Habakkuk 1:4
in Habakkuk 1Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore the law is slacked, and justice doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore justice goeth forth perverted.
KJV
Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
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This verse in Habakkuk 1
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Ver. 3, 4.) And judgment and contradiction become more powerful: therefore the law is torn apart and judgment does not reach its end: because the wicked prevail against the just, therefore a perverse judgment proceeds. LXX: Judgment has been made against me, and the judge accepts it: therefore the law is torn apart and judgment does not reach its end: because the wicked prevail against the just, therefore a perverse judgment proceeds.
This site's exposition
Why do You make me see iniquity?
on Habakkuk 1:3-4
Habakkuk names what fills his sight, "iniquity," "wrongdoing," "Destruction and violence". So "the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth," because "the wicked hem in the righteous" in verse 4. John Gill and Adam Clarke set this in Judah under a wicked king, most likely Jehoiakim.
This site's exposition
the law is paralyzed
Therefore ties this verse to the delay of verse 2. Albert Barnes explains that when God seemed not to act, people promised themselves they could sin without penalty. Adam Clarke adds that the law lost its power to restrain because the courts no longer carried it out.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
) that the wicked doth compass about the righteous. One honest man, one honest cause, shall have enemies besetting it on every side; many wicked men, in confederacy against it, run it down; nay, one wicked man (for it is singular) with so many various arts of mischief sets upon a righteous man, that he perfectly besets him.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. 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.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Therefore - Because the wicked go on with impunity. The law - The whole law, moral, ceremonial, and judicial. Is slacked - Is slighted, and not observed.
Therefore the law is slacked,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Therefore--because Thou dost suffer such crimes to go unpunished. law is slacked--is chilled. It has no authority and secures no respect. judgment--justice. wrong judgment proceedeth--Decisions are given contrary to right.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The law is slacked - They pay no attention to it; it has lost all its vigor, its restraining and correcting power, it is not executed; right judgment is never pronounced; and the poor righteous man complains in vain that he is grievously oppressed by the wicked, and by those in power and authority. That the utmost depravity prevailed in the land of Judah is evident from these verses; and can we wonder, then, that God poured out such signal judgments upon them?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Therefore - i. e., Because God seemed not to awake to avenge His own cause, people promised themselves that they might sin on with impunity. Sin produces sin, and wrong produces wrong; it spreads like an infectious disease, propagating itself, and each, to whom it reaches, adds to its poison. At last, it reached those also, who should be in God’s stead to restrain it. The divine law itself is silenced, by the power of the wicked, by the sin of the judge, the hopelessness of all. When all around is evil, even those not yet lost are tempted to think; “Why should I be other than they? What evil befalls them? Why stand alone?” Even a Psalmist Psa 73:15, Psa 73:12-13 speaks as if tempted to “speak even as they. These are the ungodly who prosper in the world; they increase in riches; verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency;” and Solomon Ecc 8:11, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” The law is slacked - literally “is chilled” (as we say, “is paralyzed”), through lack of the fire of love. This is what our Lord says Mat 24:12, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. The divine law, the source of all right, being chilled in people’s hearts, “judgment,” i. e., the sentence of human justice, as conformed to divine justice, “doth never go forth.” Human sense of right is powerless, when there is not the love of God’s law. It seems always ready to act, but always falls short, like an arrow from an unstrung bow. The man seems always about to do right; he judges, sees, aright - all but does it - yet, at last, he always fails. “It goes not forth. […]
The words behind it
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּן֙ | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| תָּפ֣וּג | tafug | it grows numb | H6313 → | |
| תּוֹרָ֔ה | torah | [the] law | H8451 → | |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יֵצֵ֥א | yetze' | it comes forth | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| לָנֶ֖צַח | lanetzach | to perpetuity | H5331 → | |
| מִשְׁפָּ֑ט | mishpat | justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| רָשָׁע֙ | rasha' | [the] wicked | H7563 → | 263 times |
| מַכְתִּ֣יר | makhtir | [is] surrounding | H3803 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַצַּדִּ֔יק | hatzadik | the righteous [person] | H6662 → | 206 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֛ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| יֵצֵ֥א | yetze' | it comes forth | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| מִשְׁפָּ֖ט | mishpat | justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| מְעֻקָּֽל׃ | meukal | perverted | H6127 → |
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּן֙-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
תָּפ֣וּגit grows numb
tafugH6313 →
תּוֹרָ֔ה[the] law
torahH8451 →
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
יֵצֵ֥אit comes forth
yetze'H3318 →1067 times
לָנֶ֖צַחto perpetuity
lanetzachH5331 →
מִשְׁפָּ֑טjustice
mishpatH4941 →422 times
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
רָשָׁע֙[the] wicked
rasha'H7563 →263 times
מַכְתִּ֣יר[is] surrounding
makhtirH3803 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַצַּדִּ֔יקthe righteous [person]
hatzadikH6662 →206 times
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֛ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
יֵצֵ֥אit comes forth
yetze'H3318 →1067 times
מִשְׁפָּ֖טjustice
mishpatH4941 →422 times
מְעֻקָּֽל׃perverted
meukalH6127 →
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 12:1Righteous 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…
it leads to
- Malachi 3:15
So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”
- Psalms 92:7
that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
- Psalms 37:1
Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.
- Psalms 51:4
Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.
- Psalms 73:3–28
For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
- Malachi 3:15
Through
Job 21:7Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
it leads to
- Psalms 73:3–12
For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
- Job 12:6
The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands.
- Psalms 73:3–12
Through
Psalms 119:126It is time for the LORD to act, for they have broken Your law.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 8:8
How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,’ when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception?
- Jeremiah 8:8
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Justice34 verses
On this page
Studies5
About Habakkuk
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Habakkuk; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.