8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, Spoil thee do all the remnant of the peoples, Because of man's blood, and of violence `to' the land, `To' the city, and `to' all dwelling in it.
Wo, spoiler! and thou not spoiled, And treacherous! and they dealt not treacherously with thee, When thou dost finish, O spoiler, thou art spoiled, When thou dost finish dealing treacherously, They deal treacherously with thee.
For violence `to' Lebanon doth cover thee, And spoil of beasts doth affright them, Because of man's blood, and of violence `to' the land, `To' the city, and `to' all dwelling in it.
For thus said Jehovah of Hosts: After honour He hath sent me unto the nations who are spoiling you, For he who is coming against you, Is coming against the daughter of His eye. For lo, I am waving my hand against them, And they have been a spoil to their servants. And ye have known that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me.
And served him have all the nations, and his son, and his son's son, till the coming in of the time of his land, also it; and done service for him have many nations and great kings.
And I have seen after Bel in Babylon, And I have brought forth that which he swallowed -- from his mouth, And flow no more unto him do nations, Also the wall of Babylon hath fallen.
`Be glad over her, O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, because God did judge your judgment of her!' And one strong messenger did take up a stone as a great millstone, and did cast `it' to the sea, saying, `Thus with violence shall Babylon be cast, the great city, and may not be found any more at all; and voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and trumpeters, may not be heard at all in thee any more; and any artizan of any art may not be found at all in thee any more; and noise of a millstone may not be heard at all in thee any more; and light of a lamp may not shine at all in thee any more; and voice of bridegroom and of bride may not be heard at all in thee any more; because thy merchants were the great ones of the earth, because in thy sorcery were all the nations led astray, and in her blood of prophets and of saints was found, and of all those who have been slain on the earth.'
and they were crying with a great voice, saying, `Till when, O Master, the Holy and the True, dost Thou not judge and take vengeance of our blood from those dwelling upon the land?'
And this is the plague with which Jehovah Doth plague all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem, He hath consumed away its flesh, And it is standing on its feet, And its eyes are consumed in their holes, And its tongue is consumed in their mouth.
Lo, I am making Jerusalem a cup of reeling To all the peoples round about, And also against Judah it is, In the siege against Jerusalem. And it hath come to pass, in that day, I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all the peoples, All loading it are completely pressed down, And gathered against it have been all nations of the earth. In that day -- an affirmation of Jehovah, I do smite every horse with astonishment, And its rider with madness, And on the house of Judah I open My eyes, And every horse of the peoples I smite with blindness.
And `with' great wrath I am wroth against the nations who are at ease, For I was a little wroth, and they assisted -- for evil.
Thou hast counselled a shameful thing to thy house, To cut off many peoples, and sinful `is' thy soul.
And now, gathered against thee have been many nations, who are saying: `Let her be defiled, and our eyes look on Zion.' They have not known the thoughts of Jehovah, Nor have they understood His counsel, For He hath gathered them as a sheaf `into' a threshing-floor. Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion, For thy horn I make iron, And thy hoofs I make brass, And thou hast beaten small many peoples, And I have devoted to Jehovah their gain, And their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth!
For Jehovah is spoiling Babylon, And hath destroyed out of it a great voice, And sounded have its billows as many waters, Given forth a noise hath their voice. For come in against it -- against Babylon -- hath a spoiler, And captured have been its mighty ones, Broken have been their bows, For the God of recompences -- Jehovah -- doth certainly repay.
And cried aloud against Babylon Have heavens and earth, and all that `is' in them, For, from the north come to it do the spoilers, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Devoured us, crushed us, hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, He hath set us `as' an empty vessel, He hath swallowed us as a dragon, He hath filled his belly with my dainties, He hath driven us away. My wrong, and `that of' my flesh `is' on Babylon, Say doth the inhabitant of Zion, And my blood `is' on the inhabitants of Chaldea, Say doth Jerusalem.
And I have recompensed to Babylon, And to all inhabitants of Chaldea, All the evil that they have done in Zion, Before your eyes -- an affirmation of Jehovah.
Suddenly hath Babylon fallen, Yea, it is broken, howl ye for it, Take balm for her pain, if so be it may be healed.
A sword `is' on his horses and on his chariot, And on all the rabble who `are' in her midst, And they have become women; A sword `is' on her treasuries, And they have been spoiled;
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Oppressed are the sons of Israel, And the sons of Judah together, And all their captors have kept hold on them, They have refused to send them away. Their Redeemer `is' strong, Jehovah of Hosts `is' His name, He doth thoroughly plead their cause, So as to cause the land to rest, And He hath given trouble to the inhabitants of Babylon.
A voice of fugitives and escaped ones `Is' from the land of Babylon, To declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, The vengeance of His temple.
A scattered sheep is Israel, lions have driven away, At first, devour him did the king of Asshur, And now, at last, broken his bone Hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. Therefore thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am seeing after the king of Babylon, And after his land, As I have seen after the king of Asshur;
And Chaldea hath been for a spoil, All her spoilers are satisfied, An affirmation of Jehovah. Because thou rejoicest, because thou exultest, O spoilers of Mine inheritance, Because thou increasest as a heifer `at' the tender grass, And dost cry aloud as bulls,
Therefore all consuming thee are consumed, And all thine adversaries -- all of them -- Into captivity do go, And thy spoilers have been for a spoil, And all thy plunderers I give up to plunder.
I have been wroth against My people, I have polluted Mine inheritance And I give them into thy hand, Thou hast not appointed for them mercies, On the aged thou hast made thy yoke very heavy,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Habakkuk 2
Commentary on Habakkuk 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
In this chapter we have an answer expected by the prophet (v. 1), and returned by the Spirit of God, to the complaints which the prophet made of the violences and victories of the Chaldeans in the close of the foregoing chapter. The answer is,
Hab 2:1-4
Here,
Hab 2:5-14
The prophet having had orders to write the vision, and the people to wait for the accomplishment of it, the vision itself follows; and it is, as divers other prophecies we have met with, the burden of Babylon and Babylon's king, the same that was said to pass over and offend, ch. 1:11. It reads the doom, some think, of Nebuchadnezzar, who was principally active in the destruction of Jerusalem, or of that monarchy, or of the whole kingdom of the Chaldeans, or of all such proud and oppressive powers as bear hard upon any people, especially upon God's people. Observe,
Hab 2:15-20
The three foregoing articles, upon which the woes here are grounded, are very near akin to each other. The criminals charged by them are oppressors and extortioners, that raise estates by rapine and injustice; and it is mentioned here again (v. 17), the very same that was said v. 8, for that is the crime upon which the greatest stress is laid; it is because of men's blood, innocent blood, barbarously and unjustly shed, which is a provoking crying thing; it is for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein, which God will certainly reckon for, sooner or later, as the asserter of right and the avenger of wrong.
But here are two articles more, of a different nature, which carry a woe to all those in general to whom they belong, and particularly to the Babylonian monarchs, by whom the people of God were taken and held captives.