Habakkuk 1:9 (KJV)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 1:7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

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.

Habakkuk 1:11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "come", "violence", "faces", "east", and "wind". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "come", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Their horses also are swifter than the..." into verse 10's "And they shall scoff at the kings...", so "shall" and "come" belong inside that flow. In Habakkuk context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "come" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.