Category:Habakkuk, Prophecies of

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Habakkuk, Prophecies of - Prophecies of Habakkuk - Were probably written about 650-627 B.C., or, as some think, a few years later. This book consists of three chapters, the contents of which are thus comprehensively described: "When the prophet in spirit saw the formidable power of the Chaldeans approaching and menacing his land, and saw the great evils they would cause in Judea, he bore his complaints and doubts before Jehovah, the just and the pure (Habakkuk 1:2-17). And on this occasion the future punishment of the Chaldeans was revealed to him (Habakkuk 2). In Habakkuk 3 a presentiment of the destruction of his country, in the inspired heart of the prophet, contends with his hope that the enemy would be chastised." The third chapter is a sublime song dedicated "to the chief musician," and therefore intended apparently to be used in the worship of God. It is "unequaled in majesty and splendor of language and imagery." The passage in Habakkuk 2:4, "The just shall live by his faith," is quoted by the apostle in Romans 1:17. (Compare Galatians 3:12; Hebrews 10:37, Hebrews 10:38.)