BOOK 35 OF 66 · MINOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Habakkuk 2

Habakkuk book home•Chapter 2 of 3•20 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Habakkuk 2 Overview

Habakkuk stands upon his watch to receive the LORD’s answer. The vision is certain even if it seems delayed: the proud soul is not upright, “but the just shall live by his faith.” Five woes then condemn Babylon’s plunder, unjust gain, violence, exploitation, and idolatry. The chapter ends with the LORD in His holy temple and all the earth called to silence before Him.

HabakkukBook

2Chapter

20Verses

Minor ProphetsDivision

Before you read Habakkuk 2

Coming from

Habakkuk 1 ended with the prophet asking how the holy God could use violent Babylon to judge people more righteous than itself.

In this chapter

The LORD answers by contrasting proud self-reliance with faithful endurance and then assures Habakkuk that Babylon’s sins are themselves marked for judgment.

Leads into

Habakkuk 3 turns doctrine into worship. The prophet remembers the LORD’s mighty acts, trembles before coming judgment, and ends by rejoicing in God even if every visible source of food and prosperity fails.

Key understandingExplore deeper

“The just shall live by his faith” is the theological center of the book. In context it contrasts faithful reliance on God with Babylon’s proud self-exaltation. The New Testament quotes the verse in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38, giving it major importance in explaining righteousness, faith, and perseverance.

The command to write the vision plainly does not mean fulfillment is immediate. The LORD explicitly says the vision awaits an appointed time and will surely come.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Faith rests on God’s certainty when circumstances remain unresolved

The vision may tarry from the human perspective, but it will not fail.

Pride and faith move in opposite directions

Babylon’s soul is lifted up; the just lives by faith.

Exploitative success contains the seeds of reversal

Each woe shows Babylon’s gain turning into accusation and judgment.

Idols are powerless before the living LORD

Crafted images cannot teach or speak, while the LORD truly reigns in His holy temple.

God’s glory will fill the earth

Violent imperial ambition will not have the final word.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Romans 1:17

Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 while introducing the gospel revelation of the righteousness of God by faith.

Galatians 3:11

Paul uses the verse to show that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God.

Hebrews 10:35–39

Hebrews quotes Habakkuk 2:3–4 in an exhortation to confidence and faithful endurance.

Isaiah 11:9

The earth being filled with knowledge of the LORD’s glory resonates with Isaiah’s vision of worldwide knowledge of the LORD.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not reduce Habakkuk 2:4 to mere optimism

Biblical faith rests on the trustworthy God and His word.

Do not teach that faithful endurance earns eternal life

The New Testament uses Habakkuk 2:4 to emphasize righteousness by faith, not justification by works.

Do not use “the vision” as a blank check for personal dreams or goals

Habakkuk refers to a specific revelation given by the LORD.

Read Habakkuk 2 watching for…

The contrast between the proud and the just.

The timing language surrounding the vision.

Each of the five woes and the sin it condemns.

Repeated reversal: what Babylon did to others returns upon it.

The contrast between silent idols and the LORD in His holy temple.

Chapter outline6 sections

1-5Habakkuk waits for the answer, and the LORD says the vision is appointed, the proud is not upright, and the just shall live by faith 6-8The first woe condemns plunder, for those who spoiled many nations will themselves be spoiled 9-11The second woe condemns covetous gain and false security that bring shame upon a house 12-14The third woe condemns building with blood while promising that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD’s glory 15-17The fourth woe condemns humiliating others through drunkenness and declares that shame and violence will return on the offender 18-20The final woe exposes lifeless idols, while the LORD is in his holy temple and all the earth is called to silence before him

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:

Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!

Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!

Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul.

For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!

Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.

For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

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Habakkuk 2:9

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