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Habacuque 1

ARC · Chapter 1/3

1A carga que viu o propheta Habacuc.

2Até quando, Senhor, clamarei eu, e tu não me escutarás? até quando gritarei a ti: Violencia! e não salvarás?

3Por que razão me fazes vêr a iniquidade, e vês a vexação? porque a destruição e a violencia estão diante de mim, havendo tambem quem suscite a contenda e o litigio

4Por esta causa a lei se afrouxa, e a sentença nunca sae; porque o impio cérca o justo, e sae a sentença torcida.

5Vêde entre as nações, e olhae, e maravilhae-vos, e estae maravilhados; porque obro uma obra em vossos dias que não crereis, quando se vos contar.

6Porque eis que suscito os chaldeos, nação amarga e apressada, que marcha sobre a largura da terra, para possuir moradas que não são suas.

7Horrivel e terrivel é; d'ella mesma sairá o seu juizo e a sua grandeza.

8E os seus cavallos são mais ligeiros do que os leopardos, e mais perspicazes do que os lobos á tarde, e os seus cavalleiros se espalham: os seus cavalleiros virão de longe; voarão como aguias que se apressam á comida.

9Elles todos virão a fim de obrar violencia: os seus rostos buscarão o oriente, e congregará os captivos como areia.

10E escarnecerão dos reis, e dos principes farão zombaria: elles se rirão de todas as fortalezas, porque amontoarão terra, e as tomarão.

11Então passará como vento, e traspassará, e se fará culpada, attribuindo este seu poder ao seu deus,

12Porventura não és tu desde sempre, ó Senhor meu Deus, meu Sancto? nós não morreremos: ó Senhor, para juizo o pozeste, e tu, ó Rocha, o fundaste para castigar.

13Tu és tão puro de olhos, que não podes vêr o mal, e a vexação não podes contemplar: porque olhas para os que obram aleivosamente? porque te calas quando o impio devora aquelle que é mais justo do que elle?

14E porque farias os homens como os peixes do mar, como os reptis, que não teem quem os governe?

15Elle a todos tira com o anzol, apanhal-os-ha com a sua rede, e os ajunta na sua varredoura: por isso elle se alegra e se regozija.

16Por isso sacrifica á sua rede, e queima incenso á sua varredoura; porque com ellas se engordou a sua porção, e se engrossou a sua comida.

17Porventura por isso vazará a sua rede, e não poupará de matar os povos continuamente?

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Habakkuk questions God about why He allows so much violence and injustice in Judah without acting; God answers that He will use the Babylonians (Chaldeans) as an instrument of judgment, which leaves the prophet even more perplexed.

Explanation

Unlike other prophets who speak directly to the people, Habakkuk structures his book as an honest dialogue between himself and God, beginning with a courageous complaint: 'O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?' He sees violence, injustice, and perverted laws in Judah and does not understand God's apparent silence. The divine answer is shocking: God is raising up the Chaldeans (Babylonians), an even more violent and merciless people, to correct Judah. This creates an even greater moral dilemma for the prophet: how can a greater evil be used to correct a lesser one? The application today: it is legitimate to bring hard questions and even honest complaints to God, and He does not always answer the way we expect, but He is willing to dialogue with those who seek Him sincerely.

Fun facts

  • The Chaldeans, mentioned in the chapter, refer to the people who founded the Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabopolassar and later Nebuchadnezzar, who would destroy Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C. — about twenty years after the probable date of this prophecy.
  • The dialogue format between prophet and God, with questions and answers openly recorded, is rare in prophetic literature and resembles the style of laments found in various Psalms and in the book of Job.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Habacuque 1:1Habakkuk writes around the end of the 7th century BC, shortly before Babylon became Judah's great threat; unlike the other prophets, the book is a direct dialogue between the prophet and God, almost an argument, rather than a speech to the people.
  2. Habacuque 1:2This is the book's first line: Habakkuk cries out to God about “violence” and asks how long he must cry without an answer — the whole book grows out of this bold complaint.
  3. Habacuque 1:3The prophet doesn't understand why God lets him see so much injustice without doing anything about it — the question is sincere, almost a direct challenge.
  4. Habacuque 1:4Habakkuk's first complaint isn't about a foreign enemy, it's about the injustice within Judah itself: laws that don't work, courts that don't deliver justice — the problem starts at home.
  5. Habacuque 1:5God's answer begins with a warning: He is going to do something so unexpected that no one will believe it even when told — it sets the stage for the shocking revelation in the following verses.
  6. Habacuque 1:6The “Chaldeans” are the Babylonians, the new empire God reveals He will use as an instrument of punishment against Judah — an answer that shocks the prophet, because he didn't expect God to use such a violent nation to correct His own.
  7. Habacuque 1:7The Babylonians are described as a people who make their own rules: fearsome enough that they answer to no one but themselves.
  8. Habacuque 1:8The Babylonian cavalry is compared to leopards, wolves, and eagles — pure terror at speed, coming from afar to devour like a starving predator.
  9. Habacuque 1:9The Babylonian army advances only to cause destruction, gathering prisoners of war in countless numbers, like grains of sand.
  10. Habacuque 1:10The Babylonians scoff even at kings and fortresses: for them, laying siege to a city is as easy as piling up dirt — no human power intimidates them.
  11. Habacuque 1:11The empire sweeps through like a devastating wind, but the prophet already points out their error: they credit all this strength to their own pagan god, not to the Lord who actually raised them up.
  12. Habacuque 1:12Habakkuk changes his tone: he acknowledges that God is eternal and holy, and that He used Babylon as an instrument of judgment — but he still doesn't understand how this is just.
  13. Habacuque 1:13Here is the core of the book: if God is too pure to look at evil, how can He use a nation, Babylon, that is even crueler than Judah, to punish Judah? It's a question about justice the prophet asks without fear, and God doesn't rebuke him for asking.
  14. Habacuque 1:14The prophet asks why God would leave men defenseless like fish in the sea, with no one to protect them from the greater predator.
  15. Habacuque 1:15The image of the fisherman who pulls everything in with hook and net describes Babylon capturing entire nations — and rejoicing over the catch.
  16. Habacuque 1:16The fisherman, Babylon, starts worshiping his own net, meaning his own military power, as if it were responsible for the abundance he gained.
  17. Habacuque 1:17The chapter ends with the question that sums up the prophet's anguish: will this “fisherman” keep killing nations without end, forever?

Chapters

123

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