SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:9
Toda ella vendrá a la presa; delante de sus caras viento solano; y juntará cautivos como arena.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 1:9
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.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 9. They shall come all for violence , etc.] Or, “the whole of it” f42 ; the whole army of the Chaldeans, everyone of them; this would be their sole view, not to do themselves justice, as might be pretended, or avenge any injuries or affronts done to them by the Jews; but purely for the sake of spoil and plunder: their faces shall sup up [as] the east wind : their countenances will appear so stern and fierce, that their very looks will so frighten, as to cause men to sink and die through terror; just as herbs and plants shrivel up and wither away, when blasted by a nipping east wind. So the Targum, “the reception or look of their faces is like to a vehement east wind.”
Some render it, “the look or design of their faces is to the east f43 ;” when the Chaldeans were on their march to Judea, their faces were to the west or south west; but then their desire and views were, that when they had got the spoil they came for, as in the preceding clause, to carry it to Babylon, which lay eastward or north east of Judea, and thither their faces looked: and they shall gather the captivity as the sand ; or gather up persons, both in Judea, and in other countries conquered by them, as innumerable as the sand of the sea, and carry them captive into their own land. Captivity is put for captives.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-11 - The servants of the Lord are deeply afflicted by seeing ungodliness an violence prevail; especially among those who profess the truth. No ma 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 sin wil be heard against those that do wrong, and the cry of prayer for thos that suffer wrong. They were to notice what was going forward among the heathen by the Chaldeans, and to consider themselves a nation to be scourged by them. But most men presume on continued prosperity, or tha calamities will not come in their days. They are a bitter and hast nation, fierce, cruel, and bearing down all before them. They shal overcome all that oppose them. But it is a great offence, and the common offence of proud people, to take glory to themselves. The closing words give a glimpse of comfort.
Original Hebrew
כלה 3605 לחמס 2555 יבוא 935 מגמת 4041 פניהם 6440 קדימה 6921 ויאסף 622 כחול 2344 שׁבי׃ 7628
