Habakkuk 1:13 (DBY)

Passage

[Thou art] of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on mischief: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, [and] keepest silence when the wicked swalloweth up a [man] more righteous than he?

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 1:11 Then will his mind change, and he will pass on, and become guilty: this his power is become his God.

Habakkuk 1:12 Art thou not from everlasting, Jehovah my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. Jehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast appointed him for correction.

Habakkuk 1:13 [Thou art] of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on mischief: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, [and] keepest silence when the wicked swalloweth up a [man] more righteous than he?

Habakkuk 1:14 And thou makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them.

Habakkuk 1:15 He taketh up all of them with the hook, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them into his drag; therefore he rejoiceth and is glad:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "purer", "eyes", "than", "behold", "evil", "canst", and "look". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "purer", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "Art thou not from everlasting Jehovah my..." into verse 14's "And thou makest men as the fishes...", so "thou" and "purer" belong inside that flow. In Habakkuk context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thou" and "purer" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.