Habakkuk 1:9 (LSB)

Passage

All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. And they gather captives like sand.

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 1:7 They are dreaded and feared; Their justice and exaltation come forth from themselves.

Habakkuk 1:8 Their horses are swifter than leopards And sharper than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping; Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.

Habakkuk 1:9 All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. And they gather captives like sand.

Habakkuk 1:10 And they mock at kings, And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress And heap up dirt and capture it.

Habakkuk 1:11 Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, They whose power is their god.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "come", "violence", "horde", "faces", "moves", "forward", "gather", and "captives". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "come" and "violence", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Their horses are swifter than leopards And..." into verse 10's "And they mock at kings And rulers...", so "come" and "violence" 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 "come" and "violence" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.