Habakkuk 1:1, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Habakkuk 1:1
A Prophetic Burden Seen by Habakkuk
The book starts with a seen oracle, not a resume
The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. Burden is the heading's name for a weighty prophetic word, not a window into one private mood. Did see marks the oracle as received vision. It does not mean that every later image was an eyewitness sketch of a battlefield.
No king, year, town, parent, or commissioning scene is supplied. Interpreters often place the book's horizon near Babylon's late-seventh-century rise because the Chaldeans will be named later. That range is reasoned setting, not information this verse gives.
How this should shape us
Hear Habakkuk first as a named prophet with a seen word. Keep biography, dating schemes, and current-event codes out of the title line.
Teach it back
Explain Habakkuk 1:1 in your own words. Include its place in Habakkuk's complaint-answer-woe-prayer movement, the unit's main turn, one material uncertainty, and one misuse the context rules out.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters debate the heading's editorial history and Habakkuk's setting. The explicit claims remain narrower and highly secure: a prophetic oracle is associated with Habakkuk and described as seen.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and canonical verse coverage.
Habakkuk 1:1, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated terms, clause relationships, and base forms behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Hab.xml, 1:1
Supports: Verse-level translation, Hebrew, text-critical, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Habakkuk PDF, printed pp. 1770, translation and notes on 1:1
Supports: Whole-book setting, complaint-and-answer structure, 2:4, five woes, chapter 3 theophany, and closing trust.
Gowan, 'Habakkuk,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 601-604
Supports: Book movement, complaint and oracle forms, Chaldean horizon, 2:4, five woes, 2:20 transition, theophany, salvation, and the closing confidence.
Thompson, 'Prayer, Oracle and Theophany,' pp. 33-34
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and canonical verse coverage.
Exact location: Habakkuk 1:1, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Habakkuk
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated terms, clause relationships, and base forms behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Hab.xml, 1:1
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Habakkuk with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, Hebrew, text-critical, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Habakkuk PDF, printed pp. 1770, translation and notes on 1:1
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Habakkuk
Donald E. Gowan
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book setting, complaint-and-answer structure, 2:4, five woes, chapter 3 theophany, and closing trust.
Exact location: Gowan, 'Habakkuk,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 601-604
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
Prayer, Oracle and Theophany: The Book of Habakkuk
Michael E. W. Thompson
Tyndale Bulletin 44.1, 1993
Supports: Book movement, complaint and oracle forms, Chaldean horizon, 2:4, five woes, 2:20 transition, theophany, salvation, and the closing confidence.
Exact location: Thompson, 'Prayer, Oracle and Theophany,' pp. 33-34
Open source ↗