The Righteous Will Live by His Faith
1 I will stand at my watch and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. 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.
The answer is not an explanation but a sentence to hold on to while the explanation is withheld.
I will stand at my watch and set myself on the ramparts. The prophet takes a sentry's position and waits, expecting both a reply and a rebuke — what I will answer concerning my complaint.
The reply comes as an instruction about writing. Make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it: legible at speed, because it will have to be carried. Verse 3 explains why. The vision is for an appointed time; it hurries toward the end; though it seems slow, wait for it, because it will surely come. God does not deny the delay. He dates it.
Then verse 4 sets two men side by side. One is puffed up, and his soul is not upright in him. The other — the righteous, tsaddiq H6662 — will live by his faith, emunah H530. That single clause is quoted three times in the New Testament, in three different arguments Romans 1:17 Galatians 3:11 Hebrews 10:38. What Habakkuk asked for was an explanation of history. What he was given was a way to stand in it.
settled What this mark means