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Habakkuk 1

KJV · Chapter 1/3

1The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

3Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

4Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

5Behold 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.

6For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

7They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

8Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

9They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

10And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

11Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

12Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

13Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

14And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.

16Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.

17Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Habakkuk questions God about why He allows so much violence and injustice in Judah without acting; God answers that He will use the Babylonians (Chaldeans) as an instrument of judgment, which leaves the prophet even more perplexed.

Explanation

Unlike other prophets who speak directly to the people, Habakkuk structures his book as an honest dialogue between himself and God, beginning with a courageous complaint: 'O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?' He sees violence, injustice, and perverted laws in Judah and does not understand God's apparent silence. The divine answer is shocking: God is raising up the Chaldeans (Babylonians), an even more violent and merciless people, to correct Judah. This creates an even greater moral dilemma for the prophet: how can a greater evil be used to correct a lesser one? The application today: it is legitimate to bring hard questions and even honest complaints to God, and He does not always answer the way we expect, but He is willing to dialogue with those who seek Him sincerely.

Fun facts

  • The Chaldeans, mentioned in the chapter, refer to the people who founded the Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabopolassar and later Nebuchadnezzar, who would destroy Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C. — about twenty years after the probable date of this prophecy.
  • The dialogue format between prophet and God, with questions and answers openly recorded, is rare in prophetic literature and resembles the style of laments found in various Psalms and in the book of Job.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Habakkuk 1:1Habakkuk writes around the end of the 7th century BC, shortly before Babylon became Judah's great threat; unlike the other prophets, the book is a direct dialogue between the prophet and God, almost an argument, rather than a speech to the people.
  2. Habakkuk 1:2This is the book's first line: Habakkuk cries out to God about “violence” and asks how long he must cry without an answer — the whole book grows out of this bold complaint.
  3. Habakkuk 1:3The prophet doesn't understand why God lets him see so much injustice without doing anything about it — the question is sincere, almost a direct challenge.
  4. Habakkuk 1:4Habakkuk's first complaint isn't about a foreign enemy, it's about the injustice within Judah itself: laws that don't work, courts that don't deliver justice — the problem starts at home.
  5. Habakkuk 1:5God's answer begins with a warning: He is going to do something so unexpected that no one will believe it even when told — it sets the stage for the shocking revelation in the following verses.
  6. Habakkuk 1:6The “Chaldeans” are the Babylonians, the new empire God reveals He will use as an instrument of punishment against Judah — an answer that shocks the prophet, because he didn't expect God to use such a violent nation to correct His own.
  7. Habakkuk 1:7The Babylonians are described as a people who make their own rules: fearsome enough that they answer to no one but themselves.
  8. Habakkuk 1:8The Babylonian cavalry is compared to leopards, wolves, and eagles — pure terror at speed, coming from afar to devour like a starving predator.
  9. Habakkuk 1:9The Babylonian army advances only to cause destruction, gathering prisoners of war in countless numbers, like grains of sand.
  10. Habakkuk 1:10The Babylonians scoff even at kings and fortresses: for them, laying siege to a city is as easy as piling up dirt — no human power intimidates them.
  11. Habakkuk 1:11The empire sweeps through like a devastating wind, but the prophet already points out their error: they credit all this strength to their own pagan god, not to the Lord who actually raised them up.
  12. Habakkuk 1:12Habakkuk changes his tone: he acknowledges that God is eternal and holy, and that He used Babylon as an instrument of judgment — but he still doesn't understand how this is just.
  13. Habakkuk 1:13Here is the core of the book: if God is too pure to look at evil, how can He use a nation, Babylon, that is even crueler than Judah, to punish Judah? It's a question about justice the prophet asks without fear, and God doesn't rebuke him for asking.
  14. Habakkuk 1:14The prophet asks why God would leave men defenseless like fish in the sea, with no one to protect them from the greater predator.
  15. Habakkuk 1:15The image of the fisherman who pulls everything in with hook and net describes Babylon capturing entire nations — and rejoicing over the catch.
  16. Habakkuk 1:16The fisherman, Babylon, starts worshiping his own net, meaning his own military power, as if it were responsible for the abundance he gained.
  17. Habakkuk 1:17The chapter ends with the question that sums up the prophet's anguish: will this “fisherman” keep killing nations without end, forever?

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