Habakkuk 2:7
in Habakkuk 2Will not your creditors suddenly arise and those who disturb you awaken? Then you will become their prey.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booty unto them?
KJV
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?
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This verse in Habakkuk 2
Commentary
9 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
for booties unto them
on Habakkuk 2:7-8
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee turns the woe into a sentence, the very nations Babylon spoiled becoming its plunderers in turn, for thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee. Because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land begins a refrain that runs through the rest of the chapter, the same charge answered on the same ground it was committed. Keil and Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown read the reversal as the day of the Lord's own law stated plainly, the measure a nation metes out returned to it in kind.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
"There shall be those that will bite thee and vex thee; those from whom thou didst not fear any danger, that seemed asleep, shall rise up and awake to be a plague to thee. They shall rise up suddenly when thou are most secure, and least prepared to receive the shock and ward off the blow.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Shall not they rise up suddenly that shall bite thee,....
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.
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 Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Shall not they rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee? - The destruction of the wicked is ever sudden at last. Such was the flood Luk 17:26-27, the destruction of Sodom, of Pharaoh, of the enemies of God’s people through the Judges, of Sennacherib, Nineveh, Babylon by the Medes and Persians. Such shall the end be Mat 24:43-44; Mat 25:13; Luk 17:26-30; Luk 21:34-35; 1Th 5:3; 2Pe 3:10; Rev 16:
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
suddenly--the answer to the question, "How long?" (Hab 2:6). bite--often used of usury; so favoring LEE'S rendering (Hab 2:6). As the Chaldean, like a usurer, oppressed others, so other nations shall, like usurers, take pledges of, that is, spoil, him.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Shall they not rise up suddenly - Does not this refer to the sudden and unexpected taking of Babylon by Cyrus, whose troops entered into the city through the bed of the Euphrates, whose waters they had diverted by another channel; so that the Babylonians knew nothing of the matter till they saw the Persian soldiers rise up as in a moment, in the very heart of their city?
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲל֣וֹא | halo' | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| פֶ֗תַע | feta' | suddenly | H6621 → | |
| יָק֙וּמוּ֙ | yakumu | will they arise | H6965 → | |
| נֹשְׁכֶ֔יךָ | noshekheikha | [those who] pay interest to you | H5391 → | |
| וְיִקְצ֖וּ | veyiktzu | and may they awake? | H3364 → | |
| מְזַעְזְעֶ֑יךָ | meza'zeeikha | [those who will] make tremble you | H2111 → | |
| וְהָיִ֥יתָ | vehayita | and you will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לִמְשִׁסּ֖וֹת | limshisot | <into> plunder<s> | H4933 → | |
| לָֽמוֹ׃ | lamo | for them |
הֲל֣וֹא¿ not
halo'H3808 →5168 times
פֶ֗תַעsuddenly
feta'H6621 →
יָק֙וּמוּ֙will they arise
yakumuH6965 →
נֹשְׁכֶ֔יךָ[those who] pay interest to you
noshekheikhaH5391 →
וְיִקְצ֖וּand may they awake?
veyiktzuH3364 →
מְזַעְזְעֶ֑יךָ[those who will] make tremble you
meza'zeeikhaH2111 →
וְהָיִ֥יתָand you will become
vehayitaH1961 →3559 times
לִמְשִׁסּ֖וֹת<into> plunder<s>
limshisotH4933 →
לָֽמוֹ׃for them
lamo
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 29:1A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.
it leads to
- Proverbs 6:15
Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery.
- 1 Samuel 2:25
If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since…
- Zechariah 7:11–14
But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
- Proverbs 1:24–31
Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,
- Proverbs 28:18
He who walks with integrity will be kept safe, but whoever is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.
- Proverbs 6:15
Through
Isaiah 41:25I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—one from the east who calls on My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mortar, like a potter who…
it leads to
- Isaiah 41:2
Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword,…
- 2 Samuel 22:43
I ground them as the dust of the earth; I crushed and trampled them like mud in the streets.
- Isaiah 10:6
I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the…
- Isaiah 41:2
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); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; 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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.