Habakkuk Chapter 2 verse 4 Holy Bible

ASV Habakkuk 2:4

Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith.
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BBE Habakkuk 2:4

As for the man of pride, my soul has no pleasure in him; but the upright man will have life through his good faith.
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DARBY Habakkuk 2:4

Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him: but the just shall live by his faith.
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KJV Habakkuk 2:4

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
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WBT Habakkuk 2:4


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WEB Habakkuk 2:4

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

Lo, a presumptuous one! Not upright is his soul within him, And the righteous by his stedfastness liveth.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - § 6. The great principle is taught that the proud shall not continue, but the just shall live by faith. The prophecy commences with a fundamental thought, applicable to all God's dealings with man. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; literally, behold, puffed up, his soul is not upright in him. This is a description of an evil character (especially of the Chaldean) in opposition to the character delineated in the following hemistich. One who is proud, presumptuous, thinks much of himself, despising others, and is not straightforward and upright before God, shall not live, shall not have a happy, safe life; he carries in himself the seeds of destruction. The result is not expressed in the first hemistich, but may be supplied from the next clause, and, as Knabenbauer suggests, may be inferred from the language in Hebrews 10:38, 39, where, after quoting the Septuagint rendering of this passage, Ἐὰν ὑποστείληται οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ, the writer adds, "But we are not of them that shrink back (ὑποσταλῆς) unto perdition." Vulgate, Ecce, qui incredulus est, non erit recta anima ejus in semetipso, which seems to confine the statement to the case of one who doubts God's word. But the just shall live by his faith. The "faith" here spoken of is a loving trust in God, confidence in his promises, resulting in due performance of his will. This hemistich is the antithesis to the former. The proud and perverse, those who wish to be independent of God, shall perish; but, on the other hand, the righteous shall live and be saved through his faith, on the condition that he puts his trust in God. The Hebrew accents forbid the union, "the just by faith," though, of course, no one can be just, righteous, without faith. The passage may be emphasized by rendering, "As to the just, through his faith he shall live." This famous sentence, which St. Paul has used as the basis of his great argument (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; comp. Hebrews 10:38), in its literal and contextual application implies that the righteous man will have perfect trust in God's promises and will be rewarded by being safe in the day of tribulation, with reference to the coming trouble at the hands of the Chaldeans. When the proud, greedy kingdom shall have sunk in ruin, the faithful people shall live secure. But the application is not confined to this circumstance. The promise looks beyond the temporal future of the Chaldeans and Israelites, and unto a reward that is eternal. We see how naturally the principle here enunciated is applied by the apostle to teach the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. The LXX. gives, Ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεώς μου ζήσεται ι,ε. "by faith in me." The Speaker is God. St. Paul omits μου. Habakkuk gathers into one sentence the whole principle of the Law, and indeed all true religion.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Behold his soul. . . .--Better, Behold his soul within him is puffed up, it is not upright. The soul of the Chaldaean invader is inflated with pride, self-dependence ousting from his mind all thoughts of God. It is therefore unsound and distorted. Habakkuk leaves the inference "and therefore it shall die" to be imagined, and hastens to the antithesis, "But the righteous man shall live by his faith." The word live is emphatic. The reward promised to patient waitings on God is life--deliverance from destruction. How far the promise extends, and whether it includes that aspiration after future life which is plainly expressed by many Hebrew poets and prophets, we cannot determine. The student must be cautioned against such renderings as "he that is righteous-by-faith shall live," or, "he that is justified-by-faith shall live," which have been suggested by the Pauline quotations Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11. If the adjective could be taken in this close collocation with the substantive, "he that is consistent in-his-confidence shall live" would be the only possible rendering. Thus whatever force we assign to St. Paul's citation, here, at least, the words have no doctrinal significance. Their ethical importance is, however, undeniable. (See Introduction 4)