Bible Strands
Habakkuk 1:4
Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Habakkuk addresses YHWH directly, escalating from the complaint in verse 3 to diagnose the specific failure: the legal system itself has broken down.
The words — תָּפ֣וּג (ta.Fug), "it grows numb," is the verb that animates the verse — the law is not merely inactive but paralyzed, like a limb cut off from sensation.
The thread — The same frustration appears in Job 21:7 (wicked growing old in power) and Psalms 94:20 (a corrupt throne devising mischief), while Psalms 119:126 frames it as a call for God to act because the law has been broken.
Why it lands — It forces the reader to name the specific mechanism by which injustice operates — not abstract evil but the perverting of the very institutions meant to prevent it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
Cross-references
- Job 21:7 Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
- Psalms 94:20 Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree?
- Psalms 119:126 It is time for the LORD to act, for they have broken Your law.
- Isaiah 1:21 See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers!
- Jeremiah 12:1 Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
- Ezekiel 9:9 He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’
- Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter.
- Isaiah 59:13 rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.
- Exodus 23:2 You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
- Exodus 23:6 You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.