He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.
The prophet, having received of the Lord that which he was to deliver to the people, now turns to God, and again addresses himself to him for the ease of his own mind under the burden which he saw. And still he is full of complaints.
Commenting on Habakkuk 1:12-17
They take up all of them with the angle,.... The prophet continues the metaphor of fishing, and observes the different ways of taking fish; which is to be applied to the case he is speaking of: as fishermen take all they can with their angles, so "they" or "he", for it is in the singular number, Nebuchadnezzar and his army, take up all out of...
they take up all of them--all kinds of fishes, that is, men, as captives, and all other prey that comes in their way. with the angle--that is, the hook. Some they take up as with the hook, one by one; others in shoals, as in a "net" and "drag" or enclosing net. therefore--because of their successes. they rejoice--They glory in their crimes because attended with success (compare Hab 1:11).