Habakkuk 2:7

THE MESSAGE

class="poetry"> What's God going to say to my questions? I'm braced for the worst. I'll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I'll wait to see what God says, how he'll answer my complaint. And then God answered: "Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what's coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn't lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It's on its way. It will come right on time. "Look at that man, bloated by self-importance— full of himself but soul-empty. But the person in right standing before God through loyal and steady believing is fully alive, really alive. "Note well: Money deceives. The arrogant rich don't last. They are more hungry for wealth than the grave is for cadavers. Like death, they always want more, but the ‘more' they get is dead bodies. They are cemeteries filled with dead nations, graveyards filled with corpses. Don't give people like this a second thought. Soon the whole world will be taunting them: "‘Who do you think you are— getting rich by stealing and extortion? How long do you think you can get away with this?' Indeed, how long before your victims wake up, stand up and make you the victim? You've plundered nation after nation. Now you'll get a taste of your own medicine. All the survivors are out to plunder you, a payback for all your murders and massacres. "Who do you think you are— recklessly grabbing and looting, Living it up, acting like king of the mountain, acting above it all, above trials and troubles? You've engineered the ruin of your own house. In ruining others you've ruined yourself. You've undermined your foundations, rotted out your own soul. The bricks of your house will speak up and accuse you. The woodwork will step forward with evidence. "Who do you think you are— building a town by murder, a city with crime? Don't you know that God -of-the-Angel-Armies makes sure nothing comes of that but ashes, Makes sure the harder you work at that kind of thing, the less you are? Meanwhile the earth fills up with awareness of God 's glory as the waters cover the sea. "Who do you think you are— inviting your neighbors to your drunken parties, Giving them too much to drink, roping them into your sexual orgies? You thought you were having the time of your life. Wrong! It's a time of disgrace. All the time you were drinking, you were drinking from the cup of God's wrath. You'll wake up holding your throbbing head, hung over— hung over from Lebanon violence, Hung over from animal massacres, hung over from murder and mayhem, From multiple violations of place and people. "What's the use of a carved god so skillfully carved by its sculptor? What good is a fancy cast god when all it tells is lies? What sense does it make to be a pious god-maker who makes gods that can't even talk? Who do you think you are— saying to a stick of wood, ‘Wake up,' Or to a dumb stone, ‘Get up'? Can they teach you anything about anything? There's nothing to them but surface. There's nothing on the inside. "But oh! God is in his holy Temple! Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!"

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Won’t your creditors suddenly arise,and those who disturb you wake up?Then you will become spoil for them.

Hebrew Names Version
Won't your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?

King James Version (1611)
Shall they not rise vp suddenly that shall bite thee? And awake, that shall vexe thee? And thou shalt be for booties vnto them?

King James Version
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

English Standard Version
Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them.

New American Standard Bible
"Will your creditors not rise up suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them.

New Century Version
"One day the people from whom you have taken money will turn against you. They will realize what is happening and make you shake with fear. Then they will take everything you have.

Amplified Bible
"Will your creditors not rise up suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken? Then you will become plunder for them.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Shall they not rise vp suddenly, that shall bite thee? and awake, that shal stirre thee? and thou shalt be their praye?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them.

Legacy Standard Bible
Will not your creditors rise up suddenly,And those who make you tremble awaken?Indeed, you will become spoil for them.

Berean Standard Bible
Will not your creditors suddenly arise and those who disturb you awaken? Then you will become their prey.

Contemporary English Version
But without warning, those you owe will demand payment. Then you will become a frightened victim.

Complete Jewish Bible
Won't your own creditors suddenly stand, won't those who make you tremble wake up? You will become their spoil.

Darby Translation
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and they awake up that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

Easy-to-Read Version
"Strong man, you have taken money from people. One day they will wake up and realize what is happening, and they will stand against you. Then they will take things from you, and you will be very afraid.

George Lamsa Translation
Behold, they shall rise up suddenly, those who shall bite you, and awake those who shall cause you trouble, and you shall be for spoil to them.

Good News Translation
But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you!

Lexham English Bible
Will not your creditors suddenly rise up and awaken those who make you tremble? Then you shall be as plunder for them.

Literal Translation
Shall not those who bite you rise up suddenly, and those who shake you be aroused, and you become a prize to him?

American Standard Version
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booty unto them?

