The Prophet’s Perplexities and God’s Explanations (1:2–2:20): Habakkuk introduces his prophecy by reporting that the words he will share with his readers are an oracle, which God has placed on his heart. A similar superscription introduces Habakkuk’s great prayer and praise in 3:1. Habakkuk cannot understand why God is ignoring the rampant corruption that Habukkuk sees all around him in Judah. He has often cried to God in anguish but has received no answer. Because the call-answer motif is used often in the Old Testament to express intimacy of communion between God and the believer, God’s failure to answer the prophet’s call may indicate Habakkuk’s fear that perhaps he is out of fellowship with God.

The Hebrew words for Judah’s sin that Habakkuk uses in verses 2–3 involve the ideas of malic…