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1. The burden] the oracle. Comp. Habakkuk 2:6 “take up” a proverb. Numbers 23:7; Isaiah 14:4. See Nahum 1:1.

did see] Comp. Isaiah 2:1 “the word that Isaiah saw”; Isaiah 13:1 “the oracle which Isaiah did see.” Amos 1:1; Micah 1:1. In the early times of prophecy the ecstasy or exalted condition of mind was more usual and the things revealed to the prophet were seen by him. Thus Micaiah ben Jimlah said: “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd” 1 Kings 22:17; 1 Kings 22:19. In later times these terms “see,” “vision” and the like, which had been formed in the early period, continued to be retained, and any revelation was called a “vision,” and “see” was employed of the act of receiving a revelation, even when it was a word (Isaiah 2:1). On the name Habakkuk see Introduction.

2–4. The Prophet’s complaint that he has long cried out against evils unheard

2. how long shall I cry] lit. shall I have cried? Exodus 10:3; Exodus 16:28; Psalm 80:4. The prophet’s cry extends back into the past. But though he has been long crying he has received no answer from Heaven; the evil proceeds unchecked, even unregarded of God (Habakkuk 1:3).

wilt not hear] dost not hear.

even cry out unto thee of violence] I cry out unto thee of violence (or, Violence! this being the word which forms his cry). Job 19:7; Jeremiah 20:8. The term “violence” is equivalent to wrong, injury, whether accompanied with force or not, Genesis 16:5.

wilt not save] dost not save, or, give deliverance, Psalm 18:41 (Heb. 42). The cry of wrong and injury though long continued has evoked no interposition of God, nor been met with any help. The prophet seems certainly to complain not only of injury which he sees around him, but which he suffers (Job 19:7; Jeremiah 20:8). But it may be a question when he says “I” whether he does not make himself one with some class in Israel, namely, the godly, who are wronged by the wicked, or with Israel as a people, which suffers injury at the hands of a foreign oppressor.

3. shew me iniquity] cause me to see iniquity. God by His interposition might have checked the iniquity; by His refraining the continuance of it is virtually due to Him. One thing pains the prophet—that he has to behold iniquity; and another perplexes him—that God, the Righteous One, brings him into such a trial, or leaves him in it. The Hebrew mind was the more profoundly agitated by the moral anomalies in the world, because it could not help ascribing them directly to God, Who was the immediate cause of all things. The feeling is often expressed in Job, e.g. Job 23:16-17.

The term “iniquity” is used both of physical evil, “affliction” (Jeremiah 4:14; Job 5:6), and moral evil, “wickedness”; here of the latter, as generally, e.g. in the common phrase “workers of iniquity.”

cause me to behold grievance] and dost look upon trouble. The term grievance or trouble (Habakkuk 1:13 R.V. perverseness), properly “labour,” toil, has also the double sense of misery, pain, sorrow, travail (Isaiah 53:11), or mischief, wrongdoing (Psalm 7:15; Psalm 94:20; Isaiah 59:4). The latter half of the verse “spoiling and violence” is in favour of understanding all the terms not so much of evils suffered as of evils inflicted. The prophet is perplexed because God looks on unconcerned when men perpetrate wrong.

spoiling and violence are before me] The words again combined, Jeremiah 6:7; Jeremiah 20:8; Ezekiel 45:9; Amos 3:10. The term “spoiling” means violent mishandling when used of a person, destruction or devastation when said of a thing. Isaiah 13:6; Job 5:21-22; Hosea 7:13; Psalm 12:6. With “before me” comp. Jeremiah 6:7.

there are that raise up strife] Rather as R.V.: and there is strife, and contention riseth up (for Heb. constr. cf. Psalm 89:9). This is the condition of things that has come about and prevails. The terms “strife” and “contention” certainly suggest animosities between members of the same community rather than injuries inflicted on a subject people by their conquerors. The conquerors of Israel did not mix among the inhabitants or interfere with individual persons, they merely demanded political subjection and tribute, and the latter they collected not from the people but from their rulers. Comp. the use of the two words in Jeremiah 15:10.

4. law is slacked] lit. numbed, rigid, i.e. motionless, paralysed and ineffectual. The term “law” (torah) means properly divine instruction given orally at the mouth of the priest (Jeremiah 18:18; Malachi 2:6-7); then also that given orally by the prophet (Isaiah 1:10), and more generally any oral instruction (Proverbs 1:8; Proverbs 6:20). In a wider sense it is divine instruction regarding any subject, particularly matters of ritual; then specially of the law of Moses in Deuteronomy, and finally of the whole Pentateuch. In some cases the word seems generalized to mean the revelation as a whole communicated to Israel, particularly as being essentially the true knowledge of the true God, which it is the mission of Israel the servant of the Lord to impart to the nations, Isaiah 42:4; cf. Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 51:4. Parallel to the word in this use is the term “judgment,” e.g. Isaiah 42:3-4 “till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall look unto his torah.” See next clause.

judgment doth never go forth] The word “never” does not seem anywhere to mean “at no time,” “on no occasion,” it appears always to refer to the future, e.g. Psalm 10:11; Isaiah 13:20; Amos 8:7. The words must therefore be rendered: and judgment shall never go forth—a sense unsuitable to the connexion.

