The Book of Habacuc (Habakkuk)

Habacuc is one of the shortest books of the Bible and one of the boldest. Its prophet does not begin by speaking for God to the people; he begins by speaking to God about the people, and then about God Himself: how long will iniquity go unpunished, and how can the Holy One use a nation more wicked than Juda to punish Juda? The Lord's answer became one of the pillars of the New Testament. The book is called Habacuc in the Latin Vulgate and the Douay-Rheims, Habakkuk in modern English Bibles; every chapter can be read below in Latin beside English, beginning with Habacuc 1.

Who wrote the Book of Habakkuk?

The book names its author twice: "The burden that Habacuc the prophet saw" (Habacuc 1:1) and "A prayer of Habacuc the prophet" (Habacuc 3:1). The Jews and the Church have always received it as his work, and it has stood among the twelve minor prophets from the first.

Of the man himself we know very little. The musical directions attached to his prayer have led some to think he sang in the Temple choir and was therefore a Levite; the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia judges this uncertain. His name, Ḥabaqquq in Hebrew, Ambakoum in the Greek Septuagint, is usually taken to mean "embrace."

Many readers meet a prophet of this name in the last chapter of Daniel, where "a prophet called Habacuc" in Judea, carrying pottage and bread to the reapers, is taken by an angel to Babylon to feed Daniel in the lions' den (Daniel 14:32-38). Challoner's note there leaves the question open: "The same, as some think whose prophecy is found among the lesser prophets but others believe him to be different." Later legends gave him a tribe, a birthplace and a tomb; how much truth they hold, says the Catholic Encyclopedia, "cannot be determined at the present day." The Church honours him as a saint: the Roman Martyrology commemorates the prophets Habacuc and Micheas together on 15 January.

The Pontifical Biblical Commission issued no decision on Habacuc. In the nineteenth century some critics questioned whether the canticle of chapter 3 was his. The Catholic Encyclopedia answers that the objections to chapters 1 and 2 "turn out to be really weak," and that the case against chapter 3, though more serious, cannot be settled with certainty. The canticle bears his name in its title, and the Church has always prayed it as his.

When was it written?

The book itself gives the decisive clue. God announces, as something no one would believe, "I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation" (Habacuc 1:5-6). The Chaldeans are the Neo-Babylonian power of Nabopolassar and Nabuchodonosor, which crushed Egypt at Carchemish in 605 BC and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. Habacuc writes when that scourge is imminent but has not yet fallen on Juda.

Catholic authors have proposed three dates within that frame. The ancient Jewish chronicle Seder Olam, followed by many Catholic scholars of the last century, places the prophecy in the last years of King Manasses. Others place it under Josias (641-610 BC). The Catholic Encyclopedia, citing Van Hoonacker, judges best the years 605-600 BC, under King Joakim, when the Chaldeans are both "a scourge which is imminent for Juda" and already conquerors. That makes Habacuc a contemporary of Jeremias, whose book records the same invasion from inside Jerusalem. St Jerome placed the book in the Exile, a view the Catholic Encyclopedia finds the least probable, since the prophecy looks forward to the Captivity. Some modern scholars likewise propose a late date.

What is the Book of Habakkuk about? A summary

The Catholic Encyclopedia describes the book as two parts: a "dramatic dialogue between God and His prophet" (chapters 1-2), and "a lyric ode, with the usual characteristics of a psalm" (chapter 3). Read chapter by chapter, it unfolds in five movements.

The prophet's first complaint and God's answer (chapter 1:1-11)

Chapter 1 opens with a cry: "How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?" Habacuc sees violence, rapine and injustice in Juda; "the law is torn in pieces," and "the wicked prevaileth against the just." God answers that He is already at work: He is raising up the Chaldeans, "dreadful, and terrible," whose horses are "swifter than evening wolves," to judge His people. Yet even this conqueror will fall: "Then shall his spirit be changed, and he shall pass, and fall" (1:11), which Challoner refers to the humbling of Nabuchodonosor and "the speedy fall of the Chaldean empire."

The second complaint: why use the wicked? (chapter 1:12-17)

The answer deepens the prophet's distress. "Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil," he says to God; why then hold His peace "when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself"? He pictures the Chaldean hauling up nations like fish and then sacrificing to his net.

The watchtower and the vision (chapter 2:1-4)

At the start of chapter 2 Habacuc takes his stand: "I will stand upon my watch, and fix my foot upon the tower." The Lord bids him write the vision plainly on tablets, for it "shall surely come, and it shall not be slack," and gives the oracle at the heart of the book: "Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself: but the just shall live in his faith" (2:4). Challoner sums up the answer: the prophet "must wait with patience and faith: that all should be set right in due time."

