Habakkuk 1:2

"O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save."

What Christian has not experienced in his heart such questions as these? Rampant wickedness, blasphemy, atheism, rejection of sacred laws, and the arrogant confidence of evil men asserting themselves against truth and righteousness - one who is able to see such things in the light of the word of God may easily feel the frustration and latent doubt that nagged at the heart of Habakkuk. True followers of the Lord "are in danger of being unduly depressed and disheartened by the rising power of the mystery of iniquity."[4] Taylor expressed doubt that the extensive wickedness indicated in this verse could have been descriptive of wickedness in Judah prior to 600 B.C., alleging at the same time that it points to a period of 333-63 B.C.![5] One cannot possibly imagine what such a "doubt" could have been founded upon. Hosea, Micah, and Amos, and others of the very earliest prophets have written extensively, and even more fully than did Habakkuk, of that very thing. Such "doubts" are part and parcel of the campaign to destroy Habakkuk as a prophecy by the device of dating it centuries after the thing prophesied; and like the whole campaign, this tip of the iceberg which surfaces in such an argument is not founded upon any truth. Hosea wrote: "There is nothing but lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery. They break out, and blood toucheth blood" (Hosea 4:2), and Micah declared of Israel that, "Their rich men are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies ... therefore have I smitten thee with a grievous wound" (Micah 6:12,13). Those prophets described things in Israel at a time much earlier than that of Habakkuk.

Another device is that of applying Habakkuk 1:2-4 to the Chaldeans, or others, instead of to Judah, but, "The rearrangement of the text to support a particular theory is always questionable. It is safer to take the text (Habakkuk 1:2-4) as it stands and refer it to Judah."[6]

"I cry unto thee of violence..." "Violence, as used by the prophets refers to any kind of wrong done to one's neighbor."[7] In this passage Habakkuk places himself as a spokesman for the people, some of whom are righteous, crying unto God upon their behalf.