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Nazarene Commentary 2000©

21^st Century Paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures© –
21^st Century Version of the Christian Scriptures© [NCMM]

THE PROPHET HABAKKUK

CHAPTER ONE:
HOW LONG?

Habakkuk 1:1-4 – The Prophet’s Questions

HA1:1 The prophet Habakkuk’s 1 heavy message 2 following his vision:

1	Habakkuk: The name means “passionate embrace.” The Hebrew is CHABAQQUWQ. The date for the vision is c625 BC.

2	Heavy message: Or, JPS: pronouncement; RHM: oracle; KJV: burden; NJB: charge.

HA1:2 How long, 3 O Y^eH^oW^aH, must I cry for help and You do not listen? Shall I scream “Violence!” 4 and still You do not save?

3	How long: A question often asked by God’s servants. [Psalm 6:3; 13:1, 3; 74:9, 10; 89:46; 90:13; 94:3] Note Revelation 6:10.

4	Violence: Or, LXX: being injured; BAS: violent acts. [Job 19:7; Psalm 18:41; Jeremiah 14:9]

HA1:3 Why do you force me to look upon 5 what is harmful, 6 and You just watch trouble? Why do you let me experience lawlessness and violence? 7 Why do people quarrel? Why is contention and strife tolerated?

5	Force me to look upon: Or, cause, show; make me.

6	Harmful: Or, grievance, mischief, troubles, evil-doing. The question regarding the existence of evil has plagued many. Compare notes on Romans 9:14-23.

7	Lawlessness and violence: Or, JPS: spoiling and violence; LXX: misery and ungodliness; BAS: wasting and violent acts.

HA1:4 As a result law is apathetic. 8 Because the lawless outnumber the law-abiding justice is distorted. 9

8	Law is apathetic: Or, KJV: law is slacked; LXX: law is frustrated; BAS: law is feeble.

9

Lawless outnumber the law-abiding justice is distorted: Or, JPS: for the wicked doth beset the righteous; therefore right goeth forth perverted; LXX: ungodly man prevails over the just; therefore perverse judgment will proceed; BAS: upright man is circled round by evil-doers; because of which right is twisted. [Job 12:6; Psalm 12:8; Ecclesiastes 8:11; Isaiah 59:14; Micah 7:2, 3]

Habakkuk 1:5-11 – Y^eH^oW^aH Answers: Babylonians Will Come

HA1:5 “Look, you non-Jews 10 among the people, watch and gaze in bewilderment at one another. 11 Be awestruck, 12 for there is a work 13 that will occur in your days that none of you [Jews] will believe even if reported to you. 14 [Acts 13:41]

10	Non-Jews: Or, nations, Gentiles. The LXX Greek is ETHNOS, that is, ethnic groups.

11	Watch and gaze in bewilderment at one another: Or, JPS: wonder marvelously; BAS: full of wonder: [Isaiah 29:9; Lamentations 4:12]

12	Be awestruck: Or, astonished, amazed, dumbfounded.

13

There is a work: Paul quotes this verse in the Jewish synagogue at Acts 13:40, 41, “And so, be aware, then, that what is spoken by the prophets does not happen to you [Jews]: “Look, all of you scoffers, marvel and disappear, because I perform a work in your days – a work that you [Jews] will never believe even if someone were to relate it to you.” [NCMM] The context in Habakkuk deals with the coming Babylonian hordes. It is possible Paul borrows the language in an application to the Gospel events of his own day. He could also be pointing forward to a similar cataclysm to befall the Jews between 66-70 AD.

14	None of you [Jews] will believe even if reported to you: Or, JPS: which ye will not believe though it be told you; BAS: I am doing a work in which you will have no belief, even if news of it is given to you. Paul quotes the verse during a speech in a Jewish synagogue at Acts 13:41]

HA1:6 For here I am arousing the Babylonians, 15 a nation harsh and impulsive 16 that travels to distant regions to capture homes not belonging to them.

15	Babylonians: Or, Chaldeans. There are at least two views as to the timing. One is that Habakkuk foretells the coming of the Babylonians against Jerusalem in the 6th Century BC.

16	A nation harsh and impulsive: Or, JPS: that bitter and impetuous nation; LXX: bitter and hasty nation; BAS: quick-moving nation. God is able to know the makeup of a people.

HA1:7 It is terrifying and awful. 17 They make up their own form of justice and nobility. 18

17	Terrifying and awful: Or, JPS: terrible and dreadful; LXX: terrible and famous; BAS: greatly to be feared.

18

They make up their own form of justice and nobility: Or, JPS: their law and their majesty proceed from themselves; LXX: his dignity shall come out of himself; their right comes from themselves. Most nations think themselves God’s gift to humanity. They give no credit to a Divine Being. [Jeremiah 39:5; 52:9; Daniel 5:19]

HA1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards, they are more fierce than wolves at night. 19 They stallions paw the ground, and from a distant land their horsemen ride.

