Habakkuk 1:9

9 All of them^[a] come for violence, their faces pressing forward. They gather captives like the 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.

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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 [are] dreadful and awesome; their justice and their dignity proceed from themselves.

8 Their horses [are] more swift than leopards; they are more menacing than wolves [at] dusk. Their horsemen gallop; their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle [that is] swift to devour.

9 All of them come for violence, their faces pressing forward. They gather captives like the sand.

10 And they themselves scoff at kings and rulers [are] a joke to them. They laugh at every fortification, and they heap up earth and take it.

11 Then they sweep [like the] wind and pass on; they become guilty, whose might [is] their god!"

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "him"