(embraced or embracing), one of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament. Of his history we have only apocryphal accounts; but from the designation (iii. 19) we may conclude that he was of the tribe of Levi, and officially connected with the musical service of the temple. The burden of his prophecy is in regard to the invasion of Palestine by the Chaldæans, which, though incredible when he wrote, was to happen in less than a generation after his time. Accordingly, his period may be fixed as between 650 and 627 B.C., not very long before the advent of Jeremiah, and at a still shorter interval before Zephaniah. His style is artistic, but, at the same time, pure. The canonicity of the book is undoubted. (Delitzsch, Der Prophet Habakuk, Leipzig, 1843.)