🙏WEB · Habakkuk 2:3
What does Habakkuk 2:3 mean?
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay."
— Habakkuk 2:3 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.
Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.
Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.
Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’
Explanation
Habakkuk 2:3 comes at a pivotal moment in a short but intense prophetic book. Habakkuk, unlike most prophets, doesn't primarily speak God's word to the people—instead, he brings his own complaints and questions directly to God. He has just cried out about the injustice and violence he sees in Judah, and then, even more troubling to him, God reveals that he is going to use the brutal Babylonians to bring judgment on his own people. Habakkuk is confused and disturbed by this. In chapter 2, he takes his position "on the watchtower" to wait for God's answer. This verse is part of God's response, instructing the prophet to write the vision down plainly so it can be read and understood, and then giving this word of reassurance about timing.
In plain language, God is telling Habakkuk that the vision he has received—concerning the coming judgment on Babylon and the eventual vindication of the righteous—is real and certain, even though it hasn't happened yet. There is a fixed time appointed for it, known to God even if hidden from the prophet. The vision is depicted almost as a runner racing toward its goal ("hurries toward the end"), moving with purpose and intent. Though from Habakkuk's vantage point it may feel delayed, God insists that it will not ultimately fail to appear, and it will not actually be late by the true appointed schedule—it will come precisely when it should.
Theologically, this verse addresses the tension between the certainty of God's promises and the experience of waiting. It affirms God's sovereignty over time and history: he sets
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.