New King James Version
Habakkuk 1:17
17Shall they therefore empty their net, And continue to slay nations without pity?
Habakkuk 1:17 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
- New International Version (NIV)Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?
- New Living Translation (NLT)Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?
Context of Habakkuk 1:17
15They take up all of them with a hook, They catch them in their net, And gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. 16Therefore they sacrifice to their net, And burn incense to their dragnet; Because by them their share is sumptuous And their food plentiful. Shall they therefore empty their net, And continue to slay nations without pity?
Read all of Habakkuk 1Habakkuk 1:17 word by word
הַ֥עַל כֵּ֖ן יָרִ֣יק חֶרְמ֑וֹ וְתָמִ֛יד לַהֲרֹ֥ג גּוֹיִ֖ם לֹ֥א יַחְמֽוֹל׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Habakkuk 1:17
- Habakkuk 1:9“They all come for violence; Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand.
- Habakkuk 2:5“Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, He is a proud man, And he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, And he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, He gathers to himself all nations And heaps up for himself all peoples.
- Isaiah 14:16“Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,
- Jeremiah 25:9behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
- Jeremiah 46:1The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations.
- Jeremiah 52:1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
- Ezekiel 25:1The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Commentaries on Habakkuk 1:17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17And not spare continually to slay the nation? - They are running from conquest to conquest; burning, slaying, sacking, and slaughtering. Like the fishermen, who throw cast after cast while any fish are to be caught, so Nebuchadnezzar is destroying one nation after another. This last sentence explains the allegory of the net.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 17Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? - The prophet, like Isaiah Isaiah 18:4-5, stands at the very last point, before the fury and desire of the enemy was fulfilled. People, like fish, were gathered together for a prey; he who had taken them was rejoicing and exulting beforehand in his booty; his portion and meat were the choice of the earth; the prophet leeks on, as it were, and beholds the net full; there…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. 12-17Habakkuk struggled to understand how God's answer in Habakkuk 1:5–11 fit with God's character. How could a holy and just God punish Judah using a people more unrighteous than they were?Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1717. Shall they ... empty their net?--Shall they be allowed without interruption to enjoy the fruits of their violence? therefore--seeing that they attribute all their successes to themselves, and not to Thee. The answer to the prophet's question, he by inspiration gives himself in the second chapter.Read the comment
Topics related to Habakkuk 1:17
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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries