They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour. All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand.
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Habakkuk 1:7-9 sits inside this longer paragraph.
“Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you. For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour. All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand. Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it. Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.”
Parallel Translations
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They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.
All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand.
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They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
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.
They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
Show all 3 translations
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They are terrible and dreadful; their law and their majesty proceed from themselves.
Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the wolves of the desert; and their horsemen spread themselves; yea, their horsemen come from far, they fly as a vulture that hasteth to devour.
They come all of them for violence; their faces are set eagerly as the east wind; and they gather captives as the sand.
Cross-references (36)
- Jeremiah 4:13 (v8) Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are…
- Jeremiah 39:5-9 (v7) But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. When they had taken him, they brought him up to…
- Zephaniah 3:3 (v8) Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.
- Deuteronomy 28:49 (v8) Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies: a nation whose language you will not…
- Jeremiah 5:6 (v8) Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities.…
Show all 36 cross-references
- Jeremiah 25:9 (v9) behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my…
- Ezekiel 17:3 (v8) and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “A great eagle with great wings and long feathers, full of feathers, which had various colors, came to…
- Hosea 8:1 (v8) “Put the trumpet to your lips! Something like an eagle is over Yahweh’s house, because they have broken my covenant, and rebelled against…
- Genesis 41:49 (v9) Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number.
- Deuteronomy 5:19 (v7) “You shall not steal.
- Deuteronomy 5:27 (v7) Go near, and hear all that Yahweh our God shall say, and tell us all that Yahweh our God tells you; and we will hear it, and do it.”
- Deuteronomy 28:51-52 (v9) They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine,…
- Judges 7:12 (v9) The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels…
- Job 29:18 (v9) Then I said, ‘I will die in my own house, I will count my days as the sand.
- Psalms 139:18 (v9) If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
- Isaiah 5:26-28 (v8) He will lift up a banner to the nations from far away, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come…
- Isaiah 18:7 (v7) In that time, a present will be brought to Yahweh of Armies from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning…
- Isaiah 27:8 (v9) In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.
- Jeremiah 4:7 (v9) A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way. He has gone out from his place, to make your land…
- Jeremiah 4:11 (v9) At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my…
- Jeremiah 5:15-17 (v9) Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a…
- Jeremiah 15:8 (v9) Their widows are increased more than the sand of the seas. I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at…
- Jeremiah 34:22 (v9) Behold, I will command,” says Yahweh, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and burn it with fire. I…
- Jeremiah 52:9-11 (v7) Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment on him. The…
- Jeremiah 52:25-27 (v7) and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in…
- Lamentations 4:19 (v8) Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky. They chased us on the mountains. They set an ambush for us in the wilderness.
- Ezekiel 17:10 (v9) Yes, behold, being planted, will it prosper? Won’t it utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It will wither in the beds where it…
- Ezekiel 17:12 (v8) “Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and…
- Ezekiel 19:12 (v9) But it was plucked up in fury. It was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were broken off…
- Hosea 1:10 (v9) Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that,…
- Hosea 13:15 (v9) Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will…
- Habakkuk 1:6 (v9) For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places…
- Habakkuk 2:5-13 (v9) Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. An arrogant man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and…
- Matthew 24:28 (v8) For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures gather together.
- Luke 17:37 (v8) They, answering, asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the vultures will also be gathered together.”
- Romans 9:27 (v9) Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv7–9 By saying that the Chaldeans would be terrible and…
By saying that the Chaldeans would be terrible and dreadful, he praises not their virtues; but, as I have already reminded you, he shows that they would be prepared to do his service by executing his vengeance: and he so regulated his judgement, that he used their cruelty for a good purpose. Thus we see that the worst of men are in God’s hand, as Satan is, who is their head; and yet that God is not implicated in their wickedness, as some insane men maintain; for they say—That if God governs the world by his providence, he becomes thus the author of sin, and men’s sins are to be ascribed to him. But Scripture teaches us far otherwise,—that the wicked are led here and there by the hidden power of God, and that yet the fault is in them, when they do anything in a deceitful and cruel manner, and that God ever remains just, whatever use he may make of instruments, yea, the very worst.
