They all refers to the Babylonian soldiers, and Good News Translation makes this clearer by translating “Their armies.”

Come for violence means “come with the intention of conquering by force.” Good News Translation translates as “advance in violent conquest.”

Another way of rendering this clause is “Their armies advance conquering everyone violently”; or else one may restructure as follows: “As the Babylonian armies advance, they conquer everyone with great force and cruelty” or “… they use great force and cruelty to conquer everyone.”

In the second line of the verse, the Hebrew is practically unintelligible. The first of three Hebrew words that make up the line occurs nowhere else, and its meaning can only be guessed. Some scholars link it with a word meaning “to eat” (compare King James Version “their faces shall sup up”). Others link it with a different word meaning “to desire” (compare Revised Version “their faces are set eagerly”). A third group connect it with an Arabic root that means “to be abundant” and translate as “hordes” (New International Version). Perhaps New English Bible‘s “a sea of faces” follows this interpretation. Another group of scholars thinks that the traditional Hebrew text contains a mistake and needs to be corrected. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation both belong to this group, and both correct the problem word to one which means terror.

The third word of the Hebrew line means “east wind” (King James Version, Revised Version, Jerusalem Bible), “desert wind” (New International Version), or “stormwind” (New American Bible). Some scholars think that this word also contains a spelling mistake, and they correct it to give a word meaning “in front of.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation both make this change. Revised Standard Version says terror of them goes before them, and Good News Translation expresses this more clearly as “everyone is terrified as they approach.” For help on the translation of terror, see the comments on Nahum 2.6.

Another possibility is given in the Dead Sea Scroll commentary on Habakkuk: “the set of their faces is like the east wind.” This means that the Babylonians are as fierce as the hot east winds that blow toward Palestine from the desert.

There is no really satisfactory solution to these problems. The meaning given by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is clear and fits the context adequately, so translators may as well follow it rather than any of the other possibilities.

They gather captives like sand: the last line speaks of the effect of the Babylonian advance: they defeat their enemies and take many prisoners. Good News Translation makes the meaning of the comparison explicit with “Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand.” One can also render this clause as “take captives in great numbers like grains of sand.” The mention of (grains of) sand as a picture of vast quantity is common in the Old Testament (compare Gen 22.17; 41.49; Judges 7.12; 2 Sam 17.11). In certain languages where sand is not normally used as a figure for huge numbers, one may say “take so many people captive that it is impossible to count them.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• As all the Babylonian soldiers go forward (or, advance), they use great force and cruelty to conquer everyone. As they approach, the hearts of people everywhere are filled with fear. They take so many people captive that it is impossible to count them.

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on the Book of Habakkuk. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .