Adam Clarke on Habakkuk 1:2

O Lord, how long shall I cry - The prophet feels himself strongly excited against the vices which he beheld; and which, it appears from this verse, he had often declaimed against, but in vain; the people continued in their vices, and God in his longsuffering.

Habakkuk begins his prophecy under a similar feeling, and nearly in similar words, as Juvenal did his Satires: -

Semper ego auditor tantum?

Nunquamne reponam?

Vexatus toties rauci Theseide Codri?

Sat. 1:1. "Shall I always be a hearer only?

Shall I never reply?

So often vexed?"

Of violence - The most unlawful and outrageous acts.