Habakkuk 2:4 (WEB)

Passage

Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 2:2 Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.

Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

Habakkuk 2:5 Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.

Habakkuk 2:6 Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "faith", "behold", "soul", "puffed", "upright", "righteous", and "live". 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 the..." into verse 5's "Yes moreover wine is treacherous A haughty...", 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.