, I underline it. When a
version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs
too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far
from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout.
And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I
insert an X. I also place an X at the end of a word if the original
word is plural but the English translation is singular. I
occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between
the various editions and versions when there are more than two
different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea
Scrolls containing Habakkuk 1 are the Nahal Hever Greek
scroll (containing parts of vs. 5-11 & 14-17 and dated around
25BC), the Wadi Muraba’at Scroll (containing parts of verses 3-15
and dated around 135 AD), and 1QpHab (containing vs.2-17 with
commentary and dated between 50-100 BC). Where the DSS is legible
and in agreement with the MT, the MT is colored purple.
Where the DSS supports the LXX/Vulgate/Peshitta with omissions or
text not in the MT, I have highlighted
with yellow the LXX
and its translation into English, and where I have accepted that
into my NAW translation, I have marked it with {pointed brackets}.
BDouay Old Testament first published by the English College at Douay, A.D. 1609, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword.
C“Septuagint” Greek Old Testament, edited by Alfred Rahlfs. Published in 1935. As published on E-Sword.
DEnglish translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, 1851, “based upon the text of the Vaticanus” but not identical to the Vaticanus. As published electronically by E-Sword.
E1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published electronically by E-Sword.
FFrom
the Wiki Hebrew Bible
https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%94_%D7%90/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA.
DSS text comes from https://downloads.thewaytoyahuweh.com
except 1QpHab, which comes from
http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/habakkuk
and a mostly-accurate transcription and translation by Matt
Christian
https://www.academia.edu/37256916/1QpHab_Transcription_and_Translation
(accessed Aug 2024).
G2nd Century AD Greek translators Aquilla, Symmachus, and Theodotian all followed the MT tradition with “among the gentiles” instead of the LXX and Peshitta and Acts 13 tradition of “despiser(s).” The difference in spelling is only one letter in Hebrew.
HPaul omits this word in his Acts 31 quote of Habakkuk.
IThis is the first legible word in the Nahal Hever Dead Sea Scroll for Habakkuk. The next four words in the LXX are not in N.H. One of those words is in the MT and in Paul’s quote of this passage in Acts 13. The LXX appears to have given two translations for one word.
JThis added phrase appears to be an alternate translation of the previous word. It is not in any of the other Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic texts.
KThe emphatic “I” is not in the MT, or in N.H., or in Symmachus’ version, but it is in Paul’s quote of this verse in Acts 13, and it doesn’t harm the general meaning. Symmachus spelled the next verb in the future tense (“I will do”) instead of the LXX’s present tense (“I myself am doing”).
LAlthough not in the Hebrew, it is in Paul’s quote of it in Acts 13, and many GNT manuscripts, including the oldest-known ones even add the word “works,” although that extra word did not make it into the traditional Byzantine GNT.
MActs 13:41 also includes this word in Paul’s quote of Habakkuk.
NLXX, like the Peshitta and Targums, reads with an active verb and with an explicit subject instead of the passive reading of the MT and N.H. (-θη). It doesn’t change the basic meaning, though.
OThis relative pronoun is not in the N.H. or the M.T., but doesn’t harm the meaning.
PThis is just Brenton’s addition to the English text for readability. It is not in the LXX or 2nd Century Greek texts, but it is in Paul’s quote of this verse in Acts 13, and it is in all the Syriac texts.
QDSS (Wadi Murabba'at), Vulgate and Targums agree with the MT (“among the nations”), but LXX, Peshitta, and Acts 13:41 read (“insolent/despisers”) as though the vav in the middle of the word were a daleth, which looks similar.
RAlso of Jerusalem in Isa. 29:9 & Jer. 4:9, then of Babylon in Isa. 13:8 (only other occurrences of this verb in HOT are Gen. 43:33; Job 26:11; Ps. 48:6; Eccl. 5:7; & Jer. 4:9). Hab. 1:5, however, is the only occurrence in the Hitpael instead of Qal stem. “The double expression reflects the extreme evil that Nebuchadnezzar is destined to inflict…” ~Lehrman, quoting Kimchi. Owen commented on Calvin’s translation “And wonder ye, wonder”: “This is the proper rendering… the two verbs here are in the imperative mood.” He cites Parkhurst and Drusius in support. The Westminster and OSHB morphologies definitely confirm that this is two imperatives, not an emphatic verb chain with an infinitive or participle as the KJV and NIV render it. Cf. Pusey: “The word is doubled to express how amazement should follow upon amazement…” Keil: “and be amazed, amazed!”