But when the Prophet adds, that its judgement would be from the nation itself, he means that the Chaldeans would act according to their own will. When any one indeed obeys laws, and willingly submits to them, he will freely allow either judges or umpires in case of a dispute; but he who will have all things done according to his own purpose repudiates all judges. The Prophet therefore means, that the Chaldeans would be their own judges, so that the Jews or others would complain in vain for any wrongs done to them. “They shall be,” he says, “their own judges, and shall execute judgement, for they will not accept any arbitrators.” The word judgement, taken in a good sense, is put here for law (jus); as though he said, “Whatever the Chaldeans will claim for themselves, theirs shall it be; for no one will dare to interfere, and they will not submit to the will of others; but their power shall be for law, and their sword for a tribunal.” We now understand the Prophet’s meaning; and we must ever bear in mind what I have already said,—That God had no participation in these vices; but it was necessary that the stubbornness of an irreclaimable people should be thus corrected, or at least broken down. The Lord in the meantime could use such instruments in such a way as to preserve some moderation in his judgements. It follows—
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 They themselves shall be your judges in this cause,…
They themselves shall be your judges in this cause, and none shall have authority over them to control them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Hab 1:7 They [are] terrible and dreadful: their judgment…
Hab 1:7 They [are] terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
Ver. 7. They are terrible and dreadful] Or horrible, such as were those giants called Emims, Deu 2:10-11 Gen 14:5, and far more formidable than that disputant at Paris, who would needs be styled horribilis Sophista, the horrible Sophister, non minorem eam appellationem ratus (saith Vires) quam Africani aut Asiatici, taking it for as great an honour as to be a conqueror.
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Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves] i.e. They shall do as they list; their lust shall be their law, Pellitur e medio sapientia, vi geritur res. See Psa 12:4-5 Exo 5:2. These Chaldeans will be their own carvers; ministering law according to their own pleasures. The honour also and dignity of this nation (now base and obscure) shall grow up and appear. Ipsa sibi iudicabit, et decretum suum exequetur: vel ex decreto sue exequetur. So Symmachus.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–9 They are terrible and dreadful: to affect the incredulous…
They are terrible and dreadful: to affect the incredulous Jews with greater fear, it is doubled, they are of all nations most terrible; in the fierceness wherewith they assault, and cruelty with which they use their captives. Their judgment, the law they observe, is their own will, and what they please you must submit unto, nor complain of wrong done, forasmuch as they do it.
Their dignity; their authority and superiority, for which you must reverence them; the lordliness of their deportment toward you, or the right they assume to send you captives; all is from themselves, without respect to any other law or rule whatever. How miserable are you like to be, when enslaved to such a barbarous cruelty, and unbounded pride!
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–9 They are terrible and dreadful,.... For the fierceness of…
They are terrible and dreadful,.... For the fierceness of their countenances; the number and valour of their troops; the splendour of their armour; the victories they had obtained, and the cruelty they had exercised; the fame of all which spread terror wherever they came:
their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves; they will not be directed and governed by any laws of God and man, but by their own; they will do according to their will and pleasure, and none will be able to gainsay and resist them; they will hear no reason or argument; their decrees and determinations they make of themselves shall be put into execution, and there will be no opposing their tyrannical measures; they will usurp a power, and take upon them an authority over others of themselves, which all must submit unto; no mercy and pity: no goodness and humanity, are to be expected from such lawless and imperious enemies.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 Their judgment - The law they observe, is their…
Their judgment - The law they observe, is their own will. Their dignity - Their authority is all from themselves, without respect to any other law or rule whatever. 8. The evening wolves - Which with fasting in the day, came out in the evening, fierce and ravenous. Shall spread - All over the land.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Verse 7. Their judgment - shall proceed of themselves.]…
Verse 7. Their judgment - shall proceed of themselves.] By revolting from the Assyrians, they have become a great nation. Thus, their judgment and excellence were the result of their own valour. Other meanings are given to this passage.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v7 Hab 1:7-9. Their judgment, &c., shall proceed of themselves…
Hab 1:7-9. Their judgment, &c., shall proceed of themselves — They will judge themselves of what they shall do, without paying regard to any thing but their own will, and shall have power to put in execution whatever they resolve upon. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards — “Leopards tamed and taught to hunt are, it is said, made use of [in Palestine] for hunting, and seize the prey with surprising agility. When the leopard leaps, he throws himself seventeen or eighteen feet at a time.” — Harmer, 2:438. And are more fierce than the evening wolves — Which, having fasted in the day, were wont to come forth in the evening fierce and ravenous. And their horsemen shall spread themselves — Namely, all over the land; that is, they shall be very numerous. They shall come all for violence — To enrich themselves by making a prey of all. Their faces shall sup up as the east wind — They shall destroy every thing where they march, as the east wind blasts the fruits of the earth. And they shall gather the captivity [or, captives] as the sand — Not only in Judea, but in all the neighbouring countries which they conquer. Houbigant renders the clause, A burning wind goes before them, and gathers captives as the sand. They shall carry desolation, destruction, and fire, everywhere before them. The winds which blew from Arabia the Desert were extremely hot, and very dangerous, not only on account of their own heat, but on account of the dust and sand which they brought with them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv7–9 They are terrible - איום 'âyôm occurs here only…
They are terrible - איום 'âyôm occurs here only and Son 6:4, Son 6:10, compared with the “bannered host,” but the root is common in אימה 'ēymâh.