19	They are more fierce than wolves at night: Or, LXX: fiercer than the wolves of Arabia; BAS: evening wolves. [Jeremiah 5:6; Zephaniah 3:3] See Acts 20:29]

HA1:9 They come solely to cause violence. 20 Their faces are set to the East, and they collect prisoners like sand.

20	They come solely to cause violence: Or, JPS: They come all of them for violence; LXX: Destruction shall come upon ungodly men; BAS: coming all of them with force. See the Mosaic Curse at Deuteronomy 28:51. [Jeremiah 25:9]

HA1:10 They make fun of kings, and they laugh at royalty. 21 They think fortresses a joke, 22 and they pile up dirt to capture them. 23

21	They make fun of kings, and they laugh at royalty: Or, JPS: scoff at kings, and princes are a derision unto them; LXX: princes are his toys; BAS: makes little of kings, rulers are a sport to him. [2 Kings 24:12; 2 Chronicles 36:17]

22	They think fortresses a joke: Or, JPS: they deride every stronghold; LXX: mock at every strong-hold; BAS: all the strong places are to be laughed at. [Jeremiah 32:24; 52:7]

23	They pile up dirt to capture them: Or, BAS: he makes earthworks and takes them.

HA1:11 When they come they will proceed like a whirlwind, passing through and becoming more and more guilty. 24 Their power comes from their god.” 25

24

Becoming more and more guilty: Or, JPS: Then their spirit doth pass over and transgress, and they become guilty; LXX: Then shall he change his spirit, and he shall pass through, and make an atonement; Then his purpose will be changed, over-stepping the limit. [Hebrew uncertain] [Isaiah 47:6; Jeremiah 51:24; Zechariah 1:15] Though God uses the Babylonians to chastise His people they go too far and thus become more and more guilty before Him.

25

Their power comes from their god: Or, JPS: they who impute their might unto their god; LXX: This strength belongs to my god; BAS: he will make his strength his god. Religion is behind most of the violence, oppression and tyranny throughout history. The Hebrew for “god” here is ‘ELOWAHH [Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance #433]. The LXX Greek is THEO MOU.

Habakkuk 1:12-17 – Why Do You Just Watch?

HA1:12 O Y^eH^oW^aH – my God, my Holy One – are You not from ancient times? 26 You never die! 27 O Y^eH^oW^aH, You have appointed him to judgment. 28 O Rock, You have devoted him to discipline. 29

26	Ancient times: Or, LXX: from the beginning [AP ARKHES]. Most use everlasting or eternal. Perhaps, “time immemorial” would be satisfactory. [Psalm 90:2; 93:2]

27	You never die: Or, BAS: for you there is no death. The text was altered to “We do not die” as the KJV has it, following the error. This is the actual reading as most modern versions have it. God could never die, and thus Jesus Christ could not have been God or Jehovah, for he did die.

28	You have appointed him to judgment: Or, BAS: he has been ordered by you for our punishment. Likely the Babylonian who will carry out God’s judgment and then later be judged himself.

29	Devoted him to discipline: Or, JPS: established them for correction; BAS: he has been marked out to put us right. [Jeremiah 30:11]

HA1:13 Your eyes are too pure to look upon what is evil, 30 and You are incapable of watching adversity. 31 Why do you just watch those causing hurt? 32 Why do You remain silent when the lawless devour the law-abiding? 33

30	Your eyes are too pure to look upon what is evil: Or, JPS: Thou that art of eyes too pure to behold evil; BAS: Before your holy eyes sin may not be seen. He that is Absolute Good does not dwell on evil. Note the wording in Genesis 6:5; 11:5; 18:20, 21.

31	You are incapable of watching adversity: Or, JPS: canst not look on mischief; LXX: look upon grievous afflictions; BAS: you are unable to put up with wrong. [Psalm 5:4; Isaiah 59:2]

32	Why do you just watch those causing hurt: Or, JPS: wherefore lookest Thou, when they deal treacherously; LXX: wherefore dost thou look upon despisers; BAS: why, then, are your eyes on the false. [Jeremiah 12:1]

33

Why do You remain silent when the lawless devour the law-abiding: Or, JPS: and holdest Thy peace, when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he; LXX: wilt thou be silent when the ungodly swallows up the just; BAS: why do you say nothing when the evil-doer puts an end to one who is more upright than himself. [Psalm 35:22; 50:21]

HA1:14 Why do You make humankind like the fish of the sea, like things that crawl with no ruler? 34

34

Why do You make humankind like the fish of the sea, like things that crawl with no ruler: Or, BAS: He has made men like the fishes of the sea, like the worms which have no ruler over them; LXX: no guide. Humanity does not have God as its ruler, for He has permitted another to behave as its god. [2 Corinthians 4:4] God will resume His rule with the Return of Christ. [Revelation 11:15-17]

HA1:15 All are caught by a simple fishhook, gathered in with a dragnet, 35 collected in a fishing net.

35	Gathered in with a dragnet: One cannot read this without thinking of Matthew 13:47.

HA1:16 For this reason he makes a sacrifice to his fishing net. For because of them he is fat, and his food is healthy. HA1:17 Is this the reason He empties His net, and continues to slay non-Jews considered unworthy of pity?