SLXX & Peshitta add the pronoun “I,” which makes the unstated subject of the participle “working” more explicit, but there is no such pronoun in the MT, DSS (Nahal Hever), Targums, or Vulgate. Cf. same word in 3:2, where Habakkuk prays for God to do that “deed.”
TAlthough both DSS support the MT without a conjunction, the LXX, Peshitta, Vulgate, and Targums all read as though they saw a conjunction here.
UAlthough LXX, Peshitta, and Targums render this verb actively, the passive form in the MT is supported by the DSS (1QpHab). Furthermore, this is not the verb for “speaking,” but rather of “writing/making a record.”
VThe Latin word is sua (“his”) – which is more accurate to the MT.
WNot in DSS (Nahal Hever), Vaticanus, MT, or other ancient versions.
X“The warriors,” an alternate translation of the word for “Chaldeans” (The LXX often inserted a second, alternate translation of a word when its meaning was in doubt.) Not in DSS (Nahal Hever), Vaticanus, MT, or other ancient versions.
YN.H. is partially obliterated, but appears to be the preposition εις (“into”), a better translation of the Hebrew lamed preposition than the LXX “upon.”
ZKeil claimed that “[hinneh] before the participle always refers to the future,” but I’m not so sure.
AAIt may be debated whether this word is intended to mean physical speed/swiftness or emotional hastiness/impetuousness. The Vulgate, LXX, and Targums seem to support the former, whereas the modern English versions seem to support the latter.
ABRelatively-rare word denoting “spaciousness/room/openness/freedom,” also found in 2 Sam. 22:20; Ps. 18:20; 31:9; 118:5; and Hos. 4:16. It is plural and construct here, but KJV & ESV change to singular “breadth.” NIV changes it to a different word altogether (“whole”), and NASB drops it out completely. I like Calvin’s translation: “latitudes.”
ACDouay chose to pluralize the pronouns in this verse when he translated it into English, but the Latin pronouns are all singular like the Hebrew pronouns are.
ADN.H. translates this word with the synonym θαμβος (“astonishing”).
AELXX repeats “of himself” whereas it is only once in N.H. and Symmachus, as it is in the MT. Since is should be assumed by ellipsis, it makes no difference in meaning.
AFThis
word doesn’t occur anywhere else in the HOT but here and Canticles
6:4-7, where it is used to describe a beloved woman by comparison
with “bannered ones.” Most versions render “awesome/majestic
as [an army with] banners.”
The transcriber I used as my
source for 1QpHab began here to make transcription errors which
persist throughout the rest of the transcription. I have had to
correct these errors by comparison to a photograph of the scroll at
http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/habakkuk
to confirm the text of this manuscript over against the
transcription.
AGThese pronouns are singular in the Latin, as they are in the Greek and Hebrew.
AHNahal Hever reads with the synonym κουφ- (“to be light/swift”), which is closer to the meaning of the MT.
AIN.H. reads with the synonym ορμη- (“gallop/rush”), and Symmachus with the synonym εκχυθησονται (“pour out”).
AJN.H. reads like the MT ιππεις αυτου (“their horsemen” – greyed out text is obliterated in the manuscript).
AKNahal Hever reads πωρρ- (“hard”) followed by 24 obliterated character-spaces, which is more space than the LXX reading allows. The LXX omits the verb “coming” which is in the MT, but N.H. has room for that in the lacuna. However, the N.H.’s word “hard” is not as good a translation of the MT as the LXX word “afar.”
ALThe Hebrew word is pronounced ereb, which means “evening,” but the LXX translator rendered it “Arabia,” which sounds similar and probably does no harm to the general meaning. The NET Bible followed the LXX and translated it “desert.” The DSS Nahal Hever, although partially obliterated here, appears to be a translation of the MT textual tradition. The legible part of this word is -ρας, the last three letters of the Greek word for “evening.” Symmachus (εσπερας = “evening”) also translated rather than transliterating the Hebrew. The Latin and Aramaic versions also go with “evening” instead of “southern/Arabian/desert,” so the consensus is strong against the LXX and NET Bible.
