Bible Strands
Habakkuk 1:9
All of them come bent on violence; their hordes advance like the east wind; they gather prisoners like sand.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Habakkuk describes the relentless advance of the Babylonian army during a period of divine judgment. He addresses God's declaration that this ruthless force will execute justice against Judah.
The words — The Hebrew phrase לְחָמָס (le/cha.Mas) literally means "for violence," while מְגַמָּת פְּנֵיהֶם (me.ga.Mat pe.nei./Hem) translates to "the totality of their faces." These terms depict a unified military force with a single, unyielding objective.
The thread — The motif of a gathered multitude executing judgment appears in Jeremiah 25:9, where God summons the families of the north. The "like sand" comparison for gathered masses echoes the abundance imagery in Genesis 41:49.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that historical conquests operate under sovereign permission rather than random chance. It requires the reader to confront the reality that divine justice may utilize ruthless instruments to accomplish its purposes.
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
They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Genesis 41:49 So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.
- Deuteronomy 28:51 They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish.
- Judges 7:12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.
- Job 29:18 So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.
- Psalms 139:18 If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.
- Isaiah 27:8 By warfare and exile You contended with her and removed her with a fierce wind, as on the day the east wind blows.
- Jeremiah 4:7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.
- Jeremiah 4:11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift;
- Jeremiah 5:15 Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.