Amplified Bible
Habakkuk 1:14
14Why do You make men like the fish of the sea, Like reptiles and creeping things that have no ruler [and are helpless against their enemies]?
Habakkuk 1:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
- New International Version (NIV)You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
- English Standard Version (ESV)You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Why do You make men like fish of the sea, Like creeping things that have no ruler over them?
Context of Habakkuk 1:14
12Are You not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, My Holy One? We will not die. O Lord, You have appointed the Chaldeans [who rule in Babylon] to execute [Your] judgment, And You, O Rock, have established them to correct and chastise. 13Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You cannot look favorably on wickedness. Why then do You look favorably On those who act treacherously? Why are you silent when the wicked (Chaldean oppressors) destroy Those more righteous than they? Why do You make men like the fish of the sea, Like reptiles and creeping things that have no ruler [and are helpless against their enemies]? 15The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, And drag them away with a net, And gather them together in their fishing net; So they rejoice and are glad. 16Therefore, they offer sacrifices to their net And burn incense to their fishing net; Because through these things their catch is large and they live luxuriously, And their food is plentiful.
Read all of Habakkuk 1Habakkuk 1:14 word by word
וַתַּעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֖ם כִּדְגֵ֣י הַיָּ֑ם כְּרֶ֖מֶשׂ לֹא־מֹשֵׁ֥ל בּֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Habakkuk 1:14
Commentaries on Habakkuk 1:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14Makest men as the fishes of the sea - Easily are we taken and destroyed. We have no leader to guide us, and no power to defend ourselves. Nebuchadnezzar is here represented as a fisherman, who is constantly casting his nets into the sea, and enclosing multitudes of fishes; and, being always successful, he sacrifices to his own net - attributes all his conquests to his own power and prudence; not considering that he is only like a net that after having…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14And makest men as the fishes of the sea - mute, helpless, in a stormy, restless element, no cry heard, but themselves swept away in shoals, with no power to resist. As the creeping things - whether of the land (as it is mostly used), or the sea Psalm 104:25. Either way, it is a contemptuous name for the lowest of either. That have no ruler over them - none to guide, order, protect them, and so a picture of man deprived of the care and providence of God.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-17Verses 12-17 However matters may be, yet God is the Lord our God, our Holy One. We are an offending people, he is an offended God, yet we will not entertain hard thoughts of him, or of his service. It is great comfort that, whatever mischief men design, the Lord designs good, and we are sure that his counsel shall stand. Though wickedness may prosper a while, yet God is holy, and does not approve the wickedness. As he cannot do iniquity himself, so he is…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 14-15fish … hook … dragnet: Habakkuk describes the Babylonians as fishermen who pull conquered peoples in like fish, showing how easily they captured their enemies.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1414. And--that is, And so, by suffering oppressors to go unpunished, "Thou makest men as the fishes ... that have no ruler"; that is, no defender. All may fish in the sea with impunity; so the Chaldeans with impunity afflict Thy people, as these have no longer the God of the theocracy, their King, to defend them. Thou reducest men to such a state of anarchy, by wrong going unpunished, as if there were no God. He compares the world to the sea; men to…Read the comment
Topics related to Habakkuk 1:14
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Habakkuk 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
Amplified Bible — © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631
Commentaries