“Woe to him who builds a town with bloodand founds a city on iniquity!Behold, is it not from the LORD of hoststhat peoples labor merely for fire,and nations weary themselves for nothing?For the earth will be filledwith the knowledge of the glory of the LORDas the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:12-14 Have you ever worked really hard for something to only realize later that it was a waste of time? Verse 13 of Habakkuk’s third woe condemns Babylon for building itself unjustly. All that work will only lead to its destruction. The bigger the city, the bigger the fire […]

“Woe to him who builds a town with bloodand founds a city on iniquity!Behold, is it not from the LORD of hoststhat peoples labor merely for fire,and nations weary themselves for nothing?For the earth will be filledwith the knowledge of the glory of the LORDas the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:12-14 We have arrived at the third woe. Habakkuk condemns those who build a town unjustly. While you might be building a town or physical structures, you’re probably building something. We are All Builders The Hebrew word for “build” is בנה (banah). There are plenty of examples of people […]

“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,to set his nest on high,to be safe from the reach of harm!You have devised shame for your houseby cutting off many peoples;you have forfeited your life.For the stone will cry out from the wall,and the beam from the woodwork respond. Habakkuk 2:9-11 We are finally finishing the second woe of Habakkuk. We have seen his condemnation of those who unjustly establish their homes, which will ultimately lead to shame. The woe ends with one more image. Screaming Stones The second woe concludes with the construction materials of a house crying […]

“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,to set his nest on high,to be safe from the reach of harm!You have devised shame for your houseby cutting off many peoples;you have forfeited your life.For the stone will cry out from the wall,and the beam from the woodwork respond. Habakkuk 2:9-11 Habakkuk has condemned those who are in it only for themselves – piling up wealth at the expense of others in the hopes of building up their own security. He goes on to describe the result: his plan will only lead to his downfall. Best Laid Plans The […]

“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,to set his nest on high,to be safe from the reach of harm!You have devised shame for your houseby cutting off many peoples;you have forfeited your life.For the stone will cry out from the wall,and the beam from the woodwork respond. Habakkuk 2:9-11 We continue our focus on Habakkuk’s second woe. The prophet condemns those who are exploiting the poor in order to build up their own security, a “nest on high”. Instead, we should be putting our security in the Lord. Nesting The word “nest” (קֵן, ken) is used literally […]

“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,to set his nest on high,to be safe from the reach of harm!You have devised shame for your houseby cutting off many peoples;you have forfeited your life.For the stone will cry out from the wall,and the beam from the woodwork respond. Habakkuk 2:9-11 We now turn to the second woe of Habakkuk, which we will cover over the coming weeks. This one begins by condemning those who take advantage of others. Profiting from Profits The translation of the first line of verse nine obscure the Hebrew a little. This is another […]

Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—for how long?—and loads himself with pledges!”Will not your debtors suddenly arise,and those awake who will make you tremble?Then you will be spoil for them.Because you have plundered many nations,all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,for the blood of man and violence to the earth,to cities and all who dwell in them. Habakkuk 2:6-8 Habakkuk proclaims the first of his five woes. Woe to the one who takes advantage of the […]

Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—for how long?—and loads himself with pledges!” Habakkuk 2:6 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 […]

Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—for how long?—and loads himself with pledges!” Habakkuk 2:6 The Lord tells Habakkuk to pronounce woes against the Babylonians. He calls them a taunt (מָשָׁל, mashal), scoffing (מְלִיצָה, m’litzah), and riddles (singular חִידָה, chidah, plural chidot), all words related to the challenging sayings of the wise. A Proverb The first word, mashal, is more commonly translated as proverb or parable, like describing Solomon speaking 3,000 proverbs (1 Kings 4:32). Its verbal root carries […]

“Moreover, wine is a traitor,an arrogant man who is never at rest.His greed is as wide as Sheol;like death he has never enough.He gathers for himself all nationsand collects as his own all peoples.” Habakkuk 2:5 God told Habakkuk that he was sending the Chaldeans (Babylonians) to punish Israel. The Babylonians will continue to conquer, expanding their territory, as long as they are able. Never Enough Habakkuk compares their neverending desire for more to the limitlessness of death with two parallel statements. The first pair compares their desire to conquer and loot as insatiable as death (Sheol is the generic […]