Habakkuk 2:6
in Habakkuk 2Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long will this go on?’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges!
KJV
Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!
⋯
This verse in Habakkuk 2
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 5 and following) And just as wine deceives a drinker, so too will the proud man be, and he will not be adorned, who has expanded his soul like Sheol and is like death, and he will not be satisfied. And he will gather all nations to himself, and he will heap all peoples to himself. Will not all these take up a proverb against him and a taunting riddle about him, and say: Woe to him who multiplies what is not his own! How long will he heap up thick clay against himself?
This site's exposition
he transgresseth by wine
on Habakkuk 2:5-6
The tyrant's appetite is named plainly, transgresseth by wine... enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, gathering nations the way death gathers the dead. The nations he has swallowed answer back in a taunting proverb, woe to him that increaseth that which is not his and ladeth himself with thick clay, wealth built on plunder called out as a burden rather than a treasure. Gill and Pusey read the five woes that follow as the nations' own funeral song sung over Babylon in advance, poetic justice pronounced before the empire falls.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
As for the inventors of impure heresies, those profaners and apostates who have opened their mouths wide against the divine glory, "those who have uttered perverted things," we could accuse them of having slipped in their madness as low as the foolish pagans. [They have slipped] perhaps even lower, for it would have been better never to have known it than to have turned away from the sacred commandment which was handed on to them. What the book of Proverbs so rightly speaks of has indeed come about: "that the dog has returned to its vomit, and no sooner has it washed than the pig returns to wallow in the slime." They have circulated among themselves blasphemous accusations against Christ and like wild, ferocious wolves ravage the flock for which Christ died. They pillage what is his very own, "bloating themselves on what is not theirs," as it is written, and "stuffing their gorge to the full." How aptly does that saying apply to them, that "they came out from us but were not part of us."
Let your people not desire many things, for the reason that few things are many to them. Poverty and riches are names that imply want and satiety. He is not rich who wants anything, nor poor who does not want. Let no one spurn a widow or cheat an orphan or defraud his neighbor. Woe to him who has a fortune amassed by deceit and builds in blood a city, in other words, his soul. For it is this that is built like a city. Greed does not build it but sets it on fire and burns it.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): Shall not all these take up a parable against him? That, since pride has been his sin, disgrace and dishonour shall be his punishment, and he shall be loaded with contempt, shall be laughed at and despised by all about him, as those that look big, and aim high, deserve to be, and commonly are, when they are brought down and baffled.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Shall not all these take up a parable against him,....
He increases that which is not his, but other people's. Note, No more of what we have is to be reckoned ours than what we came honestly by; nor will it long be ours, for wealth gotten by vanity will be diminished. Let not those that thrive in the world be too forward to bless themselves in it, for, if they do not thrive lawfully, they are under a woe.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
That not they only, but all other sinners like them, should perish under a divine woe. Those that are covetous, are greedy of wealth and honours,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Shall not all these take up a parable against him - His ambition, derangement, and the final destruction of his mighty empire by the Persians, shall form the foundation of many sententious sayings among the people. “He who towered so high, behold how low he is fallen!” “He made himself a god; behold, he herds with the beasts of the field!” “The disturber of the peace of the world is now a handful of dust!”
