Behold, ye despisers - Hebrew, "Behold, ye among the pagan." The change from this expression to "ye despisers" was made by the Septuagint translators by a very slight alteration in the Hebrew word - probably from a variation in the copy which they used. It arose from reading בּוגדים bowgadiym instead of בגּוים bagowyim. The Syriac, the Arabic, as well as the Septuagint, follow this reading.

And wonder - Hebrew, "And regard, and wonder marvelously."

And perish - Thin is not in the Hebrew, but is in the Septuagint and the Arabic. The word means literally "to be removed from the sight; to disappear; and then to corrupt, defile, destroy," Matthew 6:16, Matthew 6:19. The word, however, may mean "to be suffused with shame; to be overwhelmed and confounded" (Schleusner); and it may perhaps have this meaning here, corresponding to the Hebrew. The word used here is not what is commonly employed to denote "eternal perdition," though Paul seems to use it with reference to their destruction for rejecting the gospel.

For I work a work - I do a thing. The thing to which the prophet Habakkuk referred was, that God would bring upon them the Chaldeans, that would destroy the temple and nation. In like manner Paul says that God in that time might bring upon the nation similar calamities. By rejecting the Messiah and his gospel, and by persevering in wickedness, they would bring upon themselves the destruction of the temple, the city, and the nation. It was this threatened destruction doubtless to which the apostle referred.

Which ye shall in no wise believe - Which you will not believe. So remarkable, so unusual, so surpassing anything which had occurred. The original reference in Habakkuk is to the destruction of the temple by the Chaldeans; a thing which the Jews would not suppose could happen. The temple was so splendid; it had been so manifestly built by the direction of God; it had been so long under his protection, that they would suppose that it could not be given into the hands of their enemies to be demolished; and even though it were predicted by a prophet of God, still they would not believe it. The same feelings the Jews would have respecting the temple and city in the time of Paul. Though it was foretold by the Messiah, yet they were so confident that it was protected by God, that they would not believe that it could possibly be destroyed. The same infatuation seems to have possessed them during the siege of the city by the Romans.

Though a man ... - Though it be plainly predicted. We may learn:

(1) That people may be greatly amazed and impressed by the doings or works of God, and yet be destroyed.

(2) there may be a prejudice so obstinate that even a divine revelation will not remove it.

(3) the fancied security of sinners will not save them.

(4) there are people who will not believe in the possibility of their being lost, though it be declared by prophets, by apostles, by the Saviour, and by God. They will still remain in fancied security, and suffer nothing to alarm or rouse them. But,

(5) As the fancied security of the Jew furnished no safety against the Babylonians or the Romans, so it is true that the indifference and unconcern of sinners will not furnish any security against the dreadful wrath of God. Yet there are multitudes who live amidst the displays of God's power and mercy in the redemption of sinners, and who witness the effects of his goodness and truth in revivals of religion, who live to despise it all; who are amazed and confounded by it; and who perish.

Behold, ye despisers - There is a remarkable difference here between the Hebrew text in Habakkuk, and that in the Septuagint, which is a little abridged here by St. Paul. I shall exhibit the three texts. Heb: -

ראו בגוים והביטו והתמהו תמהו כי פעל פעל בימיכם לא תאמינו כי יספר

Reu bagoyim vehabitu vehitammehu; temehu; ki poal poel bimeycem, lo teaminu hi yesupar.

Behold, ye among the heathen, (nations), and regard, and be astonished; be astonished, for I am working a work in your days, which; when it shall be told, ye will not credit.

See Houbigant.

Sept.

Ιδετε οἱ καταφρονηται, και επιβλεψατε, και θαυμασατε θαυμασια, και αφανισθητε· διοτι εργον εγω εργαζομαι εν ταις ἡμεραις ὑμων, ὁ ου μη πιϚευσητε, εαν τις εκδιηγηται ὑμιν.

See, ye despisers, and look attentively, and be astonished, (or hide yourselves), for I work a work in your days, which, if any one will tell to you, ye will not believe.

St. Luke.

Ιδετε οἱ καταφρονηται, [και επιβλεψατε], και θαυμασατε, [θαυμασια], και αφανισθητε· ὁτι εργον εγω εργαζομαι εν ταις ἡμεραις ὑμων, εργον ᾡ ου μη πιϚευσητε, εαν τις εκδιηγηται ὑμιν.

Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and be astonished, (or hide yourselves), for I work a work in your days, which, if any one will tell unto you, ye will not believe.

I have taken Luke's quotation from the best MSS., and I have quoted the Septuagint according to the Codex Alexandrinus; and the quotations are exactly the same, not only in words, but almost in letters, with the exception of επιβλεψατε and θαυμασια which the evangelist omits, and which I have included in crotchets in the text of St. Luke, merely that the place of the omission may be the better seen. It may now be necessary to inquire how St. Luke and the Septuagint should substitute ye despisers, for ye among the heathen, in the Hebrew text?

