TheBook of Habakkuk is the eighth book of theTwelve Minor Prophets of theHebrew Bible.[1] The book has three chapters.[2] It is attributed to the prophetHabakkuk. Most scholars agree that the book was probably composed in the period duringJehoiakim's reign asking of Judah (609–597 BC).[3] It is an important text inJudaism, and passages from the book are quoted by authors of theNew Testament, and its message has inspired modern Christian hymn writers.
Of the three chapters in the book, the first two are a dialogue betweenYahweh and the prophet. Verse 4 in chapter 2, stating that "the just shall live by his faith", plays an important role inChristian thought. It is used in theEpistle to the Romans,Epistle to the Galatians, and theEpistle to the Hebrews as the starting point of the concept offaith.[1] A copy of these two chapters is included in theHabakkuk Commentary, found among theDead Sea Scrolls. Chapter 3 is now recognized as a liturgical piece. It is debated whether chapter 3 and the first two chapters were written by the same author.[1]
In the opening verse, Habakkuk identifies himself as a prophet. Due to the liturgical nature of Habakkuk's book, some scholars think that the author may have been a temple prophet. Temple prophets are described in1 Chronicles 25:1 as usinglyres,harps andcymbals. Some feel that this is echoed in Habakkuk 3:19b, and that Habakkuk may have been aLevite andcantor inSolomon's Temple.[4]
There is no biographical information on the prophet Habakkuk. The only canonical information that exists comes from the book that is named for him.[5] His name comes either from theHebrew wordחבק (ḥavaq) meaning "embrace", or else from anAkkadian wordhambakuku, for a kind of plant.[6][7]
Although his name does not appear in any other part of the Bible,Rabbinic tradition holds Habakkuk to be the Shunammite woman's son, who was restored to life byElisha in2 Kings 4:16.[6] The prophet Habakkuk is also mentioned in the narrative ofBel and the Dragon, part of thedeuterocanonicaladditions to Daniel in a late section of that book. In the superscription of the Old Greek version, Habakkuk is called the son of Joshua of the tribe of Levi.[6] In this book, Habakkuk is lifted by an angel to Babylon to provide Daniel with food while he is in the lion's den.
It is unknown when Habakkuk lived and preached, but the reference to the rise and advance of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 1:6–11 places him in the middle to last quarter of the 7th century BC.[8][9] One possible period might be during the reign ofJehoiakim, from 609 to 598 BC. The Neo-Babylonian Empire was growing in power in this period. The Babylonians marched against Jerusalem in 598 BC. Jehoiakim died while the Babylonians marched towards Jerusalem, and Jehoiakim's eighteen-year-old sonJeconiah assumed the throne. Upon the Babylonians' arrival, Jehoiachin and his advisors quickly surrendered Jerusalem andZedekiah was appointed as a puppet king. With the transition of rulers and the young age and inexperience of Jehoiachin, they could not stand against the Babylonian forces. There is a sense of an intimate knowledge of the Babylonian brutality in 1:12–17.
The book of Habakkuk is a book of the Hebrew Bible and stands eighth in a section known as the Twelve Minor Prophets in theMasoretic Text and theSeptuagint. In the Masoretic Text, it followsNahum and precedesZephaniah, who are considered to be his contemporaries.
The book consists of three chapters and it is neatly divided into three different genres:
Habakkuk and God; Illuminated Bible from the 1220s,National Library of PortugalProphet Habakkuk as imagined by an 18th-century Russian icon painter
The major theme of Habakkuk is trying to grow from a faith of perplexity and doubt to the height of absolute trust in God. Habakkuk addresses his concerns over the fact that God will use the Babylonian empire to execute judgment on Judah for their sins.[citation needed]
Habakkuk openly questions the wisdom of God. In the first part of the first chapter, the Prophet sees the injustice among his people and asks why God does not take action. "Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save?" – (Habakkuk 1:2)
In the middle part of Chapter 1, God explains that he will send the Chaldeans (also known as the Babylonians) to punish his people. In 1:5: "Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you." In 1:6: "For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs."
One of the"Eighteen Emendations to the Hebrew Scriptures" appears at 1:12.[10] According to the professional Jewish scribes, the Sopherim, the text of 1:12 was changed from "You [God] do not die" to "We shall not die". The Sopherim considered it disrespectful to say to God, "You do not die."
In the final part of the first chapter, the prophet expresses shock at God's choice of instrument for judgment, in 1:13: "You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he[...]?"[11][better source needed]
In Chapter 2, he awaits God's response to his challenge. God explains that He will also judge the Chaldeans, and much more harshly. "Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it. Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house." (Habakkuk 2:8-9)[11]
Finally, in Chapter 3, Habakkuk expresses his ultimate faith in God, even if he does not fully understand: "For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls: 3:18 yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!"[11] Some scholars suggest that the final chapter may be a later independent addition to the book,[12] in part because it is not included among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Book of Habakkuk is the eighth book of the Twelve Prophets of theHebrew Bible,[1] and this collection appears in all copies of texts of theSeptuagint,[12] theAncient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible completed by 132 BC. Likewise, the book ofSirach (or Ecclesiasticus), also written in the 2nd century BC, mentions "The Twelve Prophets".[21]
A partial copy of Habakkuk itself is included in theHabakkuk Commentary, apesher found among the original sevenDead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947. The Commentary contains a copy of the first two chapters of Habakkuk, but not of the third chapter.[22] The writer of thepesher draws a comparison between the Babylonian invasion of the original text and the Roman threat of the writer's own period.[22] What is even more significant than the commentary in thepesher is the quoted text of Habakkuk itself. The divergences between the Hebrew text of the scroll and the standardMasoretic Text are startlingly minimal. The biggest differences are word order, small grammatical variations, addition or omission of conjunctions, and spelling variations, but these are small enough not to damage the meaning of the text.[23][24]
Some scholars suggest that Chapter 3 may be a later independent addition to the book,[12] in part because it is not included among the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, this chapter does appear in all copies of the Septuagint, as well as in texts from as early as the 3rd century BC.[12] This final chapter is a poetic praise of God, and has some similarities withExodus 19,[25] and with texts found in theBook of Daniel. However, the fact that the third chapter is written in a different style, as a liturgical piece, does not necessarily mean that Habakkuk was not also its author.[1]
A commentary on the first two chapters of the book was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran. The omission of chapter 3 from the version within the Dead Sea Scrolls has been attributed to incompatibilities with the theology of theQumran sect.[26]
Habakkuk 2:4b quoted in a Jewish cemetery inCologne: "the righteous will live by his faith."Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, 16th-century painting
The Talmud (Makkot 24a) mentions that various Biblical figures grouped the613 commandments into categories that encapsulated all of the 613. At the end of this discussion, the Talmud concludes, "Habakkuk came and established [the 613 mitzvoth] upon one, as it is stated: 'But the righteous person shall live by his faith' (Habakkuk 2:4)".
