Habakkuk 1:17
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
American King James Version (AKJV)
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
American Standard Version (ASV)
Shall he therefore empty his net, and spare not to slay the nations continually?
Basic English Translation (BBE)
For this cause his net is ever open, and there is no end to his destruction of the nations.
Webster's Revision
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
World English Bible
Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
English Revised Version (ERV)
Shall he therefore empty his net, and not spare to slay the nations continually?
Clarke's Habakkuk 1:17 Bible Commentary
And not spare continually to slay the nation? - They are running from conquest to conquest; burning, slaying, sacking, and slaughtering. Like the fishermen, who throw cast after cast while any fish are to be caught, so Nebuchadnezzar is destroying one nation after another. This last sentence explains the allegory of the net.
Barnes's Habakkuk 1:17 Bible Commentary
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? - The prophet, like Isaiah Isa 18:4-5, stands at the very last point, before the fury and desire of the enemy was fulfilled. People, like fish, were gathered together for a prey; he who had taken them was rejoicing and exulting beforehand in his booty; his portion and meat were the choice of the earth; the prophet leeks on, as it were, and beholds the net full; there is but one step more; "Shall he empty it? Shall he then devour those whom he has caught? and so cast his emptied net again unceasingly, pitilessly, to slay the nations?" This question he answers in the next chapter - A Deliverer will come!
Wesley's Habakkuk 1:17 Bible Commentary
1:17 Empty their net - As fisher - men empty the full net to fill it again.