And dreadful - He describes them, first in themselves, then in act. They are terrible, and strike fear through their very being, their known character, before they put it forth in act.
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Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. - Judgment had gone forth in God’s people wrested Hab 1:4; now shall it go forth against them at the mere will of their master, who shall own no other rule or Lord or source of his power. His own will shall be his only law for himself and others. His elevation is too is, in his own thought, from himself. He is self-sufficing; he holds from no other, neither from God nor man. His “dignity” is self-sustained; His “judgment” is irresponsible, as if there were none Ecc 5:8 higher than he. He has, like all great world-powers, a real dignity and majesty. He infuses awe. The dignity is real but faulty, as being held independently of God. This is a character of antichrist Dan 11:36; 2Th 2:4, a lawless insolence, a lifting up of himself.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Proceed. They admit no authority but their own. (Calmet)…
Proceed. They admit no authority but their own. (Calmet) --- This pride will prove their ruin. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7–9 their judgment and . . . dignity . .…
their judgment and . . . dignity . . . proceed of themselves--that is, they recognize no judge save themselves, and they get for themselves and keep their own "dignity" without needing others' help. It will be vain for the Jews to complain of their tyrannical judgments; for whatever the Chaldeans decree they will do according to their own will, they will not brook anyone attempting to interfere.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v9 9. Their purpose is to rob and to destroy.
9. Their purpose is to rob and to destroy.
For violence — They are without humane feelings; their only object is to do violence.
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Their faces shall sup up as the east wind — R.V., “the set of their faces is forwards”; margin, “the eagerness of their faces is towards the east.” A.V. attempts to get from the original the thought that the Chaldeans will devour everything like the destructive east wind (Hos_13:15); R.V., that their faces are set forward and cannot be turned aside; so also margin R.V. The Hebrew is obscure and the English translations all do more or less violence to it. The original has east, “but as the spectator when reckoning the quarters of the heavens faces the east, it is supposed that eastwards became equivalent to forwards or onwards.” The intention of the prophet is evidently to describe the fierceness of the advance, but it is not unlikely that the text has suffered in transmission. Nowack considers the corruption so hopeless that he does not even attempt a restoration; Marti reads, “They advance in the very face of those who rise up against them”; that is, they are without fear or hesitation. Their captives are “as the sand,” which means numberless. The Assyrian kings frequently boast that they took captives and booty “without number.”
The verbs of Hab_1:10-11 should be rendered, with R.V. in Hab_1:10, as present tenses. Kings and princes are objects of mockery to them, fortresses are taken with the greatest ease.
They shall heap dust [“he heapeth up dust”] — Refers to the casting up of embankments, so that the besiegers may be on a level with the defenders behind the walls (2Sa_20:15; Jer_32:24). This is done quickly, and the city falls.
In Hab_1:11 the translation of A.V. is not impossible, but the context favors R.V.: “Then he shall sweep by as a wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty, even he whose might is his god.”
Then — With the fortresses leveled to the ground the victorious army rushes on like a wind to new triumphs.
