Habakkuk 1:3

Hab 1:3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause [me] to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence [are] before me: and there are [that] raise up strife and contention.

Ver. 3. Why dost thou show me iniquity? &c.] These were Hazaels to Habakkuk’s eyes, he could not see them with dry eyes, he could not but vex his righteous soul from day to day, as Lot did at Sodom, with their unlawful deeds, 2Pe 2:8, privately committed (as here in their common commerce), and publicly, as in the next words, in courts and consistories; for all was out of order.

And cause me to behold grievance] Molestation and mischief done to those that would live peaceably in the land, {Psa 7:14; Psa 7:16; Psa 94:20; Psa 55:11} to the poor that are fallen into their nets, debts, bonds, and mortgages, Psa 10:9. It is as if the prophet should say, Why dost thou not punish these enormous practices, but suffer evildoers to abuse thy longsufferance, to thy dishonour? Averroes, the philosopher, drew an argument from God’s patience to deny his providence. But what saith Austin? Some wicked God punisheth here, lest his providence, and but some, lest his patience and promise of judgment, should be called in question.

For spoiling and violence are before me] E regione mei vastatio et violentia, so that I cannot look beside them, I cannot but complain of them. Elijah and Jeremiah were more passionate, 1Ki 19:4; 1Ki 19:10; 1Ki 19:14 Jer 15:10; Jer 20:14.

And there are that raise up strife and contention] These are Satan’s seeds men, and kindling coals. He is an unquiet spirit, and strives to make others so; loves to fish in troubled waters, doth all he can to set one man against another, that he may prey upon both; as the master of the pit suppeth upon the bodies of those cocks whom he hath set to kill one another. Be not mischief maker, seeds men of sedition.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:3 In Habakkuk’s day, destruction and violence permeated Judean society (see Habakkuk Book Introduction, “Setting”).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

cause me to behold grievance--MAURER denies that the Hebrew verb is ever active; he translates, "(Wherefore) dost Thou behold (without doing aught to check) grievance?" The context favors English Version.

there are that raise up strife and contention--so CALVIN. But MAURER, not so well, translates, "There is strife, and contention raises itself."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. And cause me to behold grievance] עמל amal, labour, toil, distress, misery, &c., the common fruits of sin.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He afterwards adds, How long wilt thou show me iniquity, and make me to see trouble? Here the Prophet briefly relates the cause of his indignation,—that he could not, without great grief, yea, without anguish of mind, behold such evils prevailing among God’s chosen people; for they who apply this to the Chaldeans, do so strainedly, and without any necessity, and they have not observed the reason which I have stated—that the Prophet does not here teach the Jews, but prepares them for a coming judgement, as they could not but see that they were justly condemned, since they were proved guilty by the cry and complaints made by all the godly.

Now this passage teaches us, that all who really serve and love God, ought, according to the Prophet’s example, to burn with holy indignation whenever they see wickedness reigning without restraint among men, and especially in the Church of God. There is indeed nothing which ought to cause us more grief than to see men raging with profane contempt for God, and no regard had for his law and for divine truth, and all order trodden under foot. When therefore such a confusion appears to us, we must feel roused, if we have in us any spark of religion. If it be objected, that the Prophet exceeded moderation, the obvious answer is this,—that though he freely pours forth his feelings, there was nothing wrong in this before God, at least nothing wrong is imputed to him: for wherefore do we pray, but that each of us may unburden his cares, his griefs, and anxieties, by pouring them into the bosom of God? Since, then, God allows us to deal so familiarly with him, nothing wrong ought to be ascribed to our prayers when we thus freely pour forth our feelings, provided the bridle of obedience keeps us always within due limits, as was the case with the Prophet; for it is certain that he was retained under the influence of real kindness. Jeremiah did indeed pray with unrestrained fervor (Jeremiah 15:10): but his case was different from that of our Prophet; for he proceeds not here to an excess, as Jeremiah did when he cursed the day of his birth, and when he expostulated with God for being made a man of contention. But our Prophet undertakes here the defense of justice; for he could not endure the law of God to be made a sport, and men to allow themselves every liberty in sinning.

