Habakkuk 2:10
in Habakkuk 2You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul.
KJV
Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul.
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This verse in Habakkuk 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, the cutting off many people, and sinning against thy soul - The wicked, whether out of passion or with his whole mind and deliberate choice and will, takes that counsel, which certainly brings shame to himself and his house, according to the law of God, whereby, according to Exo 20:5, He “visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him,” i. e., until by righteousness and restitution the curse is cut off.
This site's exposition
an evil covetousness to his house
on Habakkuk 2:9-11
The second woe indicts the house built on plunder, coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, safety sought in height and wealth rather than righteousness. Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people turns the builder's ambition into his own household's disgrace. The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it personifies the very building materials as witnesses against the blood that funded them. Henry and Clarke read the image as the created order itself refusing to stay silent over injustice, stones crying out where men will not.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Thou hast consulted shame to thy house,....
Yet that is not the worst of it: " Thou hast sinned against thy own soul, hast brought that under guilt and wrath, and endangered that." Note, Those that do wrong to their neighbour do a much greater wrong to their own souls.
The crime for which this woe is denounced is much the same with that in the foregoing article--an insatiable desire of wealth and honour; it is coveting an evil covetousness to his house, that is, grasping at an abundance for his family.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Thou hast consulted shame . . . by cutting off many--MAURER, more literally, "Thou hast consulted shame . . . to destroy many," that is, in consulting (determining) to cut off many, thou hast consulted shame to thy house. sinned against thy soul--that is, against thyself; thou art the guilty cause of thine own ruin (Pr 8:36;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Hast sinned against thy soul - Thy life is forfeited by thy crimes.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
With this matter, you advised shame for your house For you advised to cut off many peoples, and you caused a loss for yourself.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For a stone For the stones that you stole shall cry from the wall.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָעַ֥צְתָּ | yaatzta | you have planned | H3289 → | |
| בֹּ֖שֶׁת | boshet | shame | H1322 → | |
| לְבֵיתֶ֑ךָ | leveitekha | for house your | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| קְצוֹת־ | ketzot- | by cutting off | H7096 → | |
| עַמִּ֥ים | ʾamim | peoples | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| רַבִּ֖ים | rabim | many | H7227 → | 454 times |
| וְחוֹטֵ֥א | vechote' | and [you have] sinned | H2398 → | |
| נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃ | nafshekha | self your | H5315 → | 754 times |
יָעַ֥צְתָּyou have planned
yaatztaH3289 →
בֹּ֖שֶׁתshame
boshetH1322 →
לְבֵיתֶ֑ךָfor house your
leveitekhaH1004 →2046 times
קְצוֹת־by cutting off
ketzot-H7096 →
עַמִּ֥יםpeoples
ʾamimH5971 →1873 times
רַבִּ֖יםmany
rabimH7227 →454 times
וְחוֹטֵ֥אand [you have] sinned
vechote'H2398 →
נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃self your
nafshekhaH5315 →754 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 8:36But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
it leads to
- Proverbs 15:32
He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.
- Proverbs 1:31
So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
- 1 Corinthians 16:22
If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be under a curse. Come, O Lord!
- John 15:23–24
Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.
- Proverbs 20:2
The terror of a king is like the roar of a lion; whoever provokes him forfeits his own life.
- Proverbs 15:32
Through
Jeremiah 22:30This is what the LORD says: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will prosper to sit on the throne of David or…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 36:30
Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his body will be thrown out and exposed to heat by…
- Jeremiah 36:30
Through
Nahum 1:14The LORD has issued a command concerning you, O Nineveh: “There will be no descendants to carry on your name. I will cut off the carved image and cast idol from the house of…
it leads to
- Psalms 109:13
May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.
- Psalms 109:13
Through
Jeremiah 26:19Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did Hezekiah not fear the LORD and seek His favor, and did not the LORD relent of the disaster He…
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 24:16
But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that…
- 2 Samuel 24:16
Where this verse is studied
About Habakkuk
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.