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.
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?
- KJV O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt 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.
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 22:1–2For the Chief Musician; set to “The Doe of the Morning.” A Psalm by David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
- Ps 13:1–2For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
- Lam 3:8Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
- Jer 14:9Why should you be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can’t save? Yet you, Yahweh, are in the middle of us, and we are called by your name. Don’t leave us.
- Rev 6:10They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
- Ps 94:3Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?
- Ps 74:9–10We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.