Bible Strands

Habakkuk 2:3

For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God answers Habakkuk's complaint about Babylon's violence, instructing him to write the vision on tablets (v. 2) and then defining its reliability and timing.

The words — יָפֵחַ (yāp̄ēach), "it will pant," is the Hebrew verb behind the BSB's "testifies"; the literal image is a vision breathing hard toward its end, not a static declaration.

The thread — Ezekiel 12:25 states God's word will be fulfilled "without delay," while Hebrews 10:36 and Psalms 27:14 pair that certainty with the human cost of waiting.

Why it lands — The verse removes doubt about whether the vision will come but refuses to remove the wait; the reader's task is to hold both facts at once 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

כִּ֣יkiforע֤וֹדodstillחָזוֹן֙cha.zOn[the] visionלַמּוֹעֵ֔דla./mo.'Ed[is] for the/ appointed timeוְיָפֵ֥חַve./ya.Fe.achand/ it will pantלַקֵּ֖ץla./Ketzto the/ endוְלֹ֣אve./Lo'and/ notיְכַזֵּ֑בye.kha.Zevit will lieאִם־'im-ifיִתְמַהְמָהּ֙yit.mah.Mahit will delayחַכֵּה־cha.keh-waitל֔וֹl/ofor/ itכִּֽי־ki-forבֹ֥אvo'surely <come>יָבֹ֖אya.Vo'it will comeלֹ֥אlo'notיְאַחֵֽר׃ye.'a.Cherit will delay

King James Version

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Cross-references