Albert Barnes Commentary Habakkuk 1:9

"They come all of them for violence; the set of their faces is forwards; and they gather captives as the sand." — Habakkuk 1:9 (ASV)

They shall come all for violence – "Violence" had been the sin of Judah (Habakkuk 1:3–4), and now violence shall be her punishment. It had been constantly before the prophet; all were full of it. Now violence shall be the very purpose, one by one, of all the savage horde poured out upon them; they all, each one of them, come for violence.

Their faces shall sup up as the east wind – קדומה occurs elsewhere only in (Ezekiel 11:1), and (Ezekiel 11:16) times in Ezekiel 40–48 of the ideal city and temple as “Eastwards.” But except in the far-fetched explanation of Abarb (mentioned also by Tanchum) that they ravaged, not to settle but to return home with their booty, “Eastwards” would have no meaning. Yet “forwards” is just as isolated a rendering as that adopted by John and D. Kimchi, A. E.

Rashi, Oh. Sip., Sal. B. Mel., and Arab Tr. (these, following Jonathan, interpret it as “the East-wind”; קדומה standing as a metaphor instead of a simile, the ה being regarded as paragogic, as in לילה. Symmachus also gives ἄνεμος καύσων anemos kausōn. And Jerome states: “ventus urens.”)

“As by the breath of the burning wind all green things dry up, so at the sight of these, all shall be wasted.”

They shall sweep over everything impetuously, like the east wind—scorching, blackening, blasting, swallowing up all as they pass over—just as the East wind, especially in the Holy Land, sucks up all moisture and freshness.

And they shall gather the captivity – that is, the captives.

As the sand – countless, like the particles that the East wind raises, sweeping over the sandy wastes, where it buries whole caravans in one death.