Habakkuk 1:4

Therefore the law is slacked, and right doth never go forth; for the wicked doth beset the righteous; therefore right goeth forth perverted.

JPS TaNaKH 1917

In The 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.

In Context

3Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and beholdest mischief? And why are spoiling and violence before me? so that there is strife, and contention ariseth.

5Look ye among the nations, and behold, and wonder marvellously; for, behold, a work shall be wrought in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.

Read all of Habakkuk 1

Cross References

Exodus 23:2Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou bear witness in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert justice;

Deuteronomy 16:19Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons; neither shalt thou take a gift; for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

Job 21:7Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, wax mighty in power?

Psalms 22:16(22-17) For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil-doers have inclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.

Psalms 59:2(59-3) Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from the men of blood.

Psalms 82:1A Psalm of Asaph. God standeth in the congregation of God; in the midst of the judges He judgeth:

Matthew Henry on Habakkuk 1:2-5

Habakkuk It is a very foolish fancy of some of the Jewish rabbin that this prophet was the son of the Shunamite woman that was at first miraculously given, and afterwards raised to life, by Elisha ( 2 Kings iv. ), as they say also that the prophet Jonah was the son of the widow of Zarephath, which Elijah raised to life. It is a more probable conjecture of their modern chronologers that he lived and prophesied in the reign of king Manasseh, when wickedness abounded, and destruction was hastening on, destruction by… Read the whole commentary →

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