「哈巴谷」的意思是「拥抱」，这个书名非常贴切，因为先知的信息，就是预备以准确的态度接受神的管教、充满「欢欣、喜乐」（三18）地拥抱即将到来的审判：「虽然无花果树不发旺，葡萄树不结果，橄榄树也不效力，田地不出粮食，圈中绝了羊，棚内也没有牛；然而，我要因耶和华欢欣，因救我的神喜乐」（三17-18）。
哈巴谷不像大部分先知那样、直接把从神所来的信息传达给百姓，他和我们一样满怀许多疑问。而神则乐意借着回答先知所提出的两个问题，让人认识祂永远的旨意。
This prophetic book takes its name from its author and possibly means “one who embraces” (1:1; 3:1). By the end of the prophecy, this name becomes appropriate as the prophet clings to God regardless of his confusion about God’s plans for his people.
“Habakkuk was not a self-centered person concerned only with the comfort and safety of himself and his family. As a true patriot, he was deeply distressed by the moral and spiritual conditions about him. He loved his nation, and knew it was moving ever closer to the precipice of destruction by continuing to break the laws of God. Therefore two anguished questions burst forth from his lips: How long? and Why?”
by Richard W. De Haan
Preferring the meaning “to embrace,” Feinberg quotes Martin Luther with favor as follows:
Habakkuk signifies an embracer, or one who embraces another, takes him into his arms. He embraces his people, and takes them to his arms, i.e., he comforts them and holds them up, as one embraces a weeping child, to quiet it with the assurance that, if God wills, it shall soon be better.
OUTLINE
I. THE PROPHET IS PERPLEXED THAT GOD DOES NOT PUNISH THE INIQUITY OF JUDAH (1:1-4)
II. THE LORD REPLIES THAT HE WILL USE THE BABYLONIANS TO PUNISH JUDAH (1:5-11)
III. HABAKKUK NOW QUESTIONS GOD’S CHOICE OF A MORE WICKED NATION TO PUNISH JUDAH (1:12-17)
IV. GOD’S ANSWER IS THAT THE JUST PEOPLE OF JUDAH WILL SURVIVE, BUT THE UNJUST CHALDEANS WILL BE DESTROYED (Chap. 2)
A. Habakkuk Awaits God’s Answer (2:1)
B. Instructions to Record the Answer and Await Its Fulfillment (2:2, 3)
C. The Just Shall Live by Faith, and the Unjust Chaldeans Will Die (2:4)
D. Catalog of the Chaldean’s Sins (2:5-19)
E. Silence Enjoined Before the Storm of God’s Judgment (2:20)
V. HABAKKUK PRAYS AND TRUSTS (Chap. 3)
A. He Appeals to God to Act for His People (3:1, 2)
B. He Reviews God’s Care for Israel from Egypt to Canaan (3:3-15)
C. He Waits for the Enemy to Be Punished (3:16)
D. No Matter What Happens, He Will Trust in God, His Strength (3:17-19)
[Believer’s Bible]