Hab 1:14-16 | JFB | STEP | 14. And-- that is, And so, by suffering oppressors to go unpunished, "Thou makest men as the fishes ... that have no ruler"; that is, no defender. All may fish in the sea with impunity; so the Chaldeans with impunity afflict Thy people, as these have no longer the God of the theocracy, their King, to defend them. Thou reducest men to such a state of anarchy, by wrong going unpunished, as if there were no God. He compares the world to the sea; men to fishes; Nebuchadnezzar to a fisherman ( ).

‏ Habakkuk 1:14-16

14. And--that is, And so, by suffering oppressors to go unpunished, "Thou makest men as the fishes ... that have no ruler"; that is, no defender. All may fish in the sea with impunity; so the Chaldeans with impunity afflict Thy people, as these have no longer the God of the theocracy, their King, to defend them. Thou reducest men to such a state of anarchy, by wrong going unpunished, as if there were no God. He compares the world to the sea; men to fishes; Nebuchadnezzar to a fisherman (Ha 1:15-17).

15. 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. Some they take up as with the hook, one by one; others in shoals, as in a "net" and "drag" or enclosing net.

therefore--because of their successes.

they rejoice--They glory in their crimes because attended with success (compare Ha 1:11).

16. sacrifice unto their net--that is, their arms, power, and military skill, wherewith they gained their victories; instead of to God. Compare Ha 1:11, Maurer's interpretation. They idolize themselves for their own cleverness and might (De 8:17; Is 10:13; 37:24, 25).

by them--by their net and dragnet.

their portion--image from a banquet: the prey which they have gotten.