AMWadi Mubarrat agrees with the MT spelling, but 1QpHab switches the last two letters of this word. Apparently it does not make a difference in meaning.
AN“Leopards” are also mentioned in Cant. 4:8, Isa. 11:6, Jer. 13:23, 5:6, and Hos. 13:7, the latter two of which are parallel statements to Habakkuk’s.
AOThis word occurs only two other places, Prov. 27:17 and Ezek. 21:14-16, both describing the “sharpness” of a sword, but perhaps this refers to teeth or to hunger pangs here.
APOf the seven occurrences of this Hebrew word for “wolf” in the Bible, two stand alone without an adjective (Isa. 11:6; 65:25), two are paired with the word “טרף/ravening” (Gen. 49:27, Ezek. 22:27), and three are paired with the word “evening” (Hab. 1:8, Jer. 5:6, and Zeph. 3:3). Whether this denotes three different species of wolves or not is hard to tell. It’s hard to imagine how “evening” could be a species designation when all canines are more active in the evening. LXX/AJV/NET “in the Arabian/desert” appears to be an outlier based on a Hebrew homonym. Geneva/NASB (“in the evening”) and NIV/NLT (“at dusk”) opt for a time of day rather than a species description, which could relate the “sharpness” to hunger pangs at the usual time wild dogs go hunting (such was the interpretation of Metsudath David, J. Calvin, M. Henry, E. B. Pusey, C. F. Keil, H. Hailey, etc.).
AQbe spreadVulgate, spread itselfKJV,Henry,Pusey, gallopLXX,Keil,NASB,NIV, flyPeshitta, pressESV, thrustTarg. This word only occurs in three other places in the Hebrew O.T. (Jer. 50:11; Nah. 3:18 – where it is a different stem with a different meaning, and Mal. 3:20), where it is translated “grow up/fat” in the KJV and “leap, frolic, skip, frisk” in the newer versions. 1QpHab has a slightly different reading with conjunctions in different places and the yod’s missing from the endings of the nouns (making the “horsemen” singular “horseman”), but the W.M. supports the MT.
ARThis verb (“come”) is missing from 1QpHab and from the Peshitta and LXX (which turn the earlier noun for “horsemen” in the sentence into a verb “gallop,” so they end up with the same basic meaning). This verb is, however in the N.H. and the W.M.
ASVulgate translates this singular, properly following the MT and LXX. Douay improperly rendered this plural in English. The previous verb, “they come,” however, was properly translated by Douay; it is plural in the Vulgate, despite the fact that it is singular in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
ATNahal Hever (N.H.) reads the synonym αδικιαν (“unrighteousness”), but Symmachus with πλεονεξιαν (“greed”) – which is much closer to the MT’s word.
AUN.H. translated with the same word “face,” but made it singular instead of the LXX plural (“faces”). BHS suggests this meaning could have been derived from מגרת , but the MT word is מגמת.
AVN.H translated this word καυσων (“burning”), and Symmachus translated this word ανεμος καυσων (cf. Targums קִדֻומָא “east wind”), and the Vulgate picked up on that with “burning wind,” followed by the NIV “desert wind.”
AWN.H. reads παντα (greyed-out letter is illegible), followed by Symmachus, matching the MT and other versions.
AXThis verb is rendered plural by the Vulgate and most English versions, but it is singular in the Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic manuscripts.
AYHapex Legomenon, BDB (following Ibn Garah) relates it to the combinative conjunction gam, from whence the NASB and NIV got “horde.” Symmachus translated προσοψις while the Peshitta rendered חזוא – both meaning “appearance.” Rashi, AJV, and NET rendered it “eager/determined.” Newcome, Drusius and KJV render it “supping/slurping up.”
AZEastward (Abarbanel, Dathius, Owen of Thrussington) could be considered “forward” (LXX, NASB, ESV, Keil, Hailey), or the “East wind” (Vulgate, Peshitta, Calvin, Geneva, KJV, Targums, NIV, AJV, NLT) which was hot from blowing off the desert East of Jerusalem. It has a directional he suffix. 1QpHab does not have the suffix, but Wadi Mubarrat does, like the MT. Notably there is no word for “like/as” here in the original. The DSS Habakkuk Commentary explains that they come from the direction of the sea, which would be an easterly direction – from the Levant toward Jerusalem, and Owen of Thrussington noted that the he suffix which appears here is never present when it means the “east wind.”
