Habakkuk 1:13 (DRB)

Passage

Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself?

Nearby Context

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.

Habakkuk 1:13 Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself?

Habakkuk 1:14 And thou wilt make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping things that have no ruler.

Habakkuk 1:15 He lifted up all them with his hook, he drew them in his drag, and gathered them into his net: for this he will be glad and rejoice.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "Wast thou not from the beginning O..." into verse 14's "And thou wilt make men as the...", so "eyes" and "pure" 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 "eyes" and "pure" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.