Habakkuk 2:4
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →The proud, puffed-up soul is not right within, but the righteous person will live by his faithful trust in God.
What Does Habakkuk 2:4 Mean?
Here is the heart of the book, set as a contrast. On one side stands the soul that is "lifted up" — swollen with pride, crooked within. On the other stands the just one, who lives by his faith. Babylon embodies the first; the believer is called to the second. Life and uprightness come not through self-exaltation but through trusting, faithful dependence on God.
These words echo through the New Testament wherever the gospel is proclaimed, becoming a cornerstone of how God's people understand life with Him: the righteous live by faith. The plain sense here is that those who hold fast to God in steady, trusting faithfulness — even amid violence and delay — are the ones who truly live, while the proud collapse under their own weight. In a world that exalts the strong, God grants real life to those who lean wholly on Him.
In the Original Language
'emunah (אֱמוּנָה), 'faith' — faithfulness, steadiness, trustworthy reliance; firm, settled trust that holds fast to God and lives by it.