Habakkuk 1:14

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

12O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal— surely you do not plan to wipe us out? O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins. 13But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they? Are we only fish to be caught and killed? Are we only sea creatures that have no leader? 15Must we be strung up on their hooks and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate? 16Then they will worship their nets and burn incense in front of them. “These nets are the gods who have made us rich!” they will claim.

Habakkuk 1:14 word by word

וַתַּעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֖ם כִּדְגֵ֣י הַיָּ֑ם כְּרֶ֖מֶשׂ לֹא־מֹשֵׁ֥ל בּֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And makestעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to makeH6213
• menאָדָם'âdâm · manH120
• as the fishesדָּגdâg dâ'g · fishH1709
• of the seaיָםyâm · seaH3220
• as the creeping thingsרֶ֫מֶשׂremeώ · creepingH7431
• no rulerמָשַׁלmâshal · to ruleH4910

Cross-references for Habakkuk 1:14

• Proverbs 6:7Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,

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

• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• the sea, the Great Sea, the western sea
• 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