Darby Bible
Habakkuk 1:4
4Therefore the law is powerless, and justice doth never go forth; for the wicked encompasseth the righteous; therefore judgment goeth forth perverted.
Habakkuk 1:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
- New International Version (NIV)Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
- English Standard Version (ESV)So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore the law is powerless, And justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.
Context of Habakkuk 1:4
2Jehovah, how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee, Violence! and thou dost not save. 3Why dost thou cause me to see iniquity, and lookest thou upon grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice doth never go forth; for the wicked encompasseth the righteous; therefore judgment goeth forth perverted. 5See ye among the nations, and behold, and wonder marvellously; for [I] work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be declared [to you]. 6For behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, which marcheth through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.
Read all of Habakkuk 1Habakkuk 1:4 word by word
עַל־כֵּן֙ תָּפ֣וּג תּוֹרָ֔ה וְלֹֽא־יֵצֵ֥א לָנֶ֖צַח מִשְׁפָּ֑ט כִּ֤י רָשָׁע֙ מַכְתִּ֣יר אֶת־הַצַּדִּ֔יק עַל־כֵּ֛ן יֵצֵ֥א מִשְׁפָּ֖ט מְעֻקָּֽל׃Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Habakkuk 1:4
- Psalms 11:3If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?
- Psalms 119:126It is time for Jehovah to work: they have made void thy law.
- Mark 7:9And he said to them, Well do ye set aside the commandment of God, that ye may observe what is delivered by yourselves [to keep].
- Romans 3:31Do we then make void law by faith? Far be the thought: [no,] but we establish law.
- 1 Kings 21:13And there came the two men, sons of Belial, and sat before him; and the men of Belial witnessed against him, against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth blasphemed God and the king. And they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.
- Job 21:7Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power?
- Psalms 22:16For dogs have encompassed me; an assembly of evil-doers have surrounded me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
- Psalms 58:1Is righteousness indeed silent? Do ye speak it? Do ye judge with equity, ye sons of men?
- Psalms 59:2Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from men of blood.
- Psalms 82:1God standeth in the assembly of God, he judgeth among the gods.
- Psalms 94:3How long shall the wicked, O Jehovah, how long shall the wicked triumph?
- Isaiah 1:21How is the faithful city become a harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness used to lodge in it, but now murderers.
- Isaiah 59:2but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid [his] face from you, that he doth not hear.
- Jeremiah 5:27As a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and have enriched themselves.
- Jeremiah 12:1Righteous art thou, Jehovah, when I plead with thee; yet will I speak with thee of [thy] judgments. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? [wherefore] are all they at ease that deal very treacherously?
- Jeremiah 26:8And it came to pass when Jeremiah had ended speaking all that Jehovah had commanded [him] to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, Thou shalt certainly die.
Commentaries on Habakkuk 1:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4The law is slacked - They pay no attention to it; it has lost all its vigor, its restraining and correcting power, it is not executed; right judgment is never pronounced; and the poor righteous man complains in vain that he is grievously oppressed by the wicked, and by those in power and authority. That the utmost depravity prevailed in the land of Judah is evident from these verses; and can we wonder, then, that God poured out such signal judgments upon…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Therefore - i. e., Because God seemed not to awake to avenge His own cause, people promised themselves that they might sin on with impunity. Sin produces sin, and wrong produces wrong; it spreads like an infectious disease, propagating itself, and each, to whom it reaches, adds to its poison. At last, it reached those also, who should be in God‘s stead to restrain it. The divine law itself is silenced, by the power of the wicked, by the sin of the judge…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4Habakkuk shares his worry about the injustice and wrongdoing he observed everywhere (see Habakkuk 1:12–13; 2:4, 9), even in the courts, where the law failed to uphold justice.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. Therefore--because Thou dost suffer such crimes to go unpunished. law is slacked--is chilled. It has no authority and secures no respect. judgment--justice. wrong judgment proceedeth--Decisions are given contrary to right.Read the comment
Topics related to Habakkuk 1:4
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
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