Habakkuk 1:15
in Habakkuk 1The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad.
KJV
They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
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This verse in Habakkuk 1
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verses 15 and following) He lifted the whole thing on his hook, he pulled it into his net, and gathered it into his seine: over this he will rejoice and exult. Therefore he sacrifices to his seine, and offers to his net, for in them his portion has become fat, and his food is choice: because of this he spreads out his seine, and never stops killing nations.
This site's exposition
as the fishes of the sea
on Habakkuk 1:14-17
The chapter closes on humanity reduced to catch, men made as the fishes of the sea, hooked, netted, dragged, with no ruler over them to answer for their capture, so that the fisherman rejoices over the very cruelty of the haul. Habakkuk's sharpest charge follows, therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag, the Chaldean's own war machine turned into an object of worship because it delivers a fat portion and plenteous meat. Pusey and Wesley read the image as idolatry of power stated plainly, a nation worshiping the instrument of its own conquest rather than the God who permitted it. The chapter ends on a question left hanging, shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations, and chapter 2 opens with the prophet climbing his watchtower to wait for the answer.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Note, There is a proneness in us to take the glory of our outward prosperity to ourselves, and to say, My might, and the power of my hands, have gotten me this wealth, Deut. viii. This is idolizing ourselves, sacrificing to the dragnet, because it is our own, which is as absurd a piece of idolatry as sacrificing to Neptune or Dagon.
3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. 4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
They take up all of them with the angle,....
Such variety of methods have they to destroy those by whom they hope to enrich themselves. (4.) They gloried in what they got, and pleased themselves with it, though it was got dishonestly: Their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous; they prosper in their oppression and fraud; they have a great deal, and it is of the best; their land is good, and they have abundance of it.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They take up all of them - (literally “he taketh up all of it”) the whole race as though it were one, With an angle; they catch them - literally, he sweepeth it away In their (his) net - One fisherman is singled out who partly by wiles (as by the bait of “an angle”), partly by violence (the net or drag) sweeps away and gathers as his own the whole kind.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
they take up all of them--all kinds of fishes, that is, men, as captives, and all other prey that comes in their way. with the angle--that is, the hook.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And You have made man before this wicked man - free as the fish of the sea, which anyone who wishes may catch.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֻּלֹּה֙ | kuloh | all of it | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בְּחַכָּ֣ה | bechakah | with a fish hook | H2443 → | |
| הֵֽעֲלָ֔ה | healah | he brings up | H5927 → | |
| יְגֹרֵ֣הוּ | yegorehu | he drags away it | H1641 → | |
| בְחֶרְמ֔וֹ | vechermo | in net his | H2764 → | 38 times |
| וְיַאַסְפֵ֖הוּ | veyaasfehu | and he gathers it | H622 → | 200 times |
| בְּמִכְמַרְתּ֑וֹ | bemikhmarto | in fishing net his | H4365 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֖ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| יִשְׂמַ֥ח | yismach | he rejoices | H8055 → | |
| וְיָגִֽיל׃ | veyagil | and he may be glad | H1523 → |
כֻּלֹּה֙all of it
kulohH3605 →5413 times
בְּחַכָּ֣הwith a fish hook
bechakahH2443 →
הֵֽעֲלָ֔הhe brings up
healahH5927 →
יְגֹרֵ֣הוּhe drags away it
yegorehuH1641 →
בְחֶרְמ֔וֹin net his
vechermoH2764 →38 times
וְיַאַסְפֵ֖הוּand he gathers it
veyaasfehuH622 →200 times
בְּמִכְמַרְתּ֑וֹin fishing net his
bemikhmartoH4365 →
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֖ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
יִשְׂמַ֥חhe rejoices
yismachH8055 →
וְיָגִֽיל׃and he may be glad
veyagilH1523 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 16:16But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain…
it leads to
- Micah 7:2
The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Habakkuk 1:14–15
You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler.
- Amos 4:2
The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
- Micah 7:2
Through
Amos 4:2The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 16:16
But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain…
- Psalms 89:35
Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness— I will not lie to David—
- Habakkuk 1:15–16
The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly.
- Amos 6:8
The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself—the LORD, the God of Hosts, has declared: “I abhor Jacob’s pride and detest his citadels, so I will deliver up the city and everything in it.”
- Jeremiah 16:16
Through
Psalms 10:9He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.
it leads to
- Psalms 17:12
like a lion greedy for prey, like a young lion lurking in ambush.
- Psalms 17:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
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About Habakkuk
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Habakkuk; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.