(626/605/598 B.C.?)

1:2-4  = His prayer for deliverance from the wicked.
1:5-11  = God's answer that He is more concerned about justice than any man and that He is already doing something about it; even when Hababbuk hears it, he won't believe it.
1:12-17  = Habakkuk's prayer of concern that they are to be judged by someone more corrupt and wicked than they. He asks if they are to be utterly destroyed, and will there be no end to the Chaldean successes?

[Habakkuk waits for an answer.] He doesn't have to wait for long; God's answer is forthcoming in a vision that will be fulfilled, even if it is delayed. He informs him that the Chaldeans (Babylonians) will also be judged for their wickedness and evil rise to arrogance in their world domination.
He pronounces 5 Woes upon them:

(1)  Woe to him that increases in that which is not his.
(2)  Woe to him that covets an evil covetousness to his house.
(3)  Woe to him that builds a town with blood.
(4)  Woe to him that gives his neighbor drink for evil purposes.
(5)  Woe to him that says to their graven images, Awake!

They will receive their just recompense, for there is no help to come from the lifeless. God alone is alive and holy. Let the Earth keep silent before Him! The just shall live by faith.

[Habakkuk's prayer composed in a psalm to the chief musician?capricious, wild, and enthusiastic.] God's work of old, His light, His power requested again. His vision of God. All the Earth is arrested at His presence. The day of Salvation has come! The fearful react in stunned silence, their life ebbing from them. Even if the fig faileth, the vine fruitless, the olive barren, and all nature withholds her yield, the prophet will not fail to rejoice in the God of his Salvation, the Lord of his strength, who will make him to walk in high places! His faith alone is sufficient to sustain him.