Shall not all these take up a proverb about him, and a taunting riddle against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? -- and to him that loadeth himself with pledges!
God's answer to Habakkuk turns to the fate of the plunderer himself, and the sentence comes as a song. The nations the Chaldeans had stripped sing woe over them — which raises two questions: why judge a nation God Himself had used, and who pronounces the sentence?
The two words in the verse carry different weight. One of them is rare, and it points to speech that hides its meaning:
The word chidah is translated 'proverb' only once, in Hab. 2:6, but it is often translated 'riddle.' It means 'problem' — a hidden way of speaking that hides the sense under figures of speech. The word usually translated 'proverb,' and used for the Book of Proverbs, is mashal, which means 'comparison, likeness.' Proverbs are short sentences meant to catch the attention and stay in the memory.
Because the song works by figure rather than by name, commentators read it as reaching past its first target:
This song against the Chaldean brings us to the last days. The king it speaks of is never named, because the traits it shows in him are not his alone. It is a proverb, a picture in symbols, that must be understood; it is a riddle that must be solved. It leads us on to the setting up of Christ's glorious reign.
Verse 6 begins a run of woes. Each one is built the same way — a sentence, then its reason. God had used this nation, yet He will not spare it:
Then we find a remarkable series of stanzas, from verse 6 to the end of the chapter — many woes one after another, with a reason attached to each case… God must judge the evil before He can bring in the blessing with power… The reason why God must deal with the Chaldean flows straight from His moral nature. He cannot support one whom He had used as His instrument, once that instrument dared to exalt itself to the dishonour of God.
The words "all these" point to the nations. God hands them the song:
The oppression and injustice of this nation cries aloud to God for judgment. As the LORD had used the Chaldeans to chastise His people, and the nations, so now He uses the nations to judge the Chaldeans. It is the nations He uses to take up a taunting proverb against these oppressors and to pronounce these woes on them.
The "how long?" in the song is not new. The prophet had already cried it himself:
The "how long" from the mouths of the singing oppressed ones seems to match what the prophet himself had said about Israel (ch. 1:2). Here the nations utter this cry.
The second half of the verse turns on a word with two senses: goods held in pledge, or heavy mud. Some older translations say "thick clay."
The first "Woe" falls on the man who collects other people's goods, things that do not belong to him. He loads himself with a burden of goods held as pledges for loans at interest… The play on words — "pledges" or "thick mud" — shows that this detestable looting could only bring the Chaldean shame. He would gain no "advantage" but contempt, because his act was so low. Such behaviour is detestable in God's eyes. How much punishment could leaders spare themselves and the nations they rule, if they saw how low such deeds are!
The song predicts no random ruin. The punishment matches the crime, and it still works that way:
Then follows a taunting song in verses 6-7. Divine retribution is coming for them. The spoiler is going to be spoiled. You can read this retribution in all history, and it still goes on. What is true of people is true of nations: "whatever one sows, that will he also reap."
This warning is not only for empires. It reaches any man who piles up wealth:
The things that will leave us cursed, if we have nothing else, cannot make us blessed… How many have pulled down their souls to build up a fortune! A ship may be so laden with gold that it sinks; many a man's gold has sunk him to hell. The rich sinner seals up money in his bag, and God seals up a curse with it. "Woe to him … that loads himself with thick clay" (Hab. 2:6).
- Riddle — the taunt is a chidah, a hidden way of speaking. It hides its sense under figures, so it never names its target.
- Reach — with no king named, the picture stretches past one Chaldean to proud powers everywhere, and on to Christ's reign.
- Reason — each woe gives its own cause. God cannot back a tool that lifts itself up to His dishonour.
- Reversal — the plundered nations become the singers, and the spoiler becomes spoil: what a man sows, he reaps.
- Weight — stolen gain is not treasure but thick clay. The load a man piles on himself is what sinks him.
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and they awake up that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?
God had used the Chaldeans of Babylon to punish His own people and other nations. Verse 7 sits in the mocking song those crushed nations now sing over him, as his victims rise and turn on him.
God does not pronounce these woes Himself. He puts them in the mouths of the peoples the Chaldean crushed.
The oppression and injustice of this nation cries out to God for judgment. The LORD had used the Chaldeans to punish His people and the nations. Now He uses the nations to judge the Chaldeans. He uses them to take up a taunting proverb against these oppressors, and to pronounce these woes on them.
