Habakkuk 1:2-4, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Habakkuk 1:2-4
The First Complaint: Violence and Paralyzed Justice
How long must violence go unanswered
O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Iniquity, grievance, spoiling, violence, strife, and contention are forced before the prophet. The speech is complaint addressed to God, not a walkout from God.
The book lets this stand. Crying violence is permitted prophetic speech. It is not unbelief to be scolded, and delay is not treated as harmless.
Therefore law is numb and judgment comes out wrong
Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Instruction still exists; it is slack, numbed, ineffective. The wicked surround the righteous until mishpat goes out twisted.
The first offenders are not named. Do not baptize a modern nation, party, ethnicity, or leader as this wicked group. Lament here does not authorize private vengeance or contempt for fair process.
How this should shape us
Name harm and failed justice without calling the cry a faith failure. Record what happened, protect those who speak, and keep the question before God. Do not map this scene onto a present faction, and do not answer violence with vigilantism.
Teach it back
Explain Habakkuk 1:2-4 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.
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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: Internal Judean injustice is a strong reading because Torah and judgment are paralyzed, while some read foreign oppression or a deliberately open first complaint. The text establishes violence and legal distortion more clearly than the offenders' precise identity.
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 1:2-4, 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, 1:2-4
Supports: Verse-level translation, Hebrew, text-critical, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Habakkuk PDF, printed pp. 1770, translation and notes on 1:2-4
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. 34-35
Supports: Competing identifications of the wicked, five-woe form, crimes, reversals, and the limits of a modern contextual application model.
Chitsulo, 'Exploring the Role of the Wicked,' section D.1, printed pp. 307-312
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 1:2-4, 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, 1:2-4
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 1:2-4
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. 34-35
Open source ↗peer reviewed contextual biblical study
Exploring the Role of the Wicked in Habakkuk from Malawi Socio-Economic and Political Viewpoint
Takuze Saul Chitsulo
Old Testament Essays 28.2, 2015
Supports: Competing identifications of the wicked, five-woe form, crimes, reversals, and the limits of a modern contextual application model.
Exact location: Chitsulo, 'Exploring the Role of the Wicked,' section D.1, printed pp. 307-312
Open source ↗