Habakkuk 1:13

You are too just ¹  to tolerate ²  evil; you are unable to condone ³  wrongdoing. So why do you put up with such treacherous people? ⁴  Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour ⁵  those more righteous than they are? ⁶ 

2Sa 4:11; 1Ki 2:32; Es 4:14; Job 15:15; Ps 5:4,5; Ps 10:1,2,15; Ps 11:4-7; Ps 34:15,16; Ps 35:22; Ps 37:12-15,32,33; Ps 50:3,21; Ps 56:1,2; Ps 73:3; Ps 83:1; Pr 31:8,9; Isa 21:2; Isa 33:1; Isa 64:12; Jer 12:1,2; Hab 1:3,4; Ac 2:23; Ac 3:13-15; 1Pe 1:15,16

¹ tn Heb “[you] are too pure of eyes.” God’s “eyes” here signify what he looks at with approval. His “eyes” are “pure” in that he refuses to tolerate any wrongdoing in his presence.

² tn Heb “to see.” Here “see” is figurative for “tolerate,” “put up with.”

³ tn Heb “to look at.” Cf. NEB “who canst not countenance wrongdoing”; NASB “You can not look on wickedness with favor.”

⁴ tn Heb “Why do you look at treacherous ones?” The verb בָּגַד (bagad, “be treacherous”) is often used of those who are disloyal or who violate agreements. See S. Erlandsson, TDOT 1:470-73.

⁵ tn Or “swallow up.”

⁶ tn Heb “more innocent than themselves.”