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The covetous man in heaping them together is only lading himself with a clay burden, as he dares not enjoy them, and is always anxious about them. LEE and FULLER translate the Hebrew as a reduplicated single noun, and not two words, "an accumulation of pledges" (De 24:10-13).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him? - Nebuchadnezzar gathered, Dan 3:4-5, “all people, nations, and languages, to worship the golden image which he had set up.” The second Babylon, pagan Rome, sought to blot out the very Christian Name; but mightier were the three children than the King of Babylon; mightier, virgins, martyrs, and children than Nero or Decius. These shall rejoice over Babylon, that, Rev 18:20, “God hath avenged them on her.” Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! - Truly wealth ill-gotten by fraud or oppression, “is not his,” who winneth it, before he had it, nor when he hath it, but a woe. It is not his; the woe is his. “Woe unto him.” He shall have no joy in what he gaineth, and what he hath he shall lose. How long? - What is the measure of thine impiety and greediness and cruelty? Yet if these are like hell, without measure, there remains another “How long?” How long will the forbearance of God endure thee, which thou art daily exhausting? This is then the end of all. The conqueror sweeps to him “all nations” and gathereth to him “all peoples.” To what end? As one vast choir in one terrible varied chant of all those thousand thousand voices, to sing a dirge over him of the judgments of God which his ill-doings to them should bring upon him, a fivefold Woe, woe, woe, woe, woe! Woe for its rapacity! Woe for its covetousness! Woe for its oppression! Woe for its insolence to the conquered! Woe to it in its rebellion against God! It is a more measured rhythm than any besides in Holy Scripture; each of the fivefold woes comprised in three verses, four of them closing with the ground, because, for. The opening words carry the mind back to the fuller picture of Isaiah. […]
The words behind it
19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲלוֹא־ | halo'- | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֵ֣לֶּה | ʾeleh | these [nations] | H428 → | |
| כֻלָּ֗ם | khulam | all of them | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עָלָיו֙ | ʾalav | on him | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מָשָׁ֣ל | mashal | a saying | H4912 → | |
| יִשָּׂ֔אוּ | yisau | will they lift up | H5375 → | 656 times |
| וּמְלִיצָ֖ה | umelitzah | and a mocking song | H4426 → | |
| חִיד֣וֹת | chidot | riddles | H2420 → | |
| ל֑וֹ | lo | to him | ||
| וְיֹאמַ֗ר | veyomar | so may someone say? | H559 → | 5305 times |
| ה֚וֹי | ho | woe to! | H1945 → | 51 times |
| הַמַּרְבֶּ֣ה | hamarbeh | the [one who] increases | H7235 → | |
| לֹּא־ | lo'- | [that which] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| ל֔וֹ | lo | [belongs] to him | ||
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| מָתַ֕י | matai | when? | H4970 → | |
| וּמַכְבִּ֥יד | umakhbid | and [one who] makes heavy | H3513 → | |
| עָלָ֖יו | ʾalav | on himself | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| עַבְטִֽיט׃ | ʾavtit | pledge[s] | H5671 → |
הֲלוֹא־¿ not
halo'-H3808 →5168 times
אֵ֣לֶּהthese [nations]
ʾelehH428 →
כֻלָּ֗םall of them
khulamH3605 →5413 times
עָלָיו֙on him
ʾalavH5921 →5755 times
מָשָׁ֣לa saying
mashalH4912 →
יִשָּׂ֔אוּwill they lift up
yisauH5375 →656 times
וּמְלִיצָ֖הand a mocking song
umelitzahH4426 →
חִיד֣וֹתriddles
chidotH2420 →
ל֑וֹto him
lo
וְיֹאמַ֗רso may someone say?
veyomarH559 →5305 times
ה֚וֹיwoe to!
hoH1945 →51 times
הַמַּרְבֶּ֣הthe [one who] increases
hamarbehH7235 →
לֹּא־[that which] not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
ל֔וֹ[belongs] to him
lo
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
מָתַ֕יwhen?
mataiH4970 →
וּמַכְבִּ֥ידand [one who] makes heavy
umakhbidH3513 →
עָלָ֖יוon himself
ʾalavH5921 →5755 times
עַבְטִֽיט׃pledge[s]
ʾavtitH5671 →
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
Jeremiah 29:22Because of them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’
it leads to
- Isaiah 65:15
You will leave behind your name as a curse for My chosen ones, and the Lord GOD will slay you; but to His servants He will give another name.
- Daniel 3:6
And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.”
- Genesis 48:20
So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
- Daniel 3:21
So they were tied up, wearing robes, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, and they were thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.
- Isaiah 65:15
Through
Numbers 23:7And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 23:4
For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.
- Numbers 23:18
Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor.
- Numbers 22:5–6
he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt,” said Balak. “They cover the…
- Deuteronomy 23:4
Through
Jeremiah 50:13Because of the wrath of the LORD, she will not be inhabited; she will become completely desolate. All who pass through Babylon will be horrified and will hiss at all her wounds.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 18:16
They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
- Jeremiah 18:16
Where this verse is studied
About Habakkuk
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, LETTER 15; Cyril of Alexandria, ON THE UNITY OF CHRIST; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; 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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.