Habakkuk 1:13

Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Habakkuk addresses YHWH directly, immediately after affirming God's eternal holiness (v. 12), and presses the contradiction: a God who cannot tolerate evil is watching it happen.

The words — טְהוֹר (tehor, "pure") grounds the argument in God's nature, while הַבִּיט (habbit, "to look, stare") frames the complaint as a failure of divine attention rather than divine power.

The thread — Psalms 5:4 and 34:15 state the same premise (God's eyes reject evil), and Jeremiah 12:1 raises the identical "why" from a different prophet.

Why it lands — The verse does not resolve the tension between God's holiness and His silence; it forces the reader to hold both without collapsing one into the other.

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

טְה֤וֹרte.Hor[you are too] pure of עֵינַ֙יִם֙'ei.Na.yimeyes מֵרְא֣וֹתme./re.'otfor/ seeing רָ֔עRa'evil וְהַבִּ֥יטve./ha.Bitand/ to look אֶל־'el-to עָמָ֖ל'a.Malmischief לֹ֣אlo'not תוּכָ֑לtu.Khalyou are able לָ֤מָּהLa./mah<to>/ why?תַבִּיט֙ta.Bitdo you look at בּֽוֹגְדִ֔יםbog.Dimtreacherous [people]תַּחֲרִ֕ישׁta.cha.Rishare you silent?בְּבַלַּ֥עbe./va.La'when/ swallows up רָשָׁ֖עra.Sha'a wicked [person]צַדִּ֥יקtza.Dika [person] righteous מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃mi.Me./numore than/ him

King James Version

Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

Cross-references

Psalms 5:4 For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; no evil can dwell with You.
Psalms 34:15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.
Jeremiah 12:1 Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
Habakkuk 1:3 Why do You make me see iniquity? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds.
Proverbs 31:8 Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.
2 Samuel 4:11 How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth!”
Psalms 10:15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call him to account for his wickedness until none is left to be found.
Psalms 50:3 Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.
1 Peter 1:15 But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,
1 Kings 2:32 The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.