Books of the Bible

The Book of Habakkuk

Old Testament · Minor Prophets · Genre: Prophecy · Author: The prophet Habakkuk · Chapters: 3

Habakkuk is a prophet who dares to question God, asking why he tolerates injustice and why he would use a wicked nation to judge his people. God answers, and Habakkuk moves from complaint to one of the Bible's greatest declarations of faith and joy in God alone.

Start reading: Habakkuk chapter 1

A key verse

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.Habakkuk 2:4 (KJV)

The setting and background of Habakkuk

Habakkuk is one of the twelve Minor Prophets, active in the last years of the kingdom of Judah, as the Babylonian empire was rising. Unlike most prophetic books, which speak from God to the people, Habakkuk is a dialogue in which the prophet brings his hardest questions directly to God and waits for an answer.

The book moves through two complaints and God's answers, and ends with a magnificent prayer and hymn of faith. Habakkuk asks why God tolerates injustice and why he would use a nation more wicked than Judah to judge it, and he receives the answer that the proud will fall but the just shall live by faith. His questions become worship.

Habakkuk was written to help God's people trust him when his ways are hard to understand. Its central word, that the just shall live by his faith, is quoted three times in the New Testament and became a foundation of the gospel. In the sweep of Scripture, its call to live by faith and its closing joy amid loss point to the salvation and joy given in Christ.

The story and structure of Habakkuk

Habakkuk prophesied in the last years of the kingdom of Judah, as the Babylonian empire was rising to power. Unlike most prophetic books, which are addressed from God to the people, Habakkuk is a dialogue in which the prophet brings his hardest questions directly to God and waits for an answer.

Habakkuk begins with a complaint: how long must he cry out about the violence and injustice around him before God acts? God answers that he is indeed about to act, but in a way that only deepens the prophet's distress, for he is raising up the Babylonians, a ruthless and idolatrous nation, as his instrument of judgment.

This provokes Habakkuk's second question, even harder than the first: how can a holy God use a nation more wicked than Judah to punish his own people? He takes his stand like a watchman on the tower, resolved to wait for God's reply, refusing to let go of his questions or of his God.

God's answer gives Habakkuk a principle to live by in the confusion. The proud will not endure, but the just shall live by his faith, a line the New Testament seizes as a summary of the gospel. God assures him that the arrogant oppressor will fall, that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of his glory, and that the Lord is in his holy temple.

The book ends with one of the most stunning declarations of faith in all of Scripture. Even if the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vine, even if the flocks and herds fail, Habakkuk resolves to rejoice in the Lord and to find his strength in the God of his salvation. His questions have become worship.

The great themes of Habakkuk

Key passages in Habakkuk

Habakkuk in the sweep of Scripture

Habakkuk holds a special place among the prophets as a book of honest struggle that ends in triumphant faith. Its central word, that the just shall live by his faith, is quoted three times in the New Testament and became a foundation of the gospel and a rallying cry of the Reformation. Its closing hymn of joy amid loss has strengthened believers in every age to trust God when everything else is stripped away.

Where Christ is in Habakkuk

Habakkuk's word that the just shall live by faith becomes a cornerstone of the gospel of Jesus, the truth that we are made right with God not by our works but by trusting in him, unfolded at length in the New Testament letters. The God whom Habakkuk learned to rejoice in even amid ruin is the God who gives us, in Christ, a salvation and a joy that no earthly loss can take away.

How to read Habakkuk well

Read Habakkuk when God's ways confuse you and injustice troubles your faith, following the prophet's path from honest questions to settled trust. Learn to take your stand and wait for God's answer rather than turning away, and let his word that the just shall live by faith steady you. Above all, let the book's closing hymn teach you to rejoice in the Lord even when the fig tree does not blossom, finding your strength in the God of your salvation.

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