Habakkuk 1:10 (DRB)

Passage

And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it.

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 1:8 Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat.

Habakkuk 1:9 They shall all come to the prey, their face is like a burning wind: and they shall gather together captives as the sand.

Habakkuk 1:10 And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it.

Habakkuk 1:11 Then shall his spirit be changed, and he shall pass, and fall: this is his strength of his god.

Habakkuk 1:12 Wast thou not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one, and we shall not die? Lord, thou hast appointed him for judgment: and made him strong for correction.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "prince", "shall", "triumph", "over", "kings", "princes", and "laughingstock". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "prince" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "They shall all come to the prey..." into verse 11's "Then shall his spirit be changed and...", so "prince" and "shall" 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 "prince" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.