The woe just before this verse falls on a man loaded with goods that are not his. The word for what he holds hides a second meaning.
The first "Woe" is pronounced over him who collects the possessions of others, goods that do not belong to him. He loads himself with a burden of goods that he pledges against interest... The play on words — "pledges" or "thick mud" — shows that this hateful looting could only lead to shame for the Chaldean. He would gain no "advantage" from it but contempt, because his act was so low.
Those who rise are his creditors, and the debt is everything he took from them. They wake up, and now he is the one who trembles.
This man laid hold of other people's goods to enrich himself. Suddenly those he had robbed would attack him. They would bite him like a thief set on by dogs, and in turn he would fall prey to them.
The word "suddenly" was not a figure of speech. Belshazzar was Babylon's last king.
Babylon did fall suddenly in the night of Belshazzar's feast. Compare Jeremiah 51:39-41.
Why does God turn on the very nation He had used? The answer lies in what God Himself is like.
God must deal with the Chaldean. The reason flows simply and necessarily from the moral nature of God. He could not keep supporting an instrument He Himself had used, once it dared to exalt itself and dishonour Him.
What happens to the Chaldean is not a one-off act of revenge. Writers read it as the ordinary way God governs nations.
Divine retribution is coming for them. The spoiler is going to be spoiled. This is the retribution you can read all through history, and it still goes on. What is true of people is true of nations: "whatever one sows, that will he also reap."
The pattern is older than Babylon. God had done the same with Assyria long before.
God may use the Assyrian as "the rod of my anger" to punish His people. But the proud Assyrian did not know God's ways. He never realised that he was only God's instrument. His pride, his evil thoughts and his evil deeds brought God's just judgment down on him (Isaiah 10). It was the same with the Babylonians!
Verse 7 belongs to the first of five woes in this chapter. Their reach does not stop with Babylon.
From chapter 2:3 we see that this revelation with its five woes (Hab. 2:6-20) not only refers to the coming invasion of the Chaldeans but that it applies also to a future day.
- Loaded — the woe falls on a man buried under goods that are not his. The play on words ties his "pledges" to thick mud, so his gain is his shame.
- Bitten — his creditors are the nations he stripped. They rise like dogs on a thief, and the plunderer becomes the plunder.
- Suddenly — the timing is the point. Babylon fell in the night of Belshazzar's feast, unwarned and unready.
- Broken — God had used the Chaldean as His rod. But He will not keep backing an instrument that exalts itself against Him.
- Repeated — this is how God rules history, and a day still to come will show it again. Whatever a power sows among the nations, it reaps.
Because thou hast plundered many nations, all the rest of the peoples shall plunder thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence [done] to the land, to the city, and all that dwell therein.
Habakkuk 2:8 gives the reason behind the first "woe" in the taunting song against Babylon. The nation that stripped others will be stripped itself, and the charge is bloodshed and violence — which raises two questions: why does God turn on the power He used, and who carries out the sentence?
God had raised up the Chaldeans (the Babylonians) to punish His own people. That did not make them safe. One writer traces the judgment back to God's own character:
God must deal with the Chaldean, and the reason flows straight from His moral nature. He cannot go on supporting someone He had used as His instrument once that instrument dares to exalt itself and dishonour Him.
Notice who carries out the sentence. The nations that suffered are the ones who now judge:
The oppression and injustice of this nation cries aloud to God for judgment. As the LORD had used the Chaldeans to chastise His people, and the nations, so now He uses the nations to judge the Chaldeans. It is the nations who take up a taunting proverb against these oppressors and pronounce these woes on them.
What happens to Babylon is not a one-off. It follows a rule that holds for nations as much as for people:
Divine retribution is coming for them. The spoiler is going to be spoiled. You can read this retribution in all history, and it still goes on. What is true of people is true of nations: "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap."
The verse calls the plunderers a remnant: what is left of the nations Babylon devoured. One writer reads Babylon's fall as a picture of something still future:
Verse 8 follows on from the verse before it and confirms it. This man had plundered. The remnant of the nations will be spared to see Christ take the throne, and they will in turn rob the plunderer. Let us not forget that Babel's fall is only a symbol of what will take place in the last days.
The word "peoples" is a wide one. Another writer explains what it covers:
Am-mim (peoples) are the mass of the people, the populations. So it does not matter who these are — they might be Jews or Gentiles.