Five woes against the oppressor (chapter 2:5-20)

The nations the Chaldean has plundered now "take up a parable against him" in five woes: against him who heaps up what is not his own, who builds his house high by covetousness, who "buildeth a town with blood," who makes his neighbour drunk to shame him, and who says to wood, "Awake." Between the woes shines a promise for the whole world: "the earth shall be filled, that men may know the glory of the Lord, as waters covering the sea" (2:14). The chapter ends in silence before the true God: "But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him" (2:20).

The prayer of Habacuc (chapter 3)

Chapter 3 is a psalm, headed in the Vulgate "for ignorances," that is, as Challoner explains, "for the sins of his people." The prophet begs God to revive His work "in the midst of the years" and to "remember mercy" in His anger. Then he sees God come "from the south, and the holy one from mount Pharan," as He came at Sinai (Deuteronomy 33:2): mountains crumble, the sea divides as at the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14, the sun and moon stand still as in the days of Josue. The canticle ends in one of the great acts of faith in Scripture: though the fig tree bear nothing and the stalls stand empty, "I will rejoice in the Lord: and I will joy in God my Jesus" (3:17-18).

The message of Habakkuk and the Catholic reading

The just shall live in his faith

The Catholic Encyclopedia calls Habacuc 2:4 "the central and distinctive teaching of the book," a "general law" of Providence: "the wicked carries in himself the germs of his own destruction; the believer, on the contrary, those of eternal life." St Paul quotes it three times. In Romans 1:17 the justice of God is revealed "from faith unto faith, as it is written: The just man liveth by faith"; in Galatians 3:11, no man is justified by the works of the Law, "because the just man liveth by faith"; and Hebrews 10:37-38 joins the verse to the one before it: "he that is to come, will come, and will not delay. But my just man liveth by faith."

The Council of Trent explains in what sense the Church reads these words. We are said to be justified by faith "because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and the root of all justification" (Session VI, chapter 8): a living faith, which works by charity and perseveres. It is the faith of Habacuc on his tower, trusting God before he sees the outcome. We take up the same teaching in faith without works is dead and in what God says about faith.

Why does God permit evil?

Habacuc asks the question every suffering believer asks, and Scripture keeps his question rather than hiding it. God does not explain all His ways; He promises that the proud man "shall not be honoured," that justice will come at its appointed time, and He asks for faith in the meantime. The book thus stands beside Job and the Psalms among the Scriptures on what God says about suffering.

Christ in the Book of Habakkuk

The Fathers read the canticle of chapter 3 as a prophecy of Christ. St Augustine gives it a whole chapter of The City of God (XVIII, 32), asking, "to whom but the Lord Christ" the prophet says, "O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, and was afraid." The Septuagint and Old Latin text of verse 2, "In the midst of two living creatures thou shalt be known," he explains as Christ known "between the two testaments, or between the two thieves, or between Moses and Elias talking with Him on the mount."

Christian devotion has also seen in these words the ox and the ass at the manger, beside Isaias 1:3, as we recall in our article on Christmas. The "horns" in God's hands (3:4) are for Augustine "the trophy of the cross," and Challoner too sees in them "the cross, in the horns of which the hands of Christ were fastened."

The Vulgate also names the Saviour. Verse 13 reads "Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people: for salvation with thy Christ," and verse 18 "I will joy in God my Jesus," which St Jerome rendered in Deo Iesu meo, Jesus meaning "Saviour" in Hebrew. Challoner glosses it: "my Jesus, that is, my Saviour, the great conqueror of death and hell."

Famous verses from Habacuc

Beyond the oracle of faith, three passages are quoted again and again. The first is God's warning in Habacuc 1:5, "a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told," which St Paul turns on his hearers in the synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia: "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish" (Acts 13:41).

The second is the command of Habacuc 2:2-3, "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables... if it make any delay, wait for it: for it shall surely come," the charter of every soul that must wait on God. The third closes the book: "The Lord God is my strength: and he will make my feet like the feet of harts: and he the conqueror will lead me upon my high places singing psalms" (Habacuc 3:19).

Its place in the Bible and in the liturgy

Habacuc is a protocanonical book: it belongs to the Hebrew Bible and to every Christian canon, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant, so it appears in the King James Version and every modern translation as well as in the Douay-Rheims. Among the twelve minor prophets, called "minor" for their brevity, it stands eighth, after Nahum and before Sophonias (Zephaniah), in the order of both the Hebrew text and the Vulgate. St Jerome translated it from the Hebrew for the Latin Vulgate Bible, and our English text is that of the Douay-Rheims Bible as revised by Bishop Challoner.