Bible in Basic English
Will not your creditors suddenly be moved against you, and your troublers get up from their sleep, and you will be to them like goods taken in war?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall exact interest of thee, and awake that shall violently shake thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Shall they not rise vp sodenly that shall byte thee? and awake that shall stirre thee, & thou shalt be their pray?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For suddenly there shall arise up those that bite him, and they that plot against thee shall awake, and thou shalt be a plunder to them.

English Revised Version
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

World English Bible
Won't your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether not sudeynli thei schulen rise to gidere, that schulen bite thee? And thei schulen be reisid to-teerynge thee, and thou schalt be in to raueyn to hem; and thin aspieris in yuel schulen wake.

Update Bible Version
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite you, and awake that shall vex you, and you shall be for booty to them?

Webster's Bible Translation
Shall they not rise suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall disturb thee, and thou shalt be for booties to them?

New English Translation
Your creditors will suddenly attack; those who terrify you will spring into action, and they will rob you.

New King James Version
Will not your creditors [fn] rise up suddenly?Will they not awaken who oppress you?And you will become their booty.

New Living Translation
Suddenly, your debtors will take action. They will turn on you and take all you have, while you stand trembling and helpless.

New Life Bible
Will not those to whom you owe money rise up all at once? Will they not wake up and make you afraid? Then they will take what belongs to you.

New Revised Standard
Will not your own creditors suddenly rise, and those who make you tremble wake up? Then you will be booty for them.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Will not thy creditors, suddenly rise up? and they who shall violently shake thee, all at once become active? Then shalt thou serve for booties, unto them!

Douay-Rheims Bible
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee: and they be stirred up that shall tear thee, and thou shalt be a spoil to them?

Revised Standard Version
Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be booty for them.

Young's Literal Translation
Do not thy usurers instantly rise up, And those shaking thee awake up, And thou hast been for a spoil to them?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O how sodenly wil they stonde vp, yt shal byte the, & awake, that shal teare ye in peces? yee thou shalt be their pray.

