Habakkuk 1:5

Behold, Ye Despisers

Quoted by the apostles in Acts 13:41, in the older Greek wording

Side by Side

The Older Text

Septuagint, translated before Messiah

Behold, ye despisers, and look, and wonder marvellously, and vanish: for I work a work in your days, which ye will in no wise believe, though a man declare it to you.

The Later Text

Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

Quoted in Acts 13:41

Paul in the synagogue at Antioch

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.

Your KJV reads: “among the heathen” in Habakkuk with the Masoretic, then “ye despisers” in Acts with the Greek.

See what changed and why ↓

What Your Bible Says

Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish.
Acts 13:40–41 KJV

Paul has just preached Yahushua raised from the dead to the synagogue at Antioch. He closes with a warning from Habakkuk: do not be the despisers who see Yahuah’s work and refuse to believe it.

What the Jewish Bible Says

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.
Habakkuk 1:5 KJV

In the later text there are no despisers. The prophet is told to look out among the nations. The warning to scoffers that Paul quoted is not there.

What Changed

The Hebrew for “among the nations” is baggoyim. The Greek translators read bogedim, the treacherous ones, the faithless. Written without vowels, the two words differ by one letter.

One reading sends the reader to watch the heathen. The other points at the unfaithful inside the camp. Paul used the second, and it fit his audience exactly.

The Warning Came True

One week later the same synagogue filled with envy and spoke “against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming” (Acts 13:45). Paul answered that they had judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life, “lo, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). The despisers of Habakkuk stood in front of him.

Which One Is Right?

The Greek Bible, made before Messiah, reads despisers.

Acts 13:41 reads despisers.

A Hebrew scroll, the Habakkuk commentary found at Qumran and written before Messiah, explains this verse as speaking of “the unfaithful,” the treacherous ones. That fits the reading the Greek translated.

The Masoretic text reads among the nations.

Purpose of the Change

This may be no more than one misread letter. The effect, though, is plain: the later reading turns the warning outward at the nations, while the older reading, the one Paul used, turns it on the unbelievers among Yahuah’s own people.

The Bottom Line

Paul did not change Habakkuk. He quoted the warning to despisers because the older text had it.

The warning was about refusing to believe what Yahuah plainly did. Revelation names where unbelief ends: “But the fearful, and unbelieving … shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it

The One Letter

Without vowels, “among the nations” is written בגוים. “Treacherous ones” can be written בגדים. The only difference is the third letter. A worn spot or a tired eye is enough to turn one into the other.

The Same Word Eight Verses Later

Habakkuk 1:13 uses bogedim in the Masoretic text itself: “wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously.” The Greek translates that word “despisers” there too. So “despisers” is how these translators rendered bogedim. In verse 5 they saw the same word.

And Perish

The Greek also adds a word at the end of the first line. Brenton’s English gives it as “and vanish.” Paul uses the very same Greek word, and the King James gives it as “and perish.” That word is not in the Masoretic line. Paul’s quotation carries the Greek wording through the whole verse.

An Honest Note

The next verse speaks of the Chaldeans, a nation, so many scholars think “among the nations” fits the context and keep it. The Qumran commentary’s copy of the verse is broken at this spot, so its witness rests on how it explains the verse, not on the verse line itself. This is a one-letter difference, not proof of deliberate tampering. What it does show is that Paul’s wording came from a real reading of Habakkuk, older than the Masoretic text.