Editing Book of Habakkuk (section)

== Themes ==
[[File:Habacuc e Deus (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal ALC.455, fl.301).png|thumb|right|[[Habakkuk]] and God; Illuminated Bible from the 1220s, [[Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal|National Library of Portugal]]]]
[[File:Habakkuk.jpg|thumb|266x266px|Prophet Habakkuk as imagined by an 18th-century Russian icon painter]]
The major theme of Habakkuk is trying to grow from a faith of perplexity and doubt to the height of absolute trust in God. Habakkuk addresses his concerns over the fact that God will use the Babylonian empire to execute judgment on Judah for their sins.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

Habakkuk openly questions the wisdom of God. In the first part of the first chapter, the Prophet sees the injustice among his people and asks why God does not take action.  "Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save?"&nbsp;– (Habakkuk 1:2)

In the middle part of Chapter 1, God explains that he will send the Chaldeans (also known as the Babylonians) to punish his people. In 1:5: "Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you." In 1:6: "For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs."

One of the [[Tiqqun soferim|"Eighteen Emendations to the Hebrew Scriptures"]] appears at 1:12.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sykes |first=Sarah |date=2021-06-29 |title=Fragment of the Month: July 2021 |url=https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/taylor-schechter-genizah-research-unit/fragment-month/fotm-2021/fragment-5 |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=www.lib.cam.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> According to the professional Jewish scribes, the Sopherim, the text of 1:12 was changed from "You [God] do not die" to "We shall not die". The Sopherim considered it disrespectful to say to God, "''You'' do not die."

In the final part of the first chapter, the prophet expresses shock at God's choice of instrument for judgment, in 1:13: "You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he[...]?"<ref name="auto"/>{{better source needed|date=September 2024}}

In Chapter 2, he awaits God's response to his challenge. God explains that He will also judge the Chaldeans, and much more harshly. "Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it. Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house." (Habakkuk 2:8-9)<ref name="auto">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060222051554/http://www.ebible.org/web/Habakkuk.htm ''World English Bible'']</ref>

Finally, in Chapter 3, Habakkuk expresses his ultimate faith in God, even if he does not fully understand: "For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls: 3:18 yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!"<ref name="auto"/> Some scholars suggest that the final chapter may be a later independent addition to the book,{{sfnp|Baker|1988|p=46}} in part because it is not included among the Dead Sea Scrolls.