Book of Habakkuk bible study

Here is a bible study on the short book of Habakkuk- 3 chapters- one with both prophecies and prayers to God for Habakkuk was indeed a prayer warrior. There are different opinions as to when the book of Habakkuk was written, but the consensus puts the book before the Babylonian captivity for the book seems to prophecy the exile of the Jews to Babylon. Habakkuk does intercede for the Jews a good bit and also praises God in the third chapter of the book

Habakkuk chapter 1 is a conversation between Habakkuk and the Lord where Habakkuk pleads for justice and judgment against the evil doers of Israel and the Lord answers that is why He is raising the Chaleans, who will come for just that purposes and there also is some praises of the Lord given by Habakkuk in the chapter

(Habakkuk 1:1)  The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

(Habakkuk 1:2)  O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save?

(Habakkuk 1:3)  Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.

(Habakkuk 1:4)  So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.

(Habakkuk 1:5)  "Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.

(Habakkuk 1:6)  For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.

(Habakkuk 1:7)  They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

(Habakkuk 1:8)  Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.

(Habakkuk 1:9)  They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand.

(Habakkuk 1:10)  At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it.

(Habakkuk 1:11)  Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!"

(Habakkuk 1:12)  Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.

(Habakkuk 1:13)  You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

(Habakkuk 1:14)  You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.

(Habakkuk 1:15)  He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.

(Habakkuk 1:16)  Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.

(Habakkuk 1:17)  Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?

In chapter 2 the Lord especially answers all of Habakkuk’s prayers of chapter 1 by having Habakkuk write a vision which deplores all the evils done in Israel at the time of the book’s writing and reminds that the Lord is indeed in the temple

(Habakkuk 2:1)  I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

(Habakkuk 2:2)  And the LORD answered me: "Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.

(Habakkuk 2:3)  For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end--it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

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

(Habakkuk 2:5)  "Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples."

(Habakkuk 2:6)  Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, "Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own-- for how long?-- and loads himself with pledges!"

(Habakkuk 2:7)  Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them.

(Habakkuk 2:8)  Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.

(Habakkuk 2:9)  "Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!

(Habakkuk 2:10)  You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life.

(Habakkuk 2:11)  For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.

(Habakkuk 2:12)  "Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!

(Habakkuk 2:13)  Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing?

(Habakkuk 2:14)  For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

(Habakkuk 2:15)  "Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink-- you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness!

(Habakkuk 2:16)  You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD's right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!

(Habakkuk 2:17)  The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.

(Habakkuk 2:18)  "What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!

(Habakkuk 2:19)  Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.

(Habakkuk 2:20)  But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him."

In Habakkuk chapter 3 is another prayer, though mostly a praise song to the Lord, which declares the Lord’s various different actions in differing situations and Habakkuk’s willingness to worship the Lord regardless

(Habakkuk 3:1)  A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

(Hab 3:2)  O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

(Habakkuk 3:3)  God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. Selah

(Habakkuk 3:4)  His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power.

(Habakkuk 3:5)  Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels.

(Habakkuk 3:6)  He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations; then the eternal mountains were scattered; the everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways.

(Habakkuk 3:7)  I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

(Habakkuk 3:8)  Was your wrath against the rivers, O LORD? Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation?

(Habakkuk 3:9)  You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows. Selah You split the earth with rivers.

(Habakkuk 3:10)  The mountains saw you and writhed; the raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice; it lifted its hands on high.

(Habakkuk 3:11)  The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear.

(Habakkuk 3:12)  You marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger.

(Habakkuk 3:13)  You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah

(Habakkuk 3:14)  You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.

(Habakkuk 3:15)  You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters.

(Habakkuk 3:16)  I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.

(Habakkuk 3:17)  Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,

(Habakkuk 3:18)  yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

(Habakkuk 3:19)  GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

Habakkuk was one who loved the Lord and was deeply grieved by the evil of the people of the time that he was prophesying but Habakkuk kept praying to the Lord for answers and he did indeed get them, which should encourage all of us to bring our questions, concerns, needs, burdens, and everything before the Lord who can and will answer all prayers just as He did with Habakkuk the prophet. The Lord is loving and wants the relationship with us, which is why He did indeed send Jesus to the cross to die for our sins, paying the price for them once and for all so we could have the gift of eternal life and that special relationship with the Lord which is why He did indeed send Jesus to die for us, for His love for us is so great that He did indeed gave us this unspeakable gift. There is nothing that can compare with a relationship with the Lord, absolutely nothing can compare with that special love relationship. I am now including a prayer that will invite Jesus into your heart to begin this special love relationship or you can even use this prayer to welcome Jesus back if you have drifted away for any reason, for God is merciful to welcome back all those who repent. Please pray this prayer with me then

Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness. I believe that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin. You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess Jesus as our Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we will be saved. Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved. Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license, but rather it always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself. Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.

Amen.

God bless you and yours