Habakkuk 1:9
“They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →They come bent entirely on violence, faces set like a scorching wind, gathering captives as countless as sand.
What Does Habakkuk 1:9 Mean?
Every part of this army is aimed at one thing: violence. Their faces are set forward like the parching east wind that withers everything in its path, and they sweep up prisoners in numbers beyond counting, like grains of sand. Nothing slows them; no one escapes the net.
The relentlessness here is meant to be felt. A nation given wholly to plunder leaves a trail of captives in its wake, and Judah will be among them. Yet the same Scripture that records this devastation also records God's promise to remember mercy. Even when violence seems total and human resistance useless, the believer clings to the truth that the Lord numbers His people too — and that captivity, in His hands, is never the final word.
In the Original Language
qadim (קָדִים), 'east wind' — the hot desert blast that scorches crops, a picture of an advance that leaves ruin behind.