Passage

Habakkuk 2.4

"Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4, NASB95)

Habakkuk 2:4 is the single most theologically loaded faith-verse in the Hebrew Bible. Paul quotes it twice (Rom 1:17, Gal 3:11) and the writer of Hebrews once (Heb 10:38), making it the OT root of New Testament sola fide. The verse contrasts the puffed-up soul of the Babylonian conqueror (and by extension every self-sufficient man) with the righteous one whose life is sustained by [[H0530 - emunah|emunah]], a Hebrew term that holds faith, faithfulness, and steadfastness together in a single word.

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"2. And Jehovah answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it. 3. For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay."

"4. Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith."

"5. Yea, moreover, wine is treacherous, a haughty man, that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as Sheol, and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples. 6. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges!" (Habakkuk 2:2-6, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"2. Yahweh answered me, "Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. 3. For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won't prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won't delay."

"4. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith."

"5. Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn't stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can't be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples. 6. Won't all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, 'Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?'" (Habakkuk 2:2-6, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"2. And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3. 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."

"4. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."

"5. Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people: 6. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!" (Habakkuk 2:2-6, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"2. And Jehovah answereth me and saith: 'Write a vision, and explain on the tables, That he may run who is reading it. 3. For yet the vision [is] for a season, And it breatheth for the end, and doth not lie, If it tarry, wait for it, For surely it cometh, it is not late."

"4. Lo, a presumptuous one! Not upright is his soul within him, And the righteous by his stedfastness liveth."

"5. And also, because the wine [is] treacherous, A man is haughty, and remaineth not at home, Who hath enlarged as sheol his soul, And is as death that is not satisfied, And doth gather unto itself all the nations, And doth assemble unto itself all the peoples, 6. Do not these, all of them, against him a simile taken up, And a moral of acute sayings for him, And say, Woe [to] him who is multiplying [what is] not his? Till when also is he multiplying to himself heavy pledges?" (Habakkuk 2:2-6, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: YHWH, responding to the prophet Habakkuk's complaint
Audience: Judah, on the eve of Babylonian invasion
Location: Jerusalem / Judah
Time period: c. 605 to 597 BC, just before the Babylonian conquest of Judah

Theological reading

The book of Habakkuk is structured as a dialogue: the prophet complains, YHWH answers; the prophet complains again, YHWH answers again. Habakkuk's second complaint (1:12-17) is that YHWH's chosen instrument of judgment, the Chaldeans, is more wicked than the people they are judging. YHWH's answer in chapter 2 begins by commanding the prophet to write the vision and wait. Verse 4 then states the underlying principle by which everyone in the drama will be judged: the proud man is not right in himself, but the righteous lives by his emunah.

The Hebrew term [[H0530 - emunah|emunah]] is broader than the English "faith." It denotes steadfast trust expressed in covenant-loyal faithfulness. The righteous in Habakkuk's context is the one who, while the appointed-time vision tarries and while Babylon swells, holds firm in covenantal trust toward YHWH. The verse names how a man stays alive in the catastrophe Habakkuk sees coming: not by political alliance, not by military strength, not by self-sufficiency (the proud's failed strategy), but by emunah.

The Septuagint translates emunah as pistis, the same Greek word Paul uses in his three NT deployments of this verse. The lexical bridge from Hebrew emunah to Greek pistis is decisive: it lets Paul read Habakkuk's covenant-faithfulness register as compatible with his own trust-receptive-of-promise register without distorting the OT text. Habakkuk's emunah and Paul's pistis are not different concepts; they are the same concept seen from the OT side and the NT side of the cross.

Textual variants worth flagging. The MT reads be-emunato ("by his faith / faithfulness"). The LXX reads ek pisteos mou ("by my faith / faithfulness," reading "my" as the speaker, presumably YHWH or the righteous one) in some manuscript traditions and ek pisteos autou ("by his faith") in others. The Qumran Habakkuk pesher (1QpHab) reads it of the Teacher's faithfulness. Paul in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11 drops the possessive altogether ("the righteous shall live by faith"), and Hebrews 10:38 uses the LXX-style "my" form. The MT and Pauline forms are not in fundamental tension: whether the faith in view is the righteous one's faith in YHWH or YHWH's covenant-faithfulness toward the righteous, the verse functions as the OT root for justification by faith because the life of the righteous flows from a faith-relation, not from self-sufficient performance.

The Reformers (Luther particularly) made this verse the OT anchor of the sola fide doctrine. Luther recounts that his "tower experience" turned on his reading of Romans 1:17 quoting Habakkuk 2:4: the realization that the righteousness of God is received by faith, not earned by works, broke open his conscience and the Reformation with it.

Key words

H0530 - emunah, emunah - the load-bearing term: faith / faithfulness / steadfastness
H0539 - aman - the cognate verb root: to confirm, support, be faithful
G4102 - pistis, pistis - the Greek LXX rendering Paul carries into the NT
G1343 - dikaiosyne, dikaiosyne - righteousness; the status the righteous one bears

Theological themes

Justification by faith. The OT root of sola fide; quoted by Paul (twice) and Hebrews (once) as the foundational principle.
Faith and faithfulness. Hebrew emunah holds both senses; the verse refuses any clean split between trust and fidelity.
The waiting righteous. Life by faith is life sustained through unfulfilled vision; faith lives forward into the not-yet.
The proud vs. the righteous. Habakkuk's contrast frames the choice that runs through all of Scripture.
Hebrew-Greek bridge. LXX pistis for emunah enables Paul's NT deployment without distortion.

Cross-references

Romans 1.17 - Paul's foundational citation: "the righteous shall live by faith"
Galatians 3.11 - Paul's anti-works-righteousness citation
Hebrews 10.38 - Hebrews citation in the perseverance context
Genesis 15.6 - Abraham believed God and it was credited as righteousness; the OT pre-figure
Romans 4.3 - Paul's reading of Genesis 15:6, paired with Habakkuk 2:4
Ephesians 2.8-9 - "by grace through faith, not of works"

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.