We now, then, see that the Prophet can be justly excused, though he expostulates here with God, for God does not condemn this freedom in our prayers; but, on the contrary, the end of praying is, that every one of us pour forth, as it is said in the Psalms, his heart before God. As, then, we communicate our cares and sorrows to God, it is no wonder that the Prophet, according to the manner of men, says, Why dost thou show me iniquity, and make me to see trouble? Trouble is to be taken here in an active sense, and the verb תבימ, tabith, has a transitive meaning. Some render it, Why dost thou look on trouble? as though the Prophet indignantly bore the connivance of God. But the context necessarily requires that this verb should be taken in a transitive sense. “Why dost thou show me iniquity?” and then, “and makest me to look on violence?” He says afterwards, in the third place, in my sight is violence. But I have said, that the word trouble is to be taken actively; for the prophet means not that he was worn out with weariness, but that wicked men were troublesome to the good and the innocent, as it is usually the case when a freedom in sinning prevails.

And why, he says, are violence and plunder in my sight? and there is he who excites, etc.? The verb נשא, nusha means not here to undertake, as some render it; but, on the contrary, to raise. Others render it, “Who supports,” but this is frigid. Therefore the translation which I have stated is the most suitable—And why is there one who excites strife and contention?

But the Prophet here accuses them only of sins against the second table of the law: he speaks not of the superstitions of people, and of the corrupted worship of God; but he briefly says, that they had no regard for what was just and right: for the stronger any one was, the more he distressed the helpless and the innocent. It was then for this reason that he mentioned iniquity, trouble, plunder, violence, contention, strife. In short, the Prophet here deplores, that there was now no equity and no brotherly kindness among the people, but that robberies, rapines, and tyrannical violence prevailed everywhere. It follows—

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(3) Why dost thou shew me iniquity? . . .—Better, Why dost thou show me distress and look upon grievance; oppression and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention exalts itself.” The question, “Why dost thou . . . look upon grievance?” is illustrated by Hab_1:13, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil.” Grievance, or “trouble wilfully caused.” Heb. âmâl, associated again with âven, a term of similar import, in Psa_10:7; Psa_55:11.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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” (Jer_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 (Hab_1:13 R.V. perverseness), properly “labour,” toil, has also the double sense of misery, pain, sorrow, travail (Isa_53:11), or mischief, wrongdoing (Psa_7:15; Psa_94:20; Isa_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, Jer_6:7; Jer_20:8; Eze_45:9; Amo_3:10. The term “spoiling” means violent mishandling when used of a person, destruction or devastation when said of a thing. Isa_13:6; Job_5:21-22; Hos_7:13; Psa_12:6. With “before me” comp. Jer_6:7.

there are that raise up strife] Rather as R.V.: and there is strife, and contention riseth up (for Heb. constr. cf. Psa_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 Jer_15:10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance?.... That is, wicked men, and such as give a great deal of trouble vexation, and grief to others, by their rapine and oppression; suggesting that he could not turn his eyes any where, but such persons presented themselves to his view; and that their wicked actions were performed by them openly and publicly, in the sight of all, without any shame or fear. So the Targum,

"why do I see oppressors, and behold those that do the labour of falsehood?''

For spoiling and violence are before me; in my sight and presence, though a prophet, and notwithstanding all my remonstrances, exhortations, and reproofs; such were the hardness, obstinacy, and impudence of this people; to such a height and pitch of iniquity were they arrived, as to regard not the prophets of the Lord. The Targum is,

"spoilers and robbers are before me:''

or, "against me" (q), as in the text; these sins were committed against him, he was injuriously used himself; or they were done to others, contrary to his advice and persuasion:

and there are that raise up strife and contention; in the kingdom, in cities, in families; in one man, brother, friend, and neighbour, against another; which occasion lawsuits, and in them justice is not done, as follows. It may be rendered, and "there shall be and is a man of strife"; so Japhet: "and he shall raise up contention"; one man given to strife will and does use great contention in communities, civil and religious.

(q) "contra me", Pagninus, Montanus; "e regione mei", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold - , or rather, “Why beholdest Thou grievance?” God seemed to reverse what He had said by Balaam Num 23:21, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, and hath not seen grievousness in Israel”; and in the Psalms Psa 10:14, “Thou hast seen, for thou (emphatic) beholdest grievousness and wrong, to put it in Thy hand,” i. e., Thou layest it up in Thy hand, to cast it back on the head of the evildoer. Now He seemed to behold it and leave it unpunished, which yet Habakkuk says to God below, He could not do Hab 1:13; “Thou canst not look upon iniquity.” What then did this mean? What was the solution?

All forms and shapes of sin are multiplied; oppressive “violence” , such as “covered the earth” before the flood, and brought it down; which Nineveh had to put away Jon 3:8, and it was spared; “iniquity,” i. e., what is unequal and contrary to truth, falsehood.

