Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,
Habakkuk 2:6
“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
for how long?—
and loads himself with pledges!”
Habakkuk cries out “Woe!” five times throughout this chapter, in verses 6, 9, 12, 15, and 19. What does this exclamation mean?
Woe!
The word “woe” is the Hebrew הוֹי (hoi). It’s similar to אוֹי (oi), which has likely entered English slang through Yiddish. Of its 50 occurrences, “woe” is the most frequent translation (in the ESV). Most of the time it introduces a prophetic woe (like the five times in Habakkuk).
This is a cry of mourning. It first appears when a prophet mourns over the death of another prophet: “Alas (hoi), my brother!” (1 Kings 13:30). Jeremiah 22:18 uses it in a similar sense, proclaiming Jehoiakim will not be lamented at his death.
Perhaps this means when we read cries of “woe” in prophets like Habakkuk we should read them as using it like someone in mourning. For instance, Isaiah cries early in his book, “Ah (hoi), sinful nation, / a people laden with iniquity” (Isaiah 1:4). Amos exclaims, “Woe (hoi) to you who desire the day of the LORD” (Amos 5:18) because that day will be so dreadful.
Whoa!
Hoi is used another way. Instead of mourning, it can be an exclamation of relief: “Ah (hoi), I will get relief from my enemies / and avenge myself on my foes” (Isaiah 1:24). It appears in a similar way later in Isaiah, obscured by the translation:
Come (hoi), everyone who thirsts,
Isaiah 55:1
come (halak) to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come (halak), buy and eat!
Come (halak), buy wine and milk
without money and without price
Note how only the first “Come” is hoi. The others translate halak, which means to walk or go. The first line is an exclamation: “Woe to all the thirsty!” or “Ah, all the thirsty!”. It highlights something is wrong but includes the solution. It then commands the listener to action – Go!
When the Lord told the prophet Zechariah that he would bring back the Israelites to the land, he declared, “Up (Hoi)! Up (Hoi)! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD. Up (Hoi)! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon” (Zechariah 2:6-7). While times had been dark in exile, God was going to deliver them and bring them home.
Woes of Jesus
When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek (called the Septuagint), they used the word οὐαί (ouai). It shows up over 50 times in the New Testament, used predominantly by Jesus. The most prominent use is Jesus’ denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23 and Luke 11.
In Luke 6:20-26, Jesus makes four statements of blessing and four woes. Jesus says the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are persecuted because of him are blessed. Ironically, he pronounces woes over those who are rich, well-fed, who laugh, and who are spoken well of. These feel backward to what we might consider blessed or in trouble. The reason isn’t because of the current condition but because of what is to come. Those who are experiencing hard times now are blessed because of their reward coming later. On the other hand, woe to those who are well off now because bad times are coming.
The book of Revelation pronounces ouai in response to the coming devastation upon the earth. Three woes are pronounced over the land (Revelation 8:13) because of the upcoming judgements. Revelation 18 depicts the fall of Babylon:
“Alas (Ouai)! Alas (Ouai)! You great city,
Revelation 18:10
you mighty city, Babylon!
For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
These all carry a similar feeling as the prophets of Israel, pronouncing woes for the judgement coming upon the nations.
To Ponder…
What do you say “Woe!” over? (maybe not literally) What might God say “Woe!” over in our world today?
Is there anything in your life that you feel blessed but Jesus would pronounce “Woe”?
Do you mourn over the same things that God mourns over?