Habakkuk 2:3 (LSB)

Passage

For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It pants toward its end, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come; it will not delay.

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the fortification; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me And how I may respond when I am reproved.

Habakkuk 2:2 Then Yahweh answered me and said, “Write down the vision And write it on tablets distinctly, That the one who reads it may run.

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It pants toward its end, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come; it will not delay.

Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.

Habakkuk 2:5 And indeed, wine betrays the haughty man So that he does not stay at home. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, And he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all nations And assembles to himself all peoples.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "vision", "appointed", "time", "pants", "toward", "though", "tarries", and "wait". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "vision" and "appointed", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "Then Yahweh answered me and said Write..." into verse 4's "Behold as for the proud one His...", so "vision" and "appointed" 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 "vision" and "appointed" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.