The second half of the verse states the grounds. A close look at the Hebrew shows who is who. The land, the city and the people are not doing the violence. They suffer it:
So we have "because of bloods of Adam," that is, of man, and "violence of land, of city, and dwellers in it." At first I found this difficult, because the Assyrian shall not touch Zion. But this is character and conduct, not place — there is no "the." In Hebrew the word khamas (violence) is followed by the object of the violence. It is the violence done to land, city, and inhabitants. This is the character of the invader — the transgressor — the proud man.
Commentators differ on how far to pin down the place. Darby reads the phrase as the invader's character, not one location. Another writer ties it to Israel, and finds comfort there:
God had answered him that the Chaldean would punish Israel for this violence. So the moment would come when the nations would avenge the Chaldean's violence against Israel. In God's governmental ways, one revenge follows the other… God had to set His people aside for a time. But He will renew His relationship with them as soon as the judgments are over. He never forgets those who truly belong to Him. When it pleases Him to chasten them, then woe to those who, in doing so, pursue their own advantage.
The address is Babylon, but the portrait is not finished with Babylon:
While all this applies primarily to the Chaldean, it is likewise a prophecy concerning the future. The world powers remain the same to the end of the times of the Gentiles… We can expect no improvement among the world powers… So these verses describe the world's condition down to its very end.
- Instrument. God used the Chaldean to chastise His people. His own nature stops Him backing an instrument that exalts itself against Him.
- Reversal. The hand that struck is struck. God used Babylon against the nations; now He uses the nations against Babylon.
- Rule. The spoiler is spoiled. You can read this retribution across all history: nations reap what they sow, just as people do.
- Reason. The charge is the blood of men, and the violence done to land, city and people. They suffered that violence; they did not do it.
- Reach. The picture runs past Babylon to the world powers at the end. And God never forgets His own — so woe to any who exploit His chastening of them.
Woe to him that getteth iniquitous gain to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the grasp of evil!
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thine own soul.
Habakkuk 2:10 belongs to a series of woes against a conquering power that built its greatness on other nations' ruin. The charge is personal. The man who schemed to secure his house has built shame into its walls. The one he harmed most is himself.
The verse belongs to the second of five woes, and it turns on what a ruler does with what he has seized. One writer traces where this greed starts and where it ends:
The second woe goes deeper into the matter. It may begin with nothing more than wanting greatness for himself, or coveting what belongs to another. But it ends in lifting himself up above every enemy. He could have simply thrown his gains away instead. As it is, he spends them as selfishly as he won them.
Setting the nest on high is a bid to be out of reach. One writer ties this pride to a king who boasted about the city he had built:
The second woe is because of their greed and their drive to make themselves great. Like Edom, a hateful pride drove them to build their nest high. They imagine they are safe, thinking they can keep away "the power of evil." But their proud plans would end in shame, and their security would collapse into confusion. It is well known how Nebuchadnezzar showed this spirit. One day this proud monarch walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. "The king said: Is this not great Babylon, which I have built as a royal house by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" The humbling that came on the king points ahead. So the Lord will humble the proud world-power into the dust (Dan. 4).
The verse says he devised shame. The plan itself produced it, and the cost in human life is counted:
The second woe answers his greed. That greed drives him to rob others to build up his own house and to set "his nest on high." So he seeks to rule over the nations and make himself safe from attack. To reach that end he will stoop to "cutting off many peoples." He will crush nations and kill millions if that satisfies his lust for power. But he has to learn that all this ruthless wickedness will turn to his own shame.
Older translations end the verse with "you have sinned against your own soul." The ESV says he has forfeited his life. Either way, the damage comes home. One writer applies the charge to rulers in every age:
Anyone can apply these charges to himself, but from start to finish they are aimed at the great powers. A terrible and heavy responsibility rests on them. In history we see again and again that rulers invade another nation's land by force and conquer it to enlarge their own power. They build the greatness of their own house out of what they have taken from others. They build their nest high. Did not Napoleon, and many other emperors with him, work to extend their power at the cost of others?… In the end such plans bring nothing but the downfall and shame of these ambitious rulers. They discovered that they had sinned against their own soul (v. 10).
God allowed His people to be crushed for their sins. That did not clear the oppressor:
God allowed injustice and oppression to crush His people because of their sins. Even so, the way the oppressor acted cried out to heaven, and brought judgment on his own head. Woe to him! Even apart from God's dealings with His people, He is the one who judges the earth and frees it from the oppressor and the wicked.
