Habakkuk 2:4 (DBY)

Passage

Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him: but the just shall live by his faith.

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 2:2 And Jehovah answered me and said, Write the vision, and engrave it upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it.

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but it hasteth to the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; for it will surely come, it will not delay.

Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him: but the just shall live by his faith.

Habakkuk 2:5 And moreover, the wine is treacherous: he is a proud man, and keepeth not at rest, he enlargeth his desire as Sheol, and he is like death and cannot be satisfied; and he assembleth unto him all nations, and gathereth unto him all peoples.

Habakkuk 2:6 Shall not all these take up a proverb about him, and a taunting riddle against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that loadeth himself with pledges!

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "faith", "behold", "soul", "puffed", "upright", "within", "just", and "shall". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "faith" and "behold", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "For the vision is yet for an..." into verse 5's "And moreover the wine is treacherous he...", so "faith" and "behold" 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 "faith" and "behold" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.