Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
Parallel translations
- WEB Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
- BSB Will he, therefore, empty his net and continue to slay nations without mercy?
- NKJV Shall they therefore empty their net, And continue to slay nations without pity?
- NASB Will they therefore empty their net, And continually slay nations without sparing?
- NLT Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Habakkuk asks whether Babylon will be allowed to keep emptying its net, slaughtering nations endlessly without mercy. The question presses God on how long unchecked cruelty will continue.
Overview
The prophet closes his second complaint by asking if there is any limit to Babylon's merciless conquest. The implied appeal is that surely a just God will not let such slaughter go on forever. This honest pressing of God for justice sets up the divine answer in chapter 2, where God assures that the appointed end will come and the proud oppressor will fall.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jer 46:1–28The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;
- Jer 25:9–26Behold, 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.
- Jer 52:1–34Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
- Isa 14:6He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
- Isa 19:8The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
- Isa 14:16–17They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
- Ezek 25:1–17The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
- Hab 2:17For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
- Hab 2:5–8Yea 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:
- Hab 1:9–10They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
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Christ at the center
'The righteous shall live by his faith' (2:4) becomes a cornerstone of the gospel in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews — the faith that lays hold of Christ.
How Habakkuk 1:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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