He passeth over — Irresistibly they sweep through the lands overcoming all obstacles. The two verbs are used together in Isa_8:8, of the onward rush of the Assyrians, likened to an overwhelming flood. The translation of margin R.V., “transgresseth,” is not so suitable.
Be guilty (R.V.) — Through the acts just described, equivalent to “and thus he becometh guilty.” The cruelties and outrages constitute a part of their guilt. Another indictment is implied in the last clause.
Even he whose might is his god (R.V.) — This is not a literal translation, but it expresses the thought of the original: “His success intoxicates him, and in his pride of heart he deifies his own might.” Literally it is, “this his might becometh his god”; the construction is peculiar, and the text may be corrupt. For “and be guilty, even he whose might is his god,” Wellhausen, Nowack, and others read, with some changes in the text, “and he maketh his might to be his god,” which gives good sense.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv7–9 7. terrible and dreadful] The first word occurs again…
7. terrible and dreadful] The first word occurs again only Son_6:4; Son_6:10 “terrible as an army with banners.” The noun is frequently used of the terror inspired by the sight of an object, Job_39:20; Job_41:14; of the terror caused by the manifestation of the Almighty, Job_9:34; Job_13:21, and of the terrors of death, Psa_55:4. The second word is that usually rendered “terrible” in A.V., meaning, to be feared.
Their judgment and their dignity] from himself proceedeth his Judgment and his dignity. The words carry on the idea of “terrible and dreadful,” and describe the Chaldean’s manner of bearing himself among the nations, though it may be uncertain whether “his judgment” be that which regulates his own conduct or that which he imposes on the nations. The former sense is the more vigorous. The Chaldean’s own sense of himself corresponds to the dread he inspires. He is imperious and autocratic, allows no considerations from without to modify his action, his own haughty mind alone determines his procedure. Similarly his “dignity” or majesty is the supremacy and sovereignty which he assumes and exercises.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7–9 (7) Their judgment . . .—Their “judgment” means their…
(7) Their judgment . . .—Their “judgment” means their claim to adjudge the affairs of mankind. It proceeds from “themselves,” as irresponsible, recognising no Supreme Being as the source of justice.
Their dignity, in like manner, proceeds from “themselves,” because self-sustained, unsanctioned by the King of kings and Lord of lords.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv7–9 They. The Hebrew is singular throughout. The disposition of…
They. The Hebrew is singular throughout. The disposition of the people, as of one man, is depicted. Terrible; exciting terror, as Son_6:4, Son_6:10. Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves; his judgment and his eminence are from himself. The LXX translates the two nouns krima and lhmma: Vulgate, judicium and onus. The meaning is that the Chaldeans own no master, have no rule of right but their own will, attribute their glory and superiority to their own power and skill. (comp. Dan_4:13) They are like Achilles in Horace, "Ep. ad Pison.," 121, etc.
Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer, Jura neget sibi nata, nihil non arroget armis.
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Hitzig quotes Aeschyl. "Prom.," 186, Par eJautw to dikaion ecwn, "Holding as justice what he deemeth so."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v8 Their horses ... their horses
Their horses ... their horses
the horses of the Chaldean soldiers
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leopards
large, swift cats (See: Translate Unknowns)
the evening wolves
This refers to wolves that hunt their prey at night.
their horsemen
the Chaldean soldiers who ride the horses
they fly like an eagle hurrying to eat
Yahweh speaks of how quickly the Chaldeans move in order to conquer their enemies as if they were flying, like an eagle flies swiftly to capture its prey. (See: Metaphor)
their multitudes go like the desert wind
Yahweh speaks of how quickly the Chaldeans move as if they were a strong wind that blows in the desert. (See: Metaphor)
they gather captives like sand
Possible meanings are 1) the Chaldeans take people captive as easily as one would scoop up sand with his hand. AT: "they gather captives as one gathers sand" or 2) the Chaldeans take a great number of people captive, as if those people were as many as the grains of sand in the desert. AT: "they capture as many people as there are grains of sand" (See: Simile)
translationWords
horse
wolf
eagle
captive
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7–9 1:7 do whatever they like: No relief from injustice…
1:7 do whatever they like: No relief from injustice would come from the Babylonians. They were a law unto themselves, which added to the prophet’s perplexity at God’s decision to use them to punish Judah.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.