Grievance - literally, burdensome wearisome “toil”; “spoiling,” or open robbery; “strife and contention,” both through perversion of the law and, without it, through endless jarrings of man with man. Sin recoils on the sinner. So what he beholds is not “iniquity” only, but (in the same word) “vanity”; “grievance”; which is a burden both to him who suffers, and yet more to him who inflicts it. For nothing is so burdensome as sin, nothing so empty as wickedness. And while to him who suffers, the suffering is temporal, to him who inflicts it, it is eternal. And yet the prophet and whose prays against ungodliness, “must commiserate him who doth wrong yet more, since they hurt what is most precious, their own soul, and that eternally” . All then is full of evil. Wherever the prophet looks, some fresh violence is before him; it confronts him on every side; “strife hath arisen” , come up, exists where it was not before; “contention lifteth itself” on high, bowing down all beside.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Opposition. Septuagint, "the judge receives" bribes. (Haydock) --- Such was the state of Juda after Josias, Jeremias xxi. 12.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Why dost thou show me? it is a most unpleasing sight, and that which troubles me and every good man, to see unjust and injurious men without control, and unpunished, to act their iniquity; and yet, O God, thou not only permittest it to be done, but to be done in sight, and to the grief of thy servants: thus God showeth it, and it is not without just cause, though the cause be hidden.

Iniquity; men of iniquity and vanity, unrighteous toward men, and vain in their thoughts and practices of religion toward God.

And cause me to behold: this explains the former. Grievance: so it is in regard of the effect it hath upon beholders, and such as suffer by this iniquity; it is grief and sorrow to them, it is a grievance they groan under.

For spoiling, such as wasteth, and undoeth them that fall under it,

and violence, perverting judgment, and turning it into wormwood; or else it is a Hebraism, spoiling and violence, that is, most violent robbing and spoiling each other.

Are before me; every where I see it, to the breaking of mine heart.

There are that raise up strife; or, and there is strife, that is, little else but strife among men, occasioned by these oppressive practices.

And contention: so it will be a Hebraism, expressing endless contentions. It would bear, and judgment is taken away, which suits the next verse.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Why dost thou show meWhy dost thou let me see daily with my own eyes iniquity abounding, the very evil which Balaam says (Num_23:21) the Lord had not found in Israel? Cause me to behold grievance. This should be, Dost thou look upon perverseness? He asks how God can look on this evil and leave it unpunished. The LXX and the Vulgate translate the word amal "trouble," or "labour;" Keil, "distress." In this case it means the trouble and distress which a man inflicts on others, as wrong doing seems to be generally spoken of. Spoiling and violence are before me. "Spoiling" is robbery that causes desolation. "Violence" is conduct that wrongs one"s neighbour. The two words are often joined; e.g. Jer_6:7; Amo_3:10. Vulgate, praedam et injustitiam. These are continually coming before the prophet"s eyes. There are that raise up strife and contention; better, there is strife, and contention is raised. This refers to the abuse of the Law by grasping, quarrelsome nobles. Septuagint, "Against me judgment hath gone, and the judge receiveth bribes." So the Syriac and Arabic. The Vulgate gives, Factum est judicium, et contradictio potentior, where judicium is used in a bad sense.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Habakkuk continues his prayer to God.

Destruction and violence are before me

The words "destruction" and "violence" can be translated with a verbal phrase. The idiom "before me" means that Habakkuk witnesses these things happening. AT: "I witness people destroying things and acting violently" (See: Abstract Nouns and Idiom)

contention rises up

The word "contention" refers to conflict between people and can be translated with a verbal phrase. Habakkuk speaks of there being more contention between people as if contention rises up. AT: "there is more conflict between people" (See: Abstract Nouns and Metaphor)

the law is weakened

Habakkuk speaks of people not obeying or enforcing the law as if they had made the law weak and unable to act. AT: "no one enforces the law" (See: Metaphor)

the wicked surround the righteous

Habakkuk speaks of wicked people causing righteous people to suffer injustice as if the wicked people surrounded the righteous people. (See: Metaphor and Nominal Adjectives)

false justice goes out

Habakkuk speaks of judges giving decisions that they say are just but that are not as if "false justice" were going out to the people. AT: "judges give verdicts that are not just" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

iniquity

strife

raise

law

just

evil

righteous

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

iniquity plunder and violence.

and look upon mischief You look upon this mischief, but You do not help.

and the one who bears quarrel and strife endures And this wicked man who bears quarrel and strife, will live, remain in existence, and prosper.

endures He who bears quarrel and strife will endure. So did Jonathan render.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.