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Old TestamentProphecy

Habakkuk

3Chapters
56Verses
0Notes
0Reflections
Book Introduction

Habakkuk is a prophet's argument with God, recorded for everyone who has ever asked why. He begins with a complaint: violence and injustice flourish in Judah, and God seems silent. God's answer staggers him, judgment is coming through the Babylonians, and prompts a harder question: how can a holy God use a nation more wicked than its victims? The reply becomes one of Scripture's load-bearing sentences: the righteous shall live by his faith. The book closes not with answers but with a sung prayer, and one of the Bible's most defiant confessions: though every harvest fails, yet I will rejoice.

Author

Habakkuk the prophet; the book tells us nothing more of him.

Date

Around 609–605 BC, as Babylon rose to power.

Audience

Judah, facing internal injustice and the looming Babylonian threat.

Purpose

To wrestle honestly with God's ways in a violent world, teaching that the righteous live by faith.

Key Themes
Questioning God honestlyLiving by faithGod's use of nationsWaiting for the visionJoy despite everything
Book Outline
1:1–4First complaint: why silence?
1:5–2:1God's answer; a harder question
2:2–20The vision and five woes
3Habakkuk's prayer and defiant joy
Key Verses
ALL CHAPTERS3 chapters