Contextual Overview

⁵"Note well: Money deceives. The arrogant rich don't last. They are more hungry for wealth than the grave is for cadavers. Like death, they always want more, but the ‘more' they get is dead bodies. They are cemeteries filled with dead nations, graveyards filled with corpses. Don't give people like this a second thought. Soon the whole world will be taunting them: "‘Who do you think you are— getting rich by stealing and extortion? How long do you think you can get away with this?' Indeed, how long before your victims wake up, stand up and make you the victim? You've plundered nation after nation. Now you'll get a taste of your own medicine. All the survivors are out to plunder you, a payback for all your murders and massacres. "Who do you think you are— recklessly grabbing and looting, Living it up, acting like king of the mountain, acting above it all, above trials and troubles? You've engineered the ruin of your own house. In ruining others you've ruined yourself. You've undermined your foundations, rotted out your own soul. The bricks of your house will speak up and accuse you. The woodwork will step forward with evidence. "Who do you think you are— building a town by murder, a city with crime? Don't you know that God -of-the-Angel-Armies makes sure nothing comes of that but ashes, Makes sure the harder you work at that kind of thing, the less you are? Meanwhile the earth fills up with awareness of God 's glory as the waters cover the sea. "Who do you think you are— inviting your neighbors to your drunken parties, Giving them too much to drink, roping them into your sexual orgies? You thought you were having the time of your life. Wrong! It's a time of disgrace. All the time you were drinking, you were drinking from the cup of God's wrath. You'll wake up holding your throbbing head, hung over— hung over from Lebanon violence, Hung over from animal massacres, hung over from murder and mayhem, From multiple violations of place and people. "What's the use of a carved god so skillfully carved by its sculptor? What good is a fancy cast god when all it tells is lies? What sense does it make to be a pious god-maker who makes gods that can't even talk? Who do you think you are— saying to a stick of wood, ‘Wake up,' Or to a dumb stone, ‘Get up'? Can they teach you anything about anything? There's nothing to them but surface. There's nothing on the inside. "But oh! God is in his holy Temple! Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!" ⁷ class="poetry"> What's God going to say to my questions? I'm braced for the worst. I'll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I'll wait to see what God says, how he'll answer my complaint. And then God answered: "Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what's coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn't lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It's on its way. It will come right on time. "Look at that man, bloated by self-importance— full of himself but soul-empty. But the person in right standing before God through loyal and steady believing is fully alive, really alive. "Note well: Money deceives. The arrogant rich don't last. They are more hungry for wealth than the grave is for cadavers. Like death, they always want more, but the ‘more' they get is dead bodies. They are cemeteries filled with dead nations, graveyards filled with corpses. Don't give people like this a second thought. Soon the whole world will be taunting them: "‘Who do you think you are— getting rich by stealing and extortion? How long do you think you can get away with this?' Indeed, how long before your victims wake up, stand up and make you the victim? You've plundered nation after nation. Now you'll get a taste of your own medicine. All the survivors are out to plunder you, a payback for all your murders and massacres. "Who do you think you are— recklessly grabbing and looting, Living it up, acting like king of the mountain, acting above it all, above trials and troubles? You've engineered the ruin of your own house. In ruining others you've ruined yourself. You've undermined your foundations, rotted out your own soul. The bricks of your house will speak up and accuse you. The woodwork will step forward with evidence. "Who do you think you are— building a town by murder, a city with crime? Don't you know that God -of-the-Angel-Armies makes sure nothing comes of that but ashes, Makes sure the harder you work at that kind of thing, the less you are? Meanwhile the earth fills up with awareness of God 's glory as the waters cover the sea. "Who do you think you are— inviting your neighbors to your drunken parties, Giving them too much to drink, roping them into your sexual orgies? You thought you were having the time of your life. Wrong! It's a time of disgrace. All the time you were drinking, you were drinking from the cup of God's wrath. You'll wake up holding your throbbing head, hung over— hung over from Lebanon violence, Hung over from animal massacres, hung over from murder and mayhem, From multiple violations of place and people. "What's the use of a carved god so skillfully carved by its sculptor? What good is a fancy cast god when all it tells is lies? What sense does it make to be a pious god-maker who makes gods that can't even talk? Who do you think you are— saying to a stick of wood, ‘Wake up,' Or to a dumb stone, ‘Get up'? Can they teach you anything about anything? There's nothing to them but surface. There's nothing on the inside. "But oh! God is in his holy Temple! Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!" ⁸ class="poetry"> What's God going to say to my questions? I'm braced for the worst. I'll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I'll wait to see what God says, how he'll answer my complaint. And then God answered: "Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what's coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn't lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It's on its way. It will come right on time. "Look at that man, bloated by self-importance— full of himself but soul-empty. But the person in right standing before God through loyal and steady believing is fully alive, really alive. "Note well: Money deceives. The arrogant rich don't last. They are more hungry for wealth than the grave is for cadavers. Like death, they always want more, but the ‘more' they get is dead bodies. They are cemeteries filled with dead nations, graveyards filled with corpses. Don't give people like this a second thought. Soon the whole world will be taunting them: "‘Who do you think you are— getting rich by stealing and extortion? How long do you think you can get away with this?' Indeed, how long before your victims wake up, stand up and make you the victim? You've plundered nation after nation. Now you'll get a taste of your own medicine. All the survivors are out to plunder you, a payback for all your murders and massacres. ⁹"Who do you think you are— recklessly grabbing and looting, Living it up, acting like king of the mountain, acting above it all, above trials and troubles? You've engineered the ruin of your own house. In ruining others you've ruined yourself. You've undermined your foundations, rotted out your own soul. The bricks of your house will speak up and accuse you. The woodwork will step forward with evidence. ¹²"Who do you think you are— building a town by murder, a city with crime? Don't you know that God -of-the-Angel-Armies makes sure nothing comes of that but ashes, Makes sure the harder you work at that kind of thing, the less you are? Meanwhile the earth fills up with awareness of God 's glory as the waters cover the sea.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they: Proverbs 29:1, Isaiah 13:1-5, Isaiah 13:16-18, Isaiah 21:2-9, Isaiah 41:25, Isaiah 45:1-3, Isaiah 46:11, Isaiah 47:11, Isaiah 48:14, Isaiah 48:15, Jeremiah 50:21-32, Jeremiah 51:11, Jeremiah 51:27, Jeremiah 51:28, Jeremiah 51:57, Daniel 5:25-31, Nahum 1:9, Nahum 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:3

bite: Ecclesiastes 10:8, Jeremiah 8:17

Reciprocal: Proverbs 13:11 - Wealth Jeremiah 27:7 - until

Cross-References

Genesis 2:15
God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.

