Habakkuk 1:2 (DBY)

Passage

Jehovah, how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee, Violence! and thou dost not save.

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 1:1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

Habakkuk 1:2 Jehovah, how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee, Violence! and thou dost not save.

Habakkuk 1:3 Why dost thou cause me to see iniquity, and lookest thou upon grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up.

Habakkuk 1:4 Therefore the law is powerless, and justice doth never go forth; for the wicked encompasseth the righteous; therefore judgment goeth forth perverted.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "jehovah", "long", "shall", "thou", "wilt", "hear", "thee", and "violence". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "jehovah" and "long", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did..." into verse 3's "Why dost thou cause me to see...", so "jehovah" and "long" 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 "jehovah" and "long" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.