Bible Strands
Habakkuk 1:12
Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Habakkuk addresses Yahweh directly, pivoting from a description of the Chaldeans' violence (v. 11) to a complaint about divine silence (v. 13). He grounds the complaint in God's own identity before pressing it.
The words — קְדֹשִׁי (qadoshi, "my Holy One," H6918) is the speaker's chosen designation, making holiness the explicit warrant for the question that follows. מִקֶּדֶם (miqedem, "from antiquity," H6924) anchors God in timelessness against the temporal sweep of the Chaldeans.
The thread — "Rock" and "everlasting" echo Deuteronomy 32:4 and 33:27; Psalm 90:2 states the same temporal claim in liturgical form. The cluster of holiness, eternity, and judicial appointment (execute judgment, correction) is densest in the Song of Moses.
Why it lands — It forces the reader to hold God's holiness and the visible triumph of the wicked in the same breath, without resolving either. The verse is not an answer; it is the ground on which the question in v. 13 becomes legitimate.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.
- Psalms 90:2 Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
- Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’
- Jeremiah 30:11 For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have scattered you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”
- Jeremiah 46:28 And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid, declares the LORD, for I am with you. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have banished you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”
- Psalms 93:2 Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity.
- Amos 9:8 Surely the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD.
- Lamentations 5:19 You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
- Ezekiel 30:25 I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king, but Pharaoh’s arms will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I place My sword in the hand of Babylon’s king, and he wields it against the land of Egypt.
- Ezekiel 37:11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’