One writer notes that these woes reach past the invaders of Habakkuk's own day:
From chapter 2:3 we see that this revelation with its five woes (Hab. 2:6-20) not only refers to the imminent invasion of the Chaldeans but that it applies also to a future day.
The opposite of this verse is not a smaller house but a different one:
The believer who wants to serve God never thinks of enlarging his own house. His joy and his honour consist in this, that he, like David, gathers the building materials for the house of his God.
- Gain. The woe starts with greed for one's own house, and the ruler spends what he seizes as selfishly as he won it.
- Nest. Building high is a bid for safety — the spirit of the king who boasted over "great Babylon" and was humbled.
- Shame. He cut off many peoples to secure his house. Instead he built disgrace into it.
- Soul. The ambitious ruler discovers that the one he sinned against was himself.
- Builder. The alternative is David's ambition: not enlarging your own house, but gathering material for God's.
For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
This verse explains the second "woe" of Habakkuk 2, a warning to a conqueror who built his house from what he took. Now the building materials turn witness against him.
One writer traces how greed does not stay small. It ends in a man lifting himself above every rival.
The second woe goes deeper. It may begin with nothing more than building himself up, or coveting what belongs to another; but the end of it is his own exaltation against all adversaries. He could have simply thrown his resources away. Instead he uses them as selfishly as he won them, to "set his nest on high." Violence follows in its wake.
That high nest costs lives, not money.
Covetousness calls forth the second woe. It leads him to rob others to establish his own house, in the effort to set "his nest on high." So he seeks to be supreme over the nations and safe from attack. To reach this end he does not hesitate to stoop to the "cutting off many people." Nations may be crushed and millions killed, if that gratifies his lust for power.
The stone and the beam are not neutral. They come from homes he ruined, and that is what gives them a voice.
But he has to learn that all this ruthless wickedness will turn to his own shame. The very stones and beams of the houses that he has ruined will be a witness against him and cry out for his judgment.
The building looks impressive. Its foundation is deceit.
In the end such plans bring nothing but the downfall and shame of these ambitious rulers. They discovered that they had sinned against their own soul (v. 10). Ambition and pride had founded this beautiful building on deceit. Every stone and every beam of it became a living testimony against the oppressor.
Habakkuk is not alone in giving a voice to what cannot talk. One writer lists other cries the Lord hears.
There was a cry from Abel's blood. There was, we also learn, a cry from Sodom (Genesis 4 and 18). There is a cry from the unpaid wages of the hired worker (James 5). Even stones may have a voice in the ear of the Lord (Habakkuk 2:11; Luke 19:40).
Another writer reads the beam as a witness against evil among God's own people. He then draws out the wider principle.
Habakkuk also in his short prophecy speaks of the beam out of the timber as having a voice. "And the beam out of the timber shall witness against it" — against the evils then current among the professed people of God (Habakkuk 2:11, in an older translation). The apostle Paul, too, writing to the church at Corinth, reminds them that "There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and nothing is without voice" (1 Corinthians 14:10, margin of an older translation). Nothing is without voice to us if we have ears to hear.
The charge is not aimed at one ancient ruler only. It reaches every power that grows the same way.
Although each can apply these accusations to himself, they are from beginning to end directed at the great powers. A terrible and heavy responsibility rests on them. In history we see again and again that leaders of governments invade the land of other nations to enlarge their power. They build the greatness of their own house out of what they have extorted from others.
Behind the fall of every such house stands a fixed principle of God's government.
We live in a day of grace; but grace does not set aside the government of God… This government of God may not take the form of direct intervention, for this is the day of God's patient grace. Christ is waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. Still, God cannot be indifferent to evil, and it remains true that what men sow they reap.
So what should a person build with? One writer points to a different kind of builder.
By contrast, the believer who wants to serve God never thinks of enlarging his own house. His joy and his honour are in this: like David, he gathers the building materials for the house of his God.
- Build — the second woe targets a man building his own house high and safe with what he stripped from others.
- Cost — he pays in people. Nations are crushed so one nest can sit high and safe.
- Voice — the materials testify. Stone, beam, Abel's blood and unpaid wages all reach God's ear.
- Verdict — what he built for safety becomes the evidence. He has sinned against his own soul.
- Alternative — the one who serves God never enlarges his own house. He gathers materials for God's house instead.