Bible Strands
Habakkuk 1:5
“Look at the nations and observe—be utterly astounded! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Habakkuk records God’s direct address to the Judean audience during a period of national moral collapse and judicial failure. God interrupts Habakkuk’s complaint about perverted justice to announce an impending historical intervention.
The words — The Hebrew imperative רְא֤וּ (re.'U) commands "see," paired with וְֽ/הַבִּ֔יטוּ (ve./ha.Bi.tu) meaning "and look closely," followed by וְ/הִֽתַּמְּה֖וּ (ve./hit.ta.me.Hu) which means "and be utterly astounded." These verbs frame the declaration that follows regarding God's pending action.
The thread — The warning against disbelief in divine action echoes the caution in Acts 13:40 and the theme of divine wonder in Isaiah 29:14. The motif of kings and nations refusing to believe God's intervention appears in Lamentations 4:12.
Why it lands — The text demands that the reader observe current national conditions and accept that God will act in ways that defy human expectation. It requires immediate attention to divine judgment rather than reliance on human reasoning or prior assumptions.
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
Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.
Cross-references
- Acts 13:40 Watch out, then, that what was spoken by the prophets does not happen to you:
- Isaiah 29:14 Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”
- Lamentations 4:12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 5:12 They have lied about the LORD and said: “He will not do anything; harm will not come to us; we will not see sword or famine.
- Isaiah 29:9 Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink.
- Jeremiah 9:25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—
- Jeremiah 18:18 Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”
- Jeremiah 25:14 For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’”
- Ezekiel 12:22 “Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel: ‘The days go by, and every vision fails’?
- Daniel 9:12 You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.