Habakkuk 1:9

Habakkuk 1:9 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
• New International Version (NIV)they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.
• English Standard Version (ESV)They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand.
• New King James Version (NKJV)“They all come for violence; Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand.

Context of Habakkuk 1:9

7They are frightening and terrifying; they decide for themselves what is right. 8Their horses are faster than leopards and more alert than wolves in the desert. Their horses gallop, their horses come a great distance; like a vulture they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. All of them intend to do violence; every face is determined. They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. 10They mock kings and laugh at rulers. They laugh at every fortified city; they build siege ramps and capture them. 11They sweep by like the wind and pass on. But the one who considers himself a god will be held guilty.”

Habakkuk 1:9 word by word

כֻּלֹּה֙ לְחָמָ֣ס יָב֔וֹא מְגַמַּ֥ת פְּנֵיהֶ֖ם קָדִ֑ימָה וַיֶּאֱסֹ֥ף כַּח֖וֹל שֶֽׁבִי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• They shall comeבּוֹאbô' · to come (in): comeH935
• all for violenceחָמָסchâmâs · violenceH2555
• their facesפָּנֶהpânîym · faceH6440
• shall sup upמְגַמָּהmegammâh · hordeH4041
• the east windקָדִיםqâdîym qâdim · eastH6921
• and they shall gatherאָסַף'âsaph · to gatherH622
• the captivityשְׁבִיshebîy · captivityH7628
• as the sandחוֹלchôl · sandH2344

Cross-references for Habakkuk 1:9

• Habakkuk 1:6Look, I am about to empower the Babylonians, that ruthless and greedy nation. They sweep across the surface of the earth, seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.
• Habakkuk 2:5Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! His appetite is as big as Sheol’s; like death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations; he seizes all peoples.
• Deuteronomy 28:51They will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, or lambs of your flocks until they have destroyed you.
• Jeremiah 4:7Like a lion that has come up from its lair the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. He is coming out to lay your land waste. Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.
• Jeremiah 5:15The Lord says, “Listen, nation of Israel! I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you. It will be a nation that was founded long ago and has lasted for a long time. It will be a nation whose language you will not know. Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.
• Jeremiah 25:9So I, the Lord, affirm that I will send for all the peoples of the north and my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it and make them everlasting ruins. I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn.
• Isaiah 27:8When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her; he drives her away with his strong wind in the day of the east wind.
• Jeremiah 4:11“At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be told, ‘A scorching wind will sweep down from the hilltops in the desert on my dear people. It will not be a gentle breeze for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff.
• Ezekiel 17:10Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper? Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it? Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?’”
• Ezekiel 19:12But it was plucked up in anger; it was thrown down to the ground. The east wind dried up its fruit; its strong branches broke off and withered – a fire consumed them.
• Hosea 13:15Even though he flourishes like a reed plant, a scorching east wind will come, a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert. As a result, his spring will dry up; his well will become dry. That wind will spoil all his delightful foods in the containers in his storehouse.
• Genesis 41:49Joseph stored up a vast amount of grain, like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it because it was impossible to measure.
• Judges 7:12Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.
• Job 29:18“Then I thought, ‘I will die in my own home, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
• Psalms 139:18If I tried to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. Even if I finished counting them, I would still have to contend with you.
• Jeremiah 15:8Their widows will become in my sight more numerous than the grains of sand on the seashores. At noontime I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of their young men. I will cause anguish and terror to fall suddenly upon them.

Commentaries on Habakkuk 1:9

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9Their faces shall sup up as the east wind - This may be an allusion to those electrical winds which prevail in that country. Mr. Jackson, in his overland journey from India, mentions his having bathed in the Tigris. On his coming out of the river one of those winds passed over him, and, in a moment, carried off every particle of water that was on his body and in his bathing dress. So, the Chaldeans shall leave no substance behind them; their faces, their…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9They shall come all for violence - “Violence” had been the sin of Judah Habakkuk 1:3-4, and now violence shall be her punishment. It had been ever before the prophet; all were full of it. Now should violence be the very end, one by one, of all the savage horde poured out upon them; they all, each one of them come for violence. Their faces shall sup up as the east wind - קדומה occurs else only in Ezekiel 11:1, and Ezekiel 11:16 times in Ezekiel 4048 of the…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9The Babylonians took many people from Judah into exile between 605 and 586 BC (see Daniel 1:1–3).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 99. all for violence--The sole object of all is not to establish just rights, but to get all they can by violence. their faces shall sup up as the east wind--that is, they shall, as it were, swallow up all before them; so the horse in Job 39:24 is said to "swallow the ground with fierceness and rage." Maurer takes it from an Arabic root, "the desire of their faces," that is, the eager desire expressed by their faces. Henderson, with Symmachus and Syriac…Read the comment

Topics related to Habakkuk 1:9

• Babylon
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning
• Prophecy

In the dictionaries

• East wind
• Possess
• Pure
• Scoff
• Wrong
• Habakkuk

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