Without troubling myself or my readers with laborious criticisms on these words, with which many learned men have loaded the text, I will simply state my opinion, that the prophet, instead of בגוים bagoyim, among the heathen, wrote בגדים bogadim, despisers, or transgressors: a word which differs only in a single letter, ד daleth, for ו vau; the latter of which might easily be mistaken by a transcriber for the other, especially if the horizontal stroke of the ד daleth happened to be a little faint towards the left; as, in that case, it would wear the appearance of a ו vau; and this is not unfrequently the case, not only in MSS., but even in printed books. It seems as evident as it can well be that this gives the word which the Septuagint found in the copy from which they translated: their evidence, and that of the apostle, joined to the consideration that the interchange of the two letters mentioned above might have been easily made, is quite sufficient to legitimate the reading for which I contend. Houbigant and several others are of the same mind.

The word αφανισθητε, which we translate perish, signifies more properly disappear, or hide yourselves; as people, astonished and alarmed at some coming evil, betake themselves to flight, and hide themselves in order to avoid it.

Behold, ye despisers,.... In Habakkuk 1:5 from whence these words are taken: we render it with others, "behold ye among the Heathen"; as if the word was compounded of "in", and "nations" or "Heathens"; and so reads the Chaldee paraphrase, "look among the people"; but the Septuagint version renders it, "behold, ye despisers"; which the apostle is thought to follow; wherefore some have imagined a different reading, and that the Septuagint, instead of reads the singular of which is used in Habakkuk 2:5 and there rendered a "despiser" in the same version: but it should be observed, that the Septuagint is not the only version that so renders the word; for the Syriac version renders it, "behold, ye impudent"; and the Arabic version, "behold, ye negligent"; and Dr. Pocock (r) has shown that this word comes from the root which though not to be found in the Bible, yet in the Arabic language, among other things, signifies to behave proudly, or insolently, and so is very properly rendered "despisers", without supposing any different reading or corruption in the text: and as in Habakkuk the proud and haughty Jews are there spoke to, who neglected and despised the law; this is accommodated by the apostle to the Jews in his time, who were very much disposed to despise the Gospel, as they generally did. It follows, "and wonder, and perish"; or disappear, or change countenance, through shame for their sins, and amazement at the judgments of God upon them:

for I work a work in your days, which you shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you; which, in Habakkuk, refers to the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; and here it is suggested, by the citation and application of it, that in a short time a like work would be done in their days; the city and temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Romans, which when told to the Jews in foreign parts, as here in Pisidia, would not be believed by them, though it should be told them by men of probity and credit.

(r) Not. Misc. in Porta Mosis, c. 3. p. 31, 32. &c.

Perish (ἀφανίσθητε)

Lit., vanish.

Declare (ἐκδιηγῆται)

Only here and Acts 15:3. See on shew, Luke 8:39. The word is a very strong expression for the fullest and clearest declaration: declare throughout.

Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

13:41 Behold... and wonder. Freely quoted from Hab 1:5. His words referred primarily to the invasion of the Chaldeans, but reached beyond to a greater punishment for the greater sin of rejecting Christ. Only a few years after Paul quoted this at Antioch the despisers wondered and perished in the awful calamity of the Jewish nation, brought on by refusing the Savior.

13:41 I work a work which ye will in nowise believe - This was originally spoken to those, who would not believe that God would ever deliver them from the power of the Chaldeans. But it is applicable to any who will not believe the promises, or the works of God. Hab 1:5.

Margin work

See, Hab 1:5.

41. ye will not believe though a man declare it unto you-that is, even on unexceptionable testimony. The words, from Hab 1:5, were originally a merciful but fruitless warning against the approaching destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans and the Babylonish captivity. As such nothing could more fitly describe the more awful calamity impending over the generation which the apostle addressed.

13:38-41 Let all that hear the gospel of Christ, know these two things: 1. That through this Man, who died and rose again, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Your sins, though many and great, may be forgiven, and they may be so without any injury to God's honour. 2. It is by Christ only that those who believe in him, and none else, are justified from all things; from all the guilt and stain of sin, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. The great concern of convinced sinners is, to be justified, to be acquitted from all their guilt, and accepted as righteous in God's sight, for if any is left charged upon the sinner, he is undone. By Jesus Christ we obtain a complete justification; for by him a complete atonement was made for sin. We are justified, not only by him as our Judge but by him as the Lord our Righteousness. What the law could not do for us, in that it was weak, the gospel of Christ does. This is the most needful blessing, bringing in every other. The threatenings are warnings; what we are told will come upon impenitent sinners, is designed to awaken us to beware lest it come upon us. It ruins many, that they despise religion. Those that will not wonder and be saved, shall wonder and perish.