📖 Biblical Definition
Habakkuk was a minor prophet active in Judah just before the Babylonian invasion. His three-chapter book is structured as a dialogue with God: he questions why God is silent over Judah's wickedness; God answers He is raising Babylon as judgment; Habakkuk objects that Babylon is more wicked than Judah; God answers with the great line the just shall live by his faith (Hab 2:4). Habakkuk closes with one of the highest prayer-songs in Scripture (chapter 3): though all temporal blessings fail, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Minor prophet (~late 7th c. BC); author of the just shall live by his faith (Hab 2:4) and the great song of trust in chapter 3.
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Three chapters: Habakkuk's complaint (1:1-4); the LORD's answer about raising Babylon (1:5-11); Habakkuk's second complaint (1:12-2:1); the LORD's detailed answer with five woes against Babylon (2:2-20); Habakkuk's prayer-song of trust (3:1-19).
The just shall live by his faith (Hab 2:4) is cited three times in the New Testament (Rom 1:17, Gal 3:11, Heb 10:38) as the gospel principle of justification by faith. Luther's Reformation breakthrough hung on this verse.
📖 Key Scripture
Habakkuk 1:13 — "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?"
Habakkuk 2:4 — "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."
Habakkuk 3:17-18 — "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines... yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
Habakkuk 2:14 — "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity often skips Habakkuk except for 3:17-18; the dialogue shape of the book teaches honest prayer and patient receiving of God's sometimes-unexpected answers.
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Habakkuk's questions are sharp and honest: why does the LORD remain silent over evil? why does He use a worse pagan to judge a less-bad covenant people? The book does not embarrass these questions; it brings them to God and waits for answer.
The closing song (3:17-19) is one of the high points of Old Testament faith. Crops fail, herds die, fields lie barren — yet I will rejoice in the LORD. The household whose joy holds when temporal supports fail is the household whose faith has been Habakkuk-tested.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew Chavaqquq; meaning uncertain.
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Hebrew Chavaqquq — possibly from chavaq, to embrace.
Note: name appears only in this book; little is known about the man beyond what the book itself contains.
Usage
"The just shall live by his faith."
"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD."
"Habakkuk-tested faith holds when temporal supports fail."