Habakkuk 2:14
in Habakkuk 2For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.
KJV
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
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This verse in Habakkuk 2
Commentary
6 notes on this verse(Verse 12 and following) Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed, and establishes a town with injustice: are these things not from the Lord of hosts? For the peoples shall labor in vain, and the nations shall exhaust themselves: for the earth shall be filled, that they may know the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. LXX: Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed, and establishes a town with wickedness: are these things not from the Almighty Lord?
This site's exposition
buildeth a town with blood
on Habakkuk 2:12-14
The third woe, buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity, is answered by a question rather than only a curse, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire... for very vanity, empire building exposed as fuel for a fire that consumes its own builders. Against that vanity stands the chapter's brightest verse, the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea, matched almost word for word at Isaiah 11:9, a shared formula the bench names rather than one prophet borrowing from another. Keil and Pusey read the verse as the answer standing over every woe in the chapter, Babylon's violence measured against a glory that will finally cover the whole earth the way water covers its bed.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Such is the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ given by the gospel ( 2 Cor. iv. 6 ), and such was the knowledge of his glory by the miraculous ruin of Babylon.
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
For the earth shall be filled - This is a singular and important verse. It may be first applied to Babylon. God’s power and providence shall be widely displayed in the destruction of this city and empire, in the humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar, Dan 4:37, and in the captivity and restoration of his people. See Newcome, and see Isa 11:9. Secondly. It may be applied to the glorious days of the Messiah. The land of Judea should by his preaching, and that of his disciples, be filled with the knowledge of God.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord - Habakkuk modifies in a degree the words of Isaiah which he embodies, marking that the destruction of Babylon was a stage only toward the coming of those good things which God taught His people to long for, not their very coming. All the world should be then full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, not, as yet, wholly of Himself Jerome: “When Babylon shall be overthrown, then shall the power of the might of the Lord be known unto all. So shall the whole earth be filled with the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the bottom of the sea. This as to the letter. But it is plain, that the Devil also and antichrist, and the perverse teaching of heretics, built a city in blood; i. e, their own Church, with the destruction of those whom they deceive ... But when they fail in the fire (either this fire which is felt, or consumed in the fire of the devil their prince, or burned up with the fire whereof the Lord says, ‘I came to send a fire upon the earth,’ and so brought back from their former course, and doing penitence), the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, when, at the preaching of the apostles, their ‘sound shall go out into all the world,’ as waters covering the sea, i. e., all the saltness and bitterness of the world which Satan had rained down and the earth had drunk, the waters of the Lord shall cover, and cause the place of their ancient bitterness not to appear.” Rup.: “‘For the Spirit of the Lord filled the earth,’ and when He filled it, ‘the earth was filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,’ so that unlearned and ignorant men became wise and eloquent, and earthly became heavenly, yea, they who were earth became heaven, knowing the glory of the Lord, declaring the glory of God, not any how, but as waters cover the sea. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Behold, is it not from the Lord that the retribution has been requited to the perpetrators of wickedness?
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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֚י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תִּמָּלֵ֣א | timale' | it will be filled | H4390 → | |
| הָאָ֔רֶץ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| לָדַ֖עַת | ladaat | to know | H3045 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כְּב֣וֹד | kevod | [the] glory of | H3519 → | 200 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| כַּמַּ֖יִם | kamayim | like <the> waters | H4325 → | 581 times |
| יְכַסּ֥וּ | yekhasu | [which] they cover | H3680 → | 152 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יָֽם׃ ס | yam | [the] sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
כִּ֚יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
תִּמָּלֵ֣אit will be filled
timale'H4390 →
הָאָ֔רֶץthe earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
לָדַ֖עַתto know
ladaatH3045 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כְּב֣וֹד[the] glory of
kevodH3519 →200 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
כַּמַּ֖יִםlike <the> waters
kamayimH4325 →581 times
יְכַסּ֥וּ[which] they cover
yekhasuH3680 →152 times
עַל־over
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יָֽם׃ ס[the] sea
yamH3220 →396 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
Psalms 72:19And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.
it leads to
- Numbers 14:21
“Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 6:10
Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
- Numbers 14:21
Through
Isaiah 6:3And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”
it leads to
- Revelation 4:8–9
And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty,…
- Psalms 72:19
And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.
- Revelation 4:8–9
Through
Psalms 22:27All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.
it leads to
- Psalms 86:9
All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.
- Isaiah 45:22
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
- Revelation 7:9–12
After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes…
- Psalms 86:9
Through
Psalms 86:9All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.
it leads to
- Revelation 15:4
Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”
- Revelation 15:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies6
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); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jerome, Commentary on Habakkuk; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.