Habakkuk 1 · Verse 9

Habakkuk 1:9

They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

Habakkuk 1:9, King James Version

Habakkuk 1:9 in other translations

BSB	All of them come bent on violence; their hordes advance like the east wind; they gather prisoners like sand.
WEB	All of them come for violence. Their hordes face forward. They gather prisoners like sand.
ASV	They come all of them for violence; the set of their faces is forwards; and they gather captives as the sand.
YLT	Wholly for violence it doth come in, Their faces swallowing up the east wind, And it doth gather as the sand a captivity.
DARBY	They come all of them for violence: the crowd of their faces is forwards, and they gather captives as the sand.
BBE	They are coming all of them with force; the direction of their faces is forward, the number of their prisoners is like the sands of the sea.
Webster	They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

What does Habakkuk 1:9 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

9. all for violence--The sole object of all is not to establish just rights, but to get all they can by violence. their faces shall sup up as the east wind--that is, they shall, as it were, swallow up all before them; so the horse in Job 39:24 is said to "swallow the ground with fierceness and rage." Maurer takes it from an Arabic root, "the desire of their faces," that is, the eager desire expressed by their faces. Henderson, with Symmachus and Syriac, translates, "the aspect." as the east wind--the simoon, which spreads devastation wherever it passes (Is 27:8). Gesenius translates, "(is) forwards." The rendering proposed, eastward, as if it referred to the Chaldeans' return home eastward from Judea, laden with spoils, is improbable. Their "gathering the sand" accords with the simoon being meant, as it carries with it whirlwinds of sand collected in the desert.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 9 Their faces shall sup up as the east wind - This may be an allusion to those electrical winds which prevail in that country. Mr. Jackson, in his overland journey from India, mentions his having bathed in the Tigris. On his coming out of the river one of those winds passed over him, and, in a moment, carried off every particle of water that was on his body and in his bathing dress. So, the Chaldeans shall leave no substance behind them; their faces, their bare appearance, is the proof that nothing good shall be left. Shall gather the captivity as the sand - They shall carry off innumerable captives.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Habakkuk 1:1-11

The servants of the Lord are deeply afflicted by seeing ungodliness and violence prevail; especially among those who profess the truth. No man scrupled doing wrong to his neighbour. We should long to remove to the world where holiness and love reign for ever, and no violence shall be before us. God has good reasons for his long-suffering towards bad men, and the rebukes of good men. The day will come when the cry of…

Read the full comment on Habakkuk 1:1-11 →

Habakkuk 1:9 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כֻּלֹּה֙ku.Lohall of itH3605

לְחָמָ֣סle.cha.Masfor violenceH2555

יָב֔וֹאya.Vo'it comesH935

מְגַמַּ֥תme.ga.Mat[the] totality ofH4041

פְּנֵיהֶ֖םpe.nei.Hemfaces theirH6440

קָדִ֑ימָהka.Di.mah[is] east -wardH6921

וַיֶּאֱסֹ֥ףvai.ye.'e.Sofand it gatheredH622

כַּח֖וֹלka.Chollike <the> sandH2344

שֶֽׁבִי\׃She.vicaptive[s]H7628

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Habakkuk 1:9

Jeremiah 25:9
Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Psalms 139:18
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Job 29:18
Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
Habakkuk 2:5-13
Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people: Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. …
Judges 7:12
And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.
Deuteronomy 28:51-52
And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.
Genesis 41:49
And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.
Isaiah 27:8
In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
Habakkuk 1:6
For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.
Jeremiah 15:8
Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
Jeremiah 4:11
At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
Jeremiah 34:22
Behold, I will command, saith the Lord, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

for.
6; 2:5-13; De 28:51,52; Jer 4:7; 5:15-17; 25:9
their faces shall sup up as the east. or, the supping up oftheir faces, as, etc. or, their faces shall look toward the east. Heb. the opposition of their faces shall be toward the east.
Isa 27:8; Jer 4:11; Eze 17:10; 19:12; Ho 13:15
they shall gather.
2:5; Ge 41:49; Jud 7:12; Job 29:18; Ps 139:18; Jer 15:8; 34:22
Ho 1:10; Ro 9:27

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Habakkuk 1:8
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
Habakkuk 1:9
They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
Habakkuk 1:10
And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

Read all of Habakkuk 1

Habakkuk 1:9 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Toda ella vendrá á la presa: delante de sus caras viento solano; y juntará cautivos como arena.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Ils viennent tous pour la violence; leurs faces sont toutes ensemble tournées en avant; ils rassemblent les captifs comme le sable.
German Elberfelder 1871	Sie kommen zur Gewalttat allesamt; das Streben ihrer Angesichter ist vorwärts gerichtet, und Gefangene rafft es zusammen wie Sand.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Omnes ad prædam venient, facies eorum ventus urens; et congregabit quasi arenam captivitatem.