Habakkuk 1

¹ The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

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

³ Why 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.

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

⁵ Behold 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.

⁶ For, 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.

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

⁸ Their 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.

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

¹⁰ And 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.

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

¹² Art 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.

¹³ Thou 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?

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

¹⁵ They 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.

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

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

World Behind This Chapter

Explore the people, places, language, history, and material world connected to Habakkuk 1.

QUESTIONS WORTH EXPLORING

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When was Habakkuk written?

DEBATED

The chapter names the Chaldeans, the ruling group associated with the Neo-Babylonian Empire. That usually places its historical horizon around Babylon’s rapid expansion in the late seventh or early sixth century BCE, but the exact point relative to Babylon’s attacks on Judah is debated.

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Who were the Chaldeans in Habakkuk 1?

The Chaldeans were a people from southern Mesopotamia whose leaders established the Neo-Babylonian dynasty. Biblical texts can use “Chaldeans” for Babylonian rulers, soldiers, or learned specialists depending on context; here the term identifies the conquering imperial force.

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Why does the chapter contain two complaints instead of one message?

Habakkuk first protests violence and distorted justice within his own world. The announced rise of the Chaldeans does not solve his difficulty; it prompts a new protest about a violent empire swallowing those portrayed as more righteous than itself.

⌘ Sources to ExploreCurated research paths for this chapter 3

History & Daily Life1

• The Neo-Babylonian EmpireWorld History Encyclopedia

  Overview of Babylon’s rise after Assyria, its military expansion, major rulers, imperial administration, and domination of the Levant. This historical framework clarifies Habakkuk’s description of the Chaldeans as a rapidly advancing power that seized territories and imposed its own authority.

Language & Literature1

• Habakkuk 1 in Hebrew and EnglishMechon Mamre

  Presents the Hebrew chapter beside an English translation. Useful for examining the prophet’s repeated questions, vocabulary for violence and distorted justice, animal similes describing Babylonian cavalry, fishing imagery, and the shift from complaint about Judah to protest against Babylon.

Artifacts & Manuscripts1

• Siege Scene from Sennacherib’s Palace at NinevehThe Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Visible fragments of an Assyrian palace relief depicting a siege and military attack. Although earlier and Assyrian rather than Babylonian, it illustrates the Near Eastern siege warfare, fortified cities, archers, captives, and imperial violence behind Habakkuk’s poetic description of an advancing army.

WORTH A CLOSER LOOK

Artifacts

See the Babylonian chronicle from Habakkuk’s imperial world

British Museum tablet BM 21946 records Nebuchadnezzar II’s campaigns from 605 to 594 BCE, including Carchemish and Jerusalem. It does not date Habakkuk by itself, but it supplies a contemporary Mesopotamian record of the Babylonian expansion that makes the chapter’s “Chaldeans” historically concrete.

View the object →