Habakkuk 2:17
in Habakkuk 2For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of animals will terrify you, because of your bloodshed against men and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.
KJV
For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
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This verse in Habakkuk 2
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verg. 15 seqq.) Woe to him who gives drink to his friend, sending forth his gall and intoxicating him, so that he may see his nakedness. He is filled with shame instead of glory. Drink also yourself, and be drunk, for the cup of the Lord's right hand will surround you, and the vomit of shame will be upon your glory. For the wickedness of Lebanon will cover you, and the destruction of animals will frighten them away, from the blood of men and the iniquity of the land, the city, and all the inhabitants therein.
This site's exposition
giveth his neighbour drink
on Habakkuk 2:15-17
The fourth woe turns from war to a uniquely ugly image, giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness, humiliation added to conquest. The woe answers in kind, thou art filled with shame for glory, and the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, the violence of Lebanon closing in to cover the empire that once stripped its cedar forests for its own building projects. Gill and Henry read the drunkenness imagery as deliberately reversing the humiliation Babylon inflicted on conquered kings, the cup passed back to the one who first poured it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
25 ) and the temple ( Zech. xi. 1 ), that God now reckons with thee; that is the sin that now covers thee." II. The promoters of idolatry stand here impeached and condemned; and this also was a sin that Babylon was notoriously guilty of; it was the mother of harlots.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
The violence - The violence thou hast done to Judea shall overwhelm thee. The spoil of brass - Such spoil as by hunters is made among wild beasts, when they endeavour to destroy the whole kind.
For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
As thou didst hunt men as wild beasts, so shalt thou be hunted thyself as a wild beast, which thou resemblest in cruelty. because of men's blood--shed by thee; repeated from Hab 2:8. But here the "land" and "city" are used of Judea and Jerusalem: not of the earth and cities generally, as in Hab 2:8. the violence of the land, &c.--that is, inflicted on the land by thee.
For the violence of Lebanon - Or, the violence done to Lebanon; to men, to cattle, to Judea, and to Jerusalem. See the note on the parallel place, Hab 2:8 (note). This may be a threatening against Egypt, as the former was against Chaldea.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For the violence of Lebanon - i. e., done to Lebanon, whether the land of Israel of which it was the entrance and the beauty (See Isa 37:24, and, as a symbol, Jer 22:6, Jer 22:23; Eze 17:3; but it is used as a symbol of Sennacherib’s army, Isa 10:34, and the king of Asshur is not indeed spoken of under the name as a symbol (in Eze 21:3,) but is compared to it), or the temple (See the note at Zec 12:1), both of which Nebuchadnezzar laid waste; or, more widely, it may be a symbol of all the majesty of the world and its empires, which he subdues, as Isaiah uses it, when speaking of the judgment on the world, Isa 2:13, “It shall cover thee, and the spoil (i. e., spoiling, destruction) of beasts (the inhabitants of Lebanon) which made them afraid,” or more simply, “the wasting of wild beasts shall crush , Pro 10:14; Pro 13:3; Pro 14:14; Pro 18:7) them (selves),” i. e., as it is in irrational nature, that “the frequency of the incursions of very mischievous animals becomes the cause that people assemble against them and kill them, so their (the Chaldaeans’) frequent injustice is the cause that they haste to be avenged on thee” . Having become beasts, they shared their history. They spoiled, scared, laid waste, were destroyed. “Whoso seeketh to hurt another, hurteth himself.” The Chaldaeans laid waste Judea, scared and wasted its inhabitants; the end of its plunder should be, not to adorn, but to cover them, overwhelm them as in ruins, so that they should not lift up their heads again. Violence returns upon the head of him who did it; they seem to raise a lofty fabric, but are buried under it. He sums up their past experience, what God had warned them beforehand, what they had found.
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| חֲמַ֤ס | chamas | [the] violence of | H2555 → | 60 times |
| לְבָנוֹן֙ | levanon | Lebanon | H3844 → | |
| יְכַסֶּ֔ךָּ | yekhaseka | it will cover you | H3680 → | 152 times |
| וְשֹׁ֥ד | veshod | and [the] devastation of | H7701 → | |
| בְּהֵמ֖וֹת | behemot | animals | H929 → | |
| יְחִיתַ֑ן | yechitan | it will terrify them | H2865 → | |
| מִדְּמֵ֤י | midemei | from [the] blood<s> of | H1818 → | 360 times |
| אָדָם֙ | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| וַחֲמַס־ | vachamas- | and [the] violence of | H2555 → | 60 times |
| אֶ֔רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| קִרְיָ֖ה | kiryah | [the] town | H7151 → | 29 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| יֹ֥שְׁבֵי | yoshevei | [those who] dwell | H3427 → | |
| בָֽהּ׃ ס | vah | in it |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
חֲמַ֤ס[the] violence of
chamasH2555 →60 times
לְבָנוֹן֙Lebanon
levanonH3844 →
יְכַסֶּ֔ךָּit will cover you
yekhasekaH3680 →152 times
וְשֹׁ֥דand [the] devastation of
veshodH7701 →
בְּהֵמ֖וֹתanimals
behemotH929 →
יְחִיתַ֑ןit will terrify them
yechitanH2865 →
מִדְּמֵ֤יfrom [the] blood<s> of
midemeiH1818 →360 times
אָדָם֙humankind
ʾadamH120 →551 times
וַחֲמַס־and [the] violence of
vachamas-H2555 →60 times
אֶ֔רֶץ[the] land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
קִרְיָ֖ה[the] town
kiryahH7151 →29 times
וְכָל־and all
vekholH3605 →5413 times
יֹ֥שְׁבֵי[those who] dwell
yosheveiH3427 →
בָֽהּ׃ סin it
vah
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 55:23But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
it leads to
- Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.
- Psalms 5:6
You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.
- Job 15:32
It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.
- Proverbs 10:27
Through
Proverbs 28:17A man burdened by bloodguilt will flee into the Pit; let no one support him.
it leads to
- Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- Exodus 21:14
But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
- 1 Kings 21:19
Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where…
- Genesis 9:6
Through
Jeremiah 51:24Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 50:15
Raise a war cry against her on every side! She has thrown up her hands in surrender; her towers have fallen; her walls are torn down. Since this is the vengeance of the LORD,…
- Jeremiah 50:15
Through
Habakkuk 2:8Because you have plundered many nations, the remnant of the people will plunder you—because of your bloodshed against man and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers.
it leads to
- Isaiah 33:1
Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
- Isaiah 33:1
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; Jerome, Commentary on Habakkuk; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.