There is controversy about the translation of the verse: the word "emunah" is most often translated as "faithfulness", though the word in this verse has been traditionally translated as "faith".[35][34]
The word "emunah" is not translated as "belief" other than in Habakkuk 2:4,[36] Clendenen, E. Ray defended the translation of the word as "faith" on the basis of the context of the verse, arguing that it refers toGenesis 15:6, which used the word "he’ĕmin" 'believed' of which "’ĕmȗnāh" is derived from, he also argued that theEssenes in the Qumran community likely understood the verse as referring to faith in theTeacher of Righteousness instead of faithfulness.[35][34][37]
Martin Luther believed that Habakkuk 2:4 taught the doctrine offaith alone, commenting on the verse "For this is a general saying applicable to all of God's words. These must be believed, whether spoken at the beginning, middle, or end of the world".[38]
The following table shows theHebrew text[45][46] of Habakkuk 2:6-20[47] with vowels alongside an English translation based upon theJPS 1917 translation (now in thepublic domain).
Shall not all these take up a parable against him, And a taunting riddle against him, And say: ‘Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! How long? and that ladeth himself with many pledges!
Because thou hast spoiled many nations, All the remnant of the peoples shall spoil thee; Because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, To the city and to all that dwell therein.
Thou art filled with shame instead of glory, Drink thou also, and be uncovered; The cup of the LORD’S right hand shall be turned unto thee, And filthiness shall be upon thy glory.
For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, And the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid; Because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, To the city and to all that dwell therein.
What profiteth the graven image, That the maker thereof hath graven it, Even the molten image, and the teacher of lies; That the maker of his work trusteth therein, To make dumb idols?
Woe unto him that saith to the wood: ‘Awake’, To the dumb stone: ‘Arise! ’ Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, And there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.[48]
This verse is a heading for the final chapter. The exact meaning of "Shigionoth" is not known.[49] TheNew Living Translation treats the word as an addition in the Hebrew text which "probably" indicates the prayer's musical setting,[50] and theJerusalem Bible suggests that the prayer adopts "the tone as fordirges".[51]
the fourth verse ofWilliam Cowper's hymn "Sometimes a Light Surprises", written in 1779, quotes Habakkuk 3:17–18:
Though vine nor fig-tree neither, Their wonted fruit shall bear, Though all the field should wither, Nor flocks nor herds be there; Yet God the same abiding, His praise shall tune my voice, For, while in Him confiding, I cannot but rejoice.
Irish composerCharles Villiers Stanford set slightly revised portions of text from the first and second chapters of Habakkuk in his choral composition forchoir, soprano and tenor soloist and organ, "For Lo, I Raise Up".
^Ko, Grace (2021). "Habakkuk". In Julia M. O'Brien (ed.).The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets. Oxford University Press. pp. 487–498.doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190673208.013.30.Most scholars agree that the period under the reign of Jehoiakim (609–597 BCE) best fits the situation described in Habakkuk (Baker 1988, 44–45; Haak 1991, 111–139; Bailey and Barker 1998, 257–260; Dangl 2001, 141).
^New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press. 2001.Habakkuk 2:4 tn Or "loyalty"; or "integrity." The Hebrew word אֱמוּנָה (ʾemunah) has traditionally been translated as "faith", but the term nowhere else refers to "belief" as such. When used of human character and conduct it carries the notion of "honesty, integrity, reliability, faithfulness". The antecedent of the suffix has been understood in different ways. It could refer to God's faithfulness, but in this case one would expect a first person suffix (the original form of the LXX has "my faithfulness" here).
^"CHURCH FATHERS: Spurious Epistles (Ignatius of Antioch)".www.newadvent.org. Retrieved2022-06-17.who am driven along by land and sea, exhort you: stand fast in the faith, 1 Corinthians 16:13 and be steadfast, for the just shall live by faith;
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Bruce, F. F. (2009). "Habakkuk". In McComiskey, Thomas Edward (ed.).The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic. pp. 831–896.ISBN978-0-8010-3631-6.
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Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. (1989).A Translator's Handbook on The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah. New York: United Bible Societies.ISBN0-8267-0141-8.
Coffman, James Burton (1982).Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Haggai. Commentary on the Minor Prophets. Vol. 3 (revised ed.). Abilene, Texas: ACU Press. pp. 61–116.ISBN0-915547-46-5.
Coggins, Richard; Han, Jin H. (2011).Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries. Blackwell Bible Commentaries. Wiley-Blackwell.ISBN978-1-4051-7675-0.
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