It is probable that the word has here some modified meaning, and that the sense is akin to Isaiah 42:3 “judgment unto truth,” or, according to truth, paraphrased “unto victory” Matthew 12:20. “Law” here hardly means the specific decision of the priest on particular questions, nor “judgment” the sentence of the magistrate in particular causes; rather the sense is: law, i.e. moral (social) law (Amos 2:4; Hosea 4:6) is paralysed and cannot assert its validity, and judgment, i.e. “right,” comes not forth in its fulness, but is seen maimed. Others, as Wellhausen, take law and judgment in the sense they have in Isaiah 40 seq., of the true religion of Jehovah, and consider the prophet’s complaint to be that the predominance of the heathen powers represses the true religion and prevents its expansion and effectiveness. This sense is less in harmony with the other statements of the passage.

the wicked doth compass about the righteous] Unlike its use in Psalm 142:7 “compass” is employed here in a hostile sense, to hem in, so as to impair one’s liberties and just rights (Job 3:23). Both “righteous” and “wicked” are collective terms, referring to classes. The antithesis was used not only of two classes in Israel (Isaiah 3:10-11; Isaiah 5:23; Isaiah 11:4; Zephaniah 1:3), but particularly in later times “wicked” was used of the heathen nations and “righteous” of Israel. The antithesis is taken in the latter sense here by those who consider Habakkuk 1:1-4 to refer to heathen oppressions, cf. Habakkuk 1:13.

wrong judgment proceedeth] As R.V.: therefore judgment goeth forth perverted, i.e. “right,” the good cause of the righteous, fails to prevail.

5. behold ye among the heathen] among the nations. For “among the nations” Sept. read “ye despisers” (bgdm for bgym), and part of the phrase “wonder marvellously” they translated “and perish.” With this translation the “despisers” addressed are the wrongdoers of Habakkuk 1:1-4.

I will work a work] R.V. marg. one worketh a work, a construction equivalent to the pass., a work is wrought; Isaiah 21:11 “one calleth unto me out of Seir.” This is not very natural. Though the omission of pron. “I” is perhaps without parallel, A.V. is more probable. So Sept. The rendering he worketh would be more according to usage, but the connexion with Habakkuk 1:6 is then broken.

ye will not believe] Perhaps: ye would not believe though it were told you, i.e. in other circumstances—unless you saw it.

5–11. The answer of God to the Prophet’s complaint

The wrongs complained of will bring their punishment. The Lord raiseth up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation. They are irresistible; they laugh at kings, and fortresses they heap up dust and take.

6. raise up the Chaldeans] The reference in “raise up” can hardly be to the first entrance of the Chaldeans upon the stage of history; it is rather to their advance against Israel. Some MSS. of Sept. add “against you.” On Chaldeans see after Habakkuk 1:11.

bitter and hasty nation] Spoken of temper or disposition “bitter” is vehement and passionate, Jdg 18:25; 2 Samuel 17:8; and “hasty” is sudden in action, driven headlong by violent impulse.

shall march … the land] which marcheth through the breadth of the earth. His operations extend over the world, and his object is conquest, to seize for a possession the dwelling-places of other peoples. Job 18:21; Jeremiah 9:19; Jeremiah 30:18; Isaiah 32:18. The phrase “that are not his” again ch. Habakkuk 2:6; cf. Deuteronomy 6:10-11.

7. terrible and dreadful] The first word occurs again only Song of Solomon 6:4; Song of Solomon 6:10 “terrible as an army with banners.” The noun is frequently used of the terror inspired by the sight of an object, Job 39:20; Job 41:14; of the terror caused by the manifestation of the Almighty, Job 9:34; Job 13:21, and of the terrors of death, Psalm 55:4. The second word is that usually rendered “terrible” in A.V., meaning, to be feared.

Their judgment and their dignity] from himself proceedeth his Judgment and his dignity. The words carry on the idea of “terrible and dreadful,” and describe the Chaldean’s manner of bearing himself among the nations, though it may be uncertain whether “his judgment” be that which regulates his own conduct or that which he imposes on the nations. The former sense is the more vigorous. The Chaldean’s own sense of himself corresponds to the dread he inspires. He is imperious and autocratic, allows no considerations from without to modify his action, his own haughty mind alone determines his procedure. Similarly his “dignity” or majesty is the supremacy and sovereignty which he assumes and exercises.

8. swifter than the leopards] Jeremiah 4:13 says, “his horses are swifter than eagles.”

more fierce than the evening wolves] lit. more sharp. Being parallel to “swift” the term “fierce” probably means keen in attack, eager in flinging themselves on the foe. Gesenius quotes Virg. Georg. 3. 264, genus acre luporum, and Æn. 4. 156, acri gaudet equo. The wolf attacks at night when his hunger is keen. For, “evening wolves,” Sept. reads “wolves of Arabia,” supplying different vowels.

their horsemen shall spread themselves] and his horsemen bound, or, gallop. The word is used of the springing or bounding of cattle, Malachi 4:2 (Heb. 3:20); Jeremiah 50:11.

horsemen shall come from far] his horsemen come. But the repetition of “horsemen” is unnatural (Sept. omits), and the clause introduces an unequal number of members into the verse. Possibly the words are a marginal explanation of the somewhat uncommon term “gallop.”

They shall fly as the eagle] they fly. The word eagle refers possibly to some kind of vulture; cf. Micah 1:16 “enlarge thy baldness like the eagle.”

that hasteth to eat] i.e. that swoops upon the prey or carcase.