The Church has given Habacuc an honoured place in her prayer. On Good Friday, after the first lesson from Osee, the 1962 Missal has the tract Domine, audivi auditum tuum, taken from Habacuc 3: "O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, and was afraid... In the midst of two animals thou shalt be made known." In the Roman Breviary the whole canticle (3:2-19) is the fourth psalm of Friday Lauds in the second, penitential scheme used on the ferias of Advent and from Septuagesima to Holy Week, outside Advent under the antiphon Cum iratus fueris, Domine, misericordiae recordaberis, "When thou art angry, O Lord, thou wilt remember mercy." In the older Roman psalter before 1911 it was sung at Lauds every Friday. You can pray it in our Breviary.

How to read Habacuc

The book takes a quarter of an hour to read: 56 verses in three chapters. Read it first in one sitting, as a dialogue, noting where the prophet speaks and where the Lord answers. Then read chapter 2 slowly together with Romans 1 and Hebrews 10, and pray chapter 3 as the Church does, at Lauds or on Good Friday. All the books are listed in our Douay-Rheims and Vulgate Bible.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Book of Habakkuk about?

The Book of Habakkuk (Habacuc) is a dialogue between the prophet and God. Habacuc complains that injustice goes unpunished in Juda; God answers that He is sending the Chaldeans to punish it; the prophet then asks how a holy God can use a nation more wicked still. God replies that the proud oppressor will fall in his time, and that "the just shall live in his faith." The book ends with a prayer-psalm of trust in God.

Who wrote the Book of Habakkuk?

The book names its author as "Habacuc the prophet" (1:1; 3:1), and the Jews and the Church have always received it as his. Little else is known of him with certainty; some thought him a Levite of the Temple choir, and some identify him with the Habacuc who fed Daniel in the lions' den (Daniel 14:32-38), but Catholic authorities leave both points open.

When was the Book of Habakkuk written?

It was written shortly before the Chaldean (Babylonian) invasion of Juda. The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia favours 605-600 BC, in the reign of King Joakim, after Nabuchodonosor's victory at Carchemish; others proposed the reign of Josias or the last years of Manasses. Habacuc was thus a contemporary of the prophet Jeremias.

What is the main message of the Book of Habakkuk?

Its central message is Habacuc 2:4: "the just shall live in his faith." God rules history even when the wicked seem to prosper; the proud carry their own ruin within them, and the believer who waits on God in faith receives life. St Paul builds on this verse in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38.

How many chapters are in the Book of Habakkuk?

The Book of Habakkuk has 3 chapters and 56 verses: 17 in chapter 1, 20 in chapter 2 and 19 in chapter 3.

Is the Book of Habakkuk in the Catholic Bible and the King James Bible?

Yes. Habacuc belongs to the Hebrew canon, so it is in every Bible, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant, including the King James Version, where it is spelled Habakkuk. In the Douay-Rheims and the Latin Vulgate it is called the Prophecy of Habacuc and stands eighth among the twelve minor prophets.

Does the Book of Habakkuk foretell the destruction of Babylon?

Yes. The prophet foretells that the Chaldean conqueror "shall pass, and fall" (1:11), and the five woes of chapter 2 announce the ruin of the oppressor who "buildeth a town with blood." Babylon fell to Cyrus in 539 BC.

Where is Jesus in the Book of Habakkuk?

The Fathers saw Christ throughout the canticle of chapter 3; St Augustine (City of God XVIII, 32) reads it as a prophecy of His coming and of His Cross. In the Vulgate, verse 13 speaks of "salvation with thy Christ," and verse 18 reads "I will joy in God my Jesus," that is, my Saviour. Hebrews 10:37 applies the vision of Habacuc 2:3 to the One "that is to come."

How do you pronounce Habakkuk?

In English it is usually pronounced "huh-BAK-uk" or "HAB-uh-kuk." The traditional Catholic spelling, from the Latin Vulgate, is Habacuc, with the same sound.

Read the whole Prophecy of Habacuc verse by verse, in Latin and in English, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims version with Bishop Challoner's notes (Habacuc 1-3; Daniel 14; Acts 13; Romans 1; Galatians 3; Hebrews 10); the Latin Vulgate of St Jerome; St Augustine, The City of God, Book XVIII, chapter 32; Council of Trent, Session VI, Decree on Justification, chapter 8; Francis Gigot, "Habacuc (Habakkuk)," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 7 (1910); Missale Romanum (1962), Good Friday; Breviarium Romanum (1962), Friday at Lauds; Martyrologium Romanum, 15 January.