Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Habakkuk 1:5 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 5. 5Behold 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse begins the divine answer by commanding the audience to look at an astonishing, unbelievable work.
An astonishing work: the Chaldeans are raised
This verse is one part of that explanation in Habakkuk 1:5-11. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Habakkuk 1:5-11
Read Habakkuk 1:5 with 1:5-11. This verse begins the divine answer by commanding the audience to look at an astonishing, unbelievable work. The full unit establishes this movement: The LORD announces the rise of the Chaldeans, whose terrifying speed and conquest answer the first complaint only by creating a deeper theological crisis: their authority comes from themselves and their power becomes an object of worship.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The answer refuses a small solution. It declares divine sovereignty over geopolitical change while immediately exposing the agent's cruelty and idolatrous pride. Within that movement, this verse begins the divine answer by commanding the audience to look at an astonishing, unbelievable work.
Read Habakkuk 1:5–11 together
Why these verses belong together: The astonishing work, named Chaldeans, military portrait, and guilt verdict belong to one divine answer.
Verse 5. 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.
Verse 6. 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.
Verse 7. 7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
Verse 8. 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.
Verse 9. 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.
Verse 10. 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.
Verse 11. 11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
Follow the Context
- The audience is commanded to look and be astonished at an unbelievable work.
- The LORD identifies the Chaldeans as the people being raised up.
- Their speed, mobility, captives, mockery, and siege power are described.
- The closing line names their guilt: their own power becomes an object of worship.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“wonder marvellously”
In plain language: The astonishment prepares the named rise of the Chaldeans in verse 6.
Begins the divine answer by commanding the audience to look at an astonishing, unbelievable work. God's action may overturn expectations without becoming a blank check for every surprising event.
Why it matters: The wording carries textual, theological, ethical, or predictive risk that requires its full unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Habakkuk 1:5 is not a promise that any modern surprise is a predicted act of God.
What Remains True
God's action may overturn expectations without becoming a blank check for every surprising event.
How It Can Shape Life
- Test claims about providence against the complete passage and its moral verdict.
Teach It Back
Explain Habakkuk 1:5's contribution to Habakkuk 1:5-11: Begins the divine answer by commanding the audience to look at an astonishing, unbelievable work. Include what the surrounding verses add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Habakkuk 1:5-11 — The First Answer: The Chaldeans Are Raised UpSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The Hebrew and Greek address differ, and Acts 13 receives the Greek form in another context.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 1:5-11, 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, 1:5-11
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. 1770-1771, translation and notes on 1:5-11
Open source ↗