Habakkuk 1:13 (YLT)

Passage

Purer of eyes than to behold evil, To look on perverseness Thou art not able, Why dost Thou behold the treacherous? Thou keepest silent when the wicked Doth swallow the more righteous than he,

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 1:11 Then passed on hath the spirit, Yea, he doth transgress, And doth ascribe this his power to his god.

Habakkuk 1:12 Art not Thou of old, O Jehovah, my God, my Holy One? We do not die, O Jehovah, For judgment Thou hast appointed it, And, O Rock, for reproof Thou hast founded it.

Habakkuk 1:13 Purer of eyes than to behold evil, To look on perverseness Thou art not able, Why dost Thou behold the treacherous? Thou keepest silent when the wicked Doth swallow the more righteous than he,

Habakkuk 1:14 And Thou makest man as fishes of the sea, As a creeping thing--none ruling over him.

Habakkuk 1:15 Each of them with a hook he hath brought up, He doth catch it in his net, and gathereth it in his drag, Therefore he doth joy and rejoice.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "Art not Thou of old O Jehovah..." into verse 14's "And Thou makest man as fishes of...", so "purer" and "eyes" 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 "purer" and "eyes" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.