Habakkuk 1:9

9 They all come to fight. Nothing can stop them. Their prisoners are as many as the grains of sand.

Habakkuk 1:9 Meaning and Commentary

Habakkuk 1:9

They shall come all for violence
Or, "the whole of it" F19; the whole army of the Chaldeans, everyone of them; this would be their sole view, not to do themselves justice, as might be pretended, or avenge any injuries or affronts done to them by the Jews; but purely for the sake of spoil and plunder:

their faces shall sup up [as] the east wind:
their countenances will appear so stern and fierce, that their very looks will so frighten, as to cause men to sink and die through terror; just as herbs and plants shrivel up and wither away, when blasted by a nipping east wind. So the Targum,

``the reception or look of their faces is like to a vehement east wind.''

Some render it,

``the look or design of their faces is to the east F20;''

when the Chaldeans were on their march to Judea, their faces were to the west or south west; but then their desire and views were, that when they had got the spoil they came for, as in the preceding clause, to carry it to Babylon, which lay eastward or north east of Judea, and thither their faces looked:

and they shall gather the captivity as the sand;
or gather up persons, both in Judea, and in other countries conquered by them, as innumerable as the sand of the sea, and carry them captive into their own land. Captivity is put for captives.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 (hlk) "illa teta", Junius & Tremellius; "sub. gens", Pagninus, Piscator; "totus exercitus", Vatablus; "populus", Calvin.
F20 (hmydq) "ad orientem", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "orientem versus", Junius & Tremellius, De Dieu, Burkius; so Abarbinel.

Habakkuk 1:9 In-Context

7 They scare and frighten people. They do what they want to do and are good only to themselves.
8 Their horses are faster than leopards and quicker than wolves at sunset. Their horse soldiers attack quickly; they come from places far away. They attack quickly, like an eagle swooping down for food.
9 They all come to fight. Nothing can stop them. Their prisoners are as many as the grains of sand.
10 They laugh at kings and make fun of rulers. They laugh at all the strong, walled cities and build dirt piles to the top of the walls to capture them.
11 Then they leave like the wind and move on. They are guilty of worshiping their own strength."
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.