Jehovah listens to the pleas of his servants. Habakkuk asks: “How long, O Jehovah, must I cry for help, and you do not hear?” Yes, there is no justice, and the wicked surround the righteous. But God does hear, and as his punishing agency, he is “raising up the Chaldeans.” Yet, how can he use a warlike power? The prophet awaits God’s answer, anticipating a reproof.​—1:1–2:1.

1:2-4​—Habakkuk’s faith in Jehovah as a God who does not tolerate evil prompted him to ask why wickedness prevailed. He was willing to have his thinking adjusted. (2:1)