Bible Strands
Habakkuk 2:9
Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Habakkuk pronounces judgment on the Babylonian ruler who plundered many nations, placing this warning between declarations of reciprocal plundering (2:8) and plotted shame (2:10).
The words — The text highlights בֶּ֥צַע (Be.tza') = unjust gain and קִנּ֔/וֹ (ki.N/o) = nest/ his, describing the ruler’s attempt to secure his wealth in elevated, self-protective positions.
The thread — This warning parallels Jeremiah 22:13 and Jeremiah 49:16 in condemning self-exalting wealth accumulation, while echoing the plain, fertile land described in Genesis 13:10 as the contrast to exploitation-driven prosperity.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that exploiting others to elevate one’s own security cannot prevent disaster, requiring readers to reject systems that prioritize personal safety over justice.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 49:16 The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 22:13 “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,
- Genesis 13:10 And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
- Genesis 19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
- Deuteronomy 7:25 You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God.
- Joshua 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
- 1 Kings 21:2 So Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard to use as a vegetable garden, since it is next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in its place—or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver.”
- 1 Kings 21:19 Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”
- 2 Kings 5:20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, by not accepting what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”
- Job 20:19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.