BABoth verbs in this verse (“he comes… he gathers”) are singular in the MT and DSS, referring to the singular subject “all/each.” The Peshitta and all the English versions make it plural (“they”) instead, presumably because “faces” is plural, but the LXX, Vulgate, and Targums did not take the same liberty. This discrepancy continues into the next verse where again the Hebrew verbs are all singular (“he” rather than “they”).
BB“will enjoy” cf. N.H. and Symmachus ενπαιξει/εται (“will play”) – a synonym used by the LXX later in this verse.
BCThis word in the N.H. is mostly obliterated, but begins with a gamma. If it is the word γελως (“laughter”) – which is the way Symmachus and Aquila translated it into Greek, it would be a good match to the MT.
BDN.H. = συνλημψετ-- (“he will take together”)
BEThe LXX and one of the Targums do not make “kings” definite, but the MT pointing places a definite article there. The DSS, Vulgate, and Peshitta are silent on the matter because Latin doesn’t have articles, and unpointed Hebrew/Aramaic does not keep track of articles when there is a prepositional prefix.
BF1QpHab spells this word in the Piel rather than Hitpael stem, but W.M. spells it Hitpael like the MT does. At any rate, both stems mean pretty much the same thing.
BGRoot meaning is “heavy.” This word only occurs 6 times in the Bible, 5 of which are in parallel with “kings” (as it is here), and once in parallel with “judges.” Whether the office is complementary to a king (as in noblemen and counselors) or synonymous with that of a king might be debated, but the role involves the issuing of statutory law as per Prov. 8:15 (“By me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just.” ~NIV) and would therefore fit within the executive branch of government.
BHHapex Legomenon, but this noun is obviously related to the verb “laugh” used later in this verse.
BI1QpHab, Vaticanus, LXX, and Peshitta all add a conjunction here. (The other two DSS can’t be used to resolve the dispute because they have lacuna here.)
BJRare verb only used 7 times in the HOT, mostly denoting “stockpiling” of something valuable (Gen. 41:35, 49; Job 27:16; Ps. 39:7; Zech. 9:3), but here and Ex. 8:10 (re: dead frogs) denoting the “piling up” of something non-valuable.
BK1QpHab has the 3ms pronoun (ו-) here (as does the LXX), matching the masculine “fortress” instead of the 3fs pronoun found in the MT, W.M., and Vulgate (which doesn’t match gender properly unless the feminine word for “city” were to be assumed).
BLAq. & Sym. = πλημμελησει (“he will sin”) matching the MT and other ancient versions.
BMIt should be noted that, despite the Vulgate and Aramaic versions and KJV, there is no “his” before “spirit.” Furthermore, the feminine “spirit/wind” does not match the masculine verbs “change/sweep by” and “pass over,” so a variety of interpretations has resulted:
LXX, Calvin, Geneva, and Bauscher (the Aramaic seeming to have the same ambiguity as the Hebrew) made “spirit” the direct object (“he will change spirit/take courage”),
meanwhile NASB, NIV, ESV, NET, & NLT, following Ibn Ezra, inserted a comparative (which is not in the original text) to turn it into a prepositional phrase (“like the wind” - Pusey and Keil effectively did the same thing, without adding the comparative word, by saying it is in apposition with the subject “he”),
but Vulgate, Targum (at least Cathcart) turned the verb into a passive (“his spirit will be changed”).
I decided (with Kimchi, Lamsa, AJV, Henry, and KJV “his mind changes”) that since “spirit/wind” could stand in a masculine place and does stand in the subject position, that it should be translated as the subject (“the wind will change”).
BN1QpHab reads ישם זה (“he sets this”) instead of the MT אשם זו (“guilty this”). All the ancient versions go with the MT (the exceptional reading in the LXX “make a guilt offering” is corrected by Aq. and Sym. to “incur guilt”), as does W.M. (the other DSS where at least part of these words are legible).