Habakkuk 1:4 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Habakkuk 1:1-4

We are told no more in the title of this book (which we have, Hab. 1:1) than that the penman was a prophet, a man divinely inspired and commissioned, which is enough (if that be so, we need not ask concerning his tribe or family, or the place of his birth), and that the book itself is the burden which he saw; he was as sure of the truth of it as if he had seen it with his bodily eyes already accomplished. Here, in these verses, the prophet sadly laments the iniquity of the times, as one... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 1:4

Therefore the law is slacked ,.... Is not put into execution against offenders: the civil magistrates, whose office it is to do justice according to law, are dilatory, and do not proceed with vigour and spirit against the transgressors of it, and in favour of honest and good men oppressed: or "it intermits" F18 תפוג "intermittitur", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Burkius; פוג "est, animi deliquium pati", Tarnovius. , or is "intermitted"; it is like a man whose pulse... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Habakkuk 1:4

The law is slacked - They pay no attention to it; it has lost all its vigor, its restraining and correcting power, it is not executed; right judgment is never pronounced; and the poor righteous man complains in vain that he is grievously oppressed by the wicked, and by those in power and authority. That the utmost depravity prevailed in the land of Judah is evident from these verses; and can we wonder, then, that God poured out such signal judgments upon them? When judgment doth not proceed... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Habakkuk 1:4

Verse 4 The Prophet confirms here what I have already said, and brings an excuse for his zeal; he proves that he was not without reason led to so great a warmth; for he saw that the law of God was trodden as it were under foot; he saw men so hardened in every kind of sin, that all religion and the fear of God had nearly been extinguished. Hence I have already said, that the Prophet was not here impelled by a carnal passion, as it often happens to us, when we defend ourselves from wrongs done to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Habakkuk 1:1-4

The cry of a good man under the perplexing procedure of God. "The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thee wilt not save!" etc. Of Habakkuk nothing is known for certainty. The fifth and sixth verses of the first chapter tell us that he prophesied before that series of invasions by the Chaldeans which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people—probably between 640... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Habakkuk 1:2-4

2. The prophet complains to God of the iniquity of his own nation, and its consequence. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Habakkuk 1:2-4

The elegy. In this brief and plaintive strain we have— I. AN EARNEST HEART REFLECTING UPON THE PREVAILING INIQUITY . Whatever may have been the exact date of this prophecy, it is clear that the writer stood connected with the close of the kingdom of Judah, the eve of the Captivity, and that he presents to us, in a few graphic touches, a vivid description of the depravity then prevailing in the land. He bitterly laments over: 1 . The insecurity of property. ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Habakkuk 1:4

Therefore . Because God has not interfered to put an end to this iniquity, or because of the want of righteous judges, the following consequences ensue. The Law is slacked. The Law. Torah, the revealed code which governed the moral, domestic, and political life, "is chilled," is benumbed ( Genesis 45:26 ), is no longer of any force or efficacy, is become a dead letter. διασκέδασται "is dispersed"; lacerata est (Vulgate). Judgment doth never go forth; i.e. right is powerless,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Habakkuk 1:4

Therefore - i. e., Because God seemed not to awake to avenge His own cause, people promised themselves that they might sin on with impunity. Sin produces sin, and wrong produces wrong; it spreads like an infectious disease, propagating itself, and each, to whom it reaches, adds to its poison. At last, it reached those also, who should be in God’s stead to restrain it. The divine law itself is silenced, by the power of the wicked, by the sin of the judge, the hopelessness of all. When all around... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Habakkuk 1:2-4

Habakkuk 1:2-4. O Lord, how long shall I cry, &c. How long shall I complain unto thee of might overcoming right, and thou wilt not save or prevent it? The prophet here proposes the common objection against Providence, taken from the prosperity of the wicked, and their oppression of the righteous, which has often been a stumbling-block even to good men: see Jeremiah 12:1; Job 12:6; and Job 21:7; Psalm 37., 73. Why dost thou show me iniquity? Why hast thou caused me to live in such... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Habakkuk 1:1-4

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 1:4

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Habakkuk 1:4

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Habakkuk 1:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Habakkuk 1:1-4

The Pulpit Commentary - Habakkuk 1:2-4

The Pulpit Commentary - Habakkuk 1:2-4

The Pulpit Commentary - Habakkuk 1:4

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Habakkuk 1:4

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Habakkuk 1:2-4

Group of Brands