New English Translation
Habakkuk 1:14
14You made people like fish in the sea, like animals in the sea that have no ruler.
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
12Lord, you have been active from ancient times; my sovereign God, you are immortal. Lord, you have made them your instrument of judgment. Protector, you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. 13You are too just to tolerate evil; you are unable to condone wrongdoing. So why do you put up with such treacherous people? Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour those more righteous than they are? You made people like fish in the sea, like animals in the sea that have no ruler. 15The Babylonian tyrant pulls them all up with a fishhook; he hauls them in with his throw net. When he catches them in his dragnet, he is very happy. 16Because of his success he offers sacrifices to his throw net and burns incense to his dragnet; for because of them he has plenty of food, and more than enough to eat.
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
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