O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save?
- BSB How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save?
- NKJV O Lord, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save.
- NASB ¶How long, Lord, have I called for help, And You do not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save.
- NLT How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Habakkuk pours out a raw complaint: he has cried to God about violence, yet God seems silent and slow to save. It legitimizes honest lament before God when evil appears to go unchecked.
Overview
The prophet's 'how long?' echoes the laments of the Psalms, voicing the anguish of the faithful who long for God to act against wickedness in Judah. Far from being faithless, this cry assumes God hears and can save, and so brings the question directly to Him. Such honest lament anticipates the cry of all who wait for God's justice, ultimately answered in Christ, who Himself cried out in suffering and now reigns to set all things right.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 22:1–2My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
- Ps 13:1–2How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
- Lam 3:8Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
- Jer 14:9Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.
- Rev 6:10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
- Ps 94:3LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
- Ps 74:9–10We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
'The righteous shall live by his faith' (2:4) becomes a cornerstone of the gospel in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews — the faith that lays hold of Christ.
How Habakkuk 1:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.