Habakkuk 2:20
in Habakkuk 2But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
KJV
But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
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This verse in Habakkuk 2
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 19, 20). Woe to him who says to wood, 'Wake up!' or to silent stone (or lying stone), 'Arise!' Can it give instruction? Look, it is covered with gold and silver, but there is no breath in its midst. The Lord, however, is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. LXX: Woe to him who says to wood, 'Wake up!' and to the stone, 'Rise!' and it is the image, the production of gold and silver, but there is no spirit in it.
This site's exposition
what profiteth the graven image
on Habakkuk 2:18-20
The fifth and last woe turns from the tyrant to his gods, what profiteth the graven image... a teacher of lies, an idol carved by the same hands that trust it, laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. Against dumb stone the chapter sets the true God's address, but the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him, the whole created order called to stand quiet before the only throne that answers. Wesley and Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown read the closing verse as the vision's true resting point, every woe against Babylon's idols settled simply by the fact that the real God is enthroned and listening, which chapter 3 turns into prayer.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
(2.) The multitude of their gods which they set up, and take so much pains to support, cannot thrust out our God; he is, and will be, in his holy temple still, and glorious in holiness. They have laid waste his temple at Jerusalem; but he has a temple above that is out of the reach of their rage and malice, but within the reach of his people's faith and prayers.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Keep silence - Fear, submit, and depend on him; let his enemies be silent, reverence, hope, pray and wait for him, who will arise and have mercy on them, who will make it to be well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked, who will fully and satisfactorily solve the doubts, and unfold the riddles of his providence.
But the Lord is in his holy temple,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The Lord is in his holy temple - Jehovah has his temple, the place where he is to be worshipped; but there there is no image. Oracles, however, are given forth; and every word of them is truth, and is fulfilled in its season. And this temple and its worship are holy; no abomination can be practiced there, and every thing in it leads to holiness of heart and life. Let all the earth keep silence before him - Let all be dumb. Let none of them dare to open their mouths in the presence of Jehovah.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The temple at Jerusalem is a type of it, and there God is to be worshipped. He does not lie hid under gold and silver, as the idols of Babylon, but reigns in heaven and fills heaven, and thence succors His people. keep silence--in token of reverent submission and subjection to His judgments (Job 40:4;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And now having declared the nothingness of all which is not God, the power of man or his gods, he answers again his own question, by summoning all before the presence of the majesty of God. But the Lord - He had, in condemning them, pictured the tumult of the world, the oppressions, the violence, bloodsheddings, covetousness, insolence, self-aggrandizement of the then world-empire, and had denounced woe upon it; we see man framing his idols, praying to the lifeless stones; and God, of whom none thought, where was He? These were people’s ways. “But the Lord,” he joins it on, as the complement and corrective of all this confusion. The Lord is in His holy temple - awaiting, in His long-suffering, to judge. “The temple of God” is where God enshrines Himself, or allows Himself to be seen and adored. “God is wholly everywhere, the whole of Him no where.” There is no contrast between His temple on earth, and His temple in heaven. He is not more locally present in heaven than in earth. It were as anthropomorphic but less pious to think of God, as confined, localized, in heaven as on earth; because it would be simply removing God away from man. […]
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַֽיהוָ֖ה | vayahweh | and Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בְּהֵיכַ֣ל | beheikhal | [is] in [the] temple of | H1964 → | |
| קָדְשׁ֑וֹ | kadesho | holiness his | H6944 → | |
| הַ֥ס | has | hush! | H2013 → | |
| מִפָּנָ֖יו | mipanav | from before him | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָאָֽרֶץ׃ פ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
וַֽיהוָ֖הand Yahweh
vayahwehH3068 →6520 times
בְּהֵיכַ֣ל[is] in [the] temple of
beheikhalH1964 →
קָדְשׁ֑וֹholiness his
kadeshoH6944 →
הַ֥סhush!
hasH2013 →
מִפָּנָ֖יוfrom before him
mipanavH6440 →2123 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הָאָֽרֶץ׃ פthe earth
haaretzH776 →2504 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 46:10“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.”
it leads to
- Zechariah 2:13
Be silent before the LORD, all people, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 100:3
Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
- Ezekiel 38:23
I will magnify and sanctify Myself, and will reveal Myself in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
- Psalms 83:18
May they know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are Most High over all the earth.
- Isaiah 2:17
So the pride of man will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
- Zechariah 2:13
Through
Isaiah 6:1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple.
it leads to
- John 12:41
Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him.
- Revelation 15:8
And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
- Revelation 7:15–17
For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.
- John 12:41
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); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Habakkuk; 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.