What Is the Book of Habakkuk About? A Prophet Who Argues, Then Sings

Habakkuk is three chapters long and unusual among the prophets: most of them speak to people on God's behalf. Habakkuk speaks to God on people's behalf.

His two questions

First (1:2-4): how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Judah is full of violence and injustice — why is nothing being done?

God answers — and the answer is more disturbing than the question: I am raising up the Chaldeans (Babylon) to do it (1:6).

Second (1:12-17), immediately: that is worse. Why judge us using a nation more wicked than we are?

This is the hinge of the book — Habakkuk does not fall silent because God answered. He pushed back. And scripture kept the exchange.

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me.Habakkuk 2:1 (KJV)

What he does: climbs the tower

2:1 is the pivot: having asked, he does not walk away. He takes up a position and waits for the answer.

The action is concrete: not asking and moving on, and not supplying an answer on God's behalf, but standing there.

God's second answer

2:3-4 gives two key lines:

"The vision is yet for an appointed time… though it tarry, wait for it." — the delay is not denied.
"The just shall live by his faith." — later quoted by Paul in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11, and again in Hebrews 10:38, becoming one of the central texts of the Reformation.

Its original setting is not theological argument. It is what a man is told after being informed the wait will be long.

Chapter 3: the song at the end

The best-known part is the last four verses (3:17-19):

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

Note what the list covers: the entire livelihood of an agricultural society — fruit, grain, sheep, cattle. Nothing left.

This is not "things are alright so I am grateful". It is "there is nothing, and I will rejoice anyway". And it keeps the "although… yet" structure; the first half is not skipped.

Why it suits this season

If the year has gone badly, Habakkuk may fit better than any other book. It does not require you to first talk yourself into thinking things are fine.

The order it gives is: ask, keep asking, take up a position and wait, then sing when there is nothing.

How to read it

Three chapters, about ten minutes. Read it in one sitting and watch the tone move from 1:2 to 3:19 — the same man goes from "thou wilt not hear" to "I will rejoice in the LORD", with no improvement in circumstances anywhere in between.

Read Habakkuk in the BiblePro app. And do look for a local church to read alongside others.