Genesis 2:21
God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.

Genesis 3:23
So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they'd been made. He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life.

Numbers 16:22
They threw themselves on their faces and said, "O God, God of everything living, when one man sins are you going to take it out on the whole community?"

Psalms 100:3
Know this: God is God, and God, God . He made us; we didn't make him. We're his people, his well-tended sheep.

Proverbs 20:27
God is in charge of human life, watching and examining us inside and out.

Isaiah 2:22
Quit scraping and fawning over mere humans, so full of themselves, so full of hot air! Can't you see there's nothing to them?

Isaiah 64:8
Still, God , you are our Father. We're the clay and you're our potter: All of us are what you made us. Don't be too angry with us, O God . Don't keep a permanent account of wrongdoing. Keep in mind, please, we are your people—all of us. Your holy cities are all ghost towns: Zion's a ghost town, Jerusalem's a field of weeds. Our holy and beautiful Temple, which our ancestors filled with your praises, Was burned down by fire, all our lovely parks and gardens in ruins. In the face of all this, are you going to sit there unmoved, God ? Aren't you going to say something? Haven't you made us miserable long enough?

Zechariah 12:1
War Bulletin: God 's Message concerning Israel, God 's Decree—the very God who threw the skies into space, set earth on a firm foundation, and breathed his own life into men and women: "Watch for this: I'm about to turn Jerusalem into a cup of strong drink that will have the people who have set siege to Judah and Jerusalem staggering in a drunken stupor.

John 20:22
Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Shall not they rise up suddenly that shall bite thee,.... Or, "thy usurers", or "creditors" d, as some render it; the Christians, whose money, goods, and substance, they had spoiled them of, but now should be repaid with great usury and gain; these, that is, their princes and emperors, as Constantine and Theodosius, rose up suddenly, and conquered the heathen emperors, and took away their power and authority from them, and their wealth and riches, and gave them to the Christians, what they and those under them had plundered them of:

and awake that shall vex thee, or "move thee" e; the emperor, from the throne of the empire; and other subordinate magistrates from their places of dignity, trust, and profit; the priests out of their temples; and change the face of things everywhere; and which is expressed in language agreeable to this, in Revelation 6:14, and has respect to the same times and things, "and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their place"; which is to be understood of the fall of the Pagan Roman empire:

and thou shalt be for booties unto them? the wealth and riches found in the Roman empire, as it fell into the hands of Constantine, were converted to the use of the Christians for the building of their temples, and the maintenance of their ministers, the relief of their poor, and for the reparation of losses others had sustained under the persecutions: thus the Christian emperors rose up at once, and exerted themselves; and who before seemed to be asleep awoke, and seized upon the empire, and the riches of it, and divided the spoil among themselves and their people.

d נשכיך "foeneratores tui, [seu] creditores tui", Cocceius, Van Till. e מזעזעיך "qui commoveant te", Pagninus, Vatablus; so R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 56. 1. "excutientes", Cocceius, Van Till; "commoventes te", Burkius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 Luke 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 Matthew 24:43-44; Matthew 25:13; Luke 17:26-30; Luke 21:34-35; 1Th 5:3; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 16:15. As he by his oppressions had pierced others (it is the word used of the oppression of usury), so should it be done to him. “The Medes and Persians who were before subject to the Babylonian empire, and whose kings were subject to Nebuchudnezzar and his successors, rose up and awaked, i. e., stirred themselves up in the days of Belshazzar to rebel against the successors of Nebuchadnezzar which sat on his throne, like a man who awaketh from sleep.” The words “awake,” “arise,” are used also of the resurrection, when the worm of the wicked gnaweth and dieth not (See Isaiah 14:11; Isaiah 66:24).

And thou shall be for booties unto them? - The common phrase is modified to explain the manifoldness of the plunder which he should yield. So Jeremiah Jeremiah 50:10, “Chaldaea shall be a spoil; all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord.” See Cyr: “We may hear Him who saith Matthew 12:29, ‘How can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.’ For, as soon as He was born of the holy Virgin, He began to ‘spoil his goods.’ For the Magi came from the East - and worshiped Him and honored Him with gifts and became a first-fruits of the Church of the Gentiles. And being vessels of Satan, and the most honored of all his members, they hastened to Christ.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 7. 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?