Habakkuk 1:2

2 How long, O LORD, am I to cry for help, but you will not listen? I cry out to you, "There's violence!" yet you will not come to the rescue.

Habakkuk 1:2 Meaning and Commentary

Habakkuk 1:2

O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!
&c.] The prophet having long observed the sins and iniquities of the people among whom he lived, and being greatly distressed in his mind on account of them, had frequently and importunately cried unto the Lord to put a stop to the abounding of them, that the people might be brought to a sense of their sins, and reform from them; but nothing of this kind appearing, he concludes his prayers were not heard, and therefore expostulates with the Lord upon this head: [even] cry unto thee [of] violence, and thou wilt not save!
either of violence done to himself in the discharge of his office, or of one man to another, of the rich to the poor; and yet, though he cried again and again to the Lord, to check this growing evil, and deliver the oppressed out of the hands of their oppressors, it was not done; which was matter of grief and trouble to him.

Habakkuk 1:2 In-Context

1 The divine revelation that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

2 How long, O LORD, am I to cry for help, but you will not listen? I cry out to you, "There's violence!" yet you will not come to the rescue.

3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing? And why do you watch wickedness? Destruction and violence are in front of me. Quarrels and disputes arise.

4 That is why your teaching is numbed, and justice is never carried out. Wicked people surround righteous people so that when justice is carried out, it's perverted.

5 Look among the nations and watch. Be amazed and astonished. I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if it were reported to you.