Christian Standard Bible
Habakkuk 2:12
12Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with injustice!
Habakkuk 2:12 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!
- New International Version (NIV)“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice!
- English Standard Version (ESV)"Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, Who establishes a city by iniquity!
Context of Habakkuk 2:12
10You have planned shame for your house by wiping out many peoples and sinning against your own self. 11For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will answer them from the woodwork. Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with injustice! 13Is it not from the Lord of Armies that the peoples labor only to fuel the fire and countries exhaust themselves for nothing? 14For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory, as the water covers the sea.
Read all of Habakkuk 2Habakkuk 2:12 word by word
ה֛וֹי בֹּנֶ֥ה עִ֖יר בְּדָמִ֑ים וְכוֹנֵ֥ן קִרְיָ֖ה בְּעַוְלָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Habakkuk 2:12
- Genesis 4:11So now you are cursed, alienated from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood you have shed.
- Joshua 6:26At that time Joshua imposed this curse: The man who undertakes the rebuilding of this city, Jericho, is cursed before the Lord. He will lay its foundation at the cost of his firstborn; he will finish its gates at the cost of his youngest.
- 1 Kings 16:34During his reign, Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his firstborn, he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest, he finished its gates, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through Joshua son of Nun.
- Jeremiah 22:13Woe for the one who builds his palace through unrighteousness, his upstairs rooms through injustice, who makes his neighbor serve without pay and will not give him his wages,
- Ezekiel 24:9“‘Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: Woe to the city of bloodshed! I myself will make the pile of kindling large.
- Daniel 4:27Therefore, may my advice seem good to you my king. Separate yourself from your sins by doing what is right, and from your injustices by showing mercy to the needy. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”
- Micah 3:10who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice.
- Nahum 3:1Woe to the city of blood, totally deceitful, full of plunder, never without prey.
- John 11:47So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs?
- Revelation 17:6Then I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
- Habakkuk 2:8Since you have plundered many nations, all the peoples who remain will plunder you — because of human bloodshed and violence against lands, cities, and all who live in them.
Commentaries on Habakkuk 2:12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12Wo to him that buildeth a town with blood - At the expense of much slaughter. This is the answer of the beam to the stone. And these things will refer to the vast fortunes gained, and the buildings erected, by means of the slave-trade; where, to a considerate and humane mind, the walls appear as if composed of the bones of negroes, and cemented by their blood! But the towns or houses established by this iniquity soon come to ruin; and the fortunes made…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity! - Nebuchadnezzar “encircled the inner city with three walls and the outer city also with three, all of burnt brick. And having fortified the city with wondrous works, and adorned the gates like temples, he built another palace near the palace of his fathers, surpassing it in height and its great magnificence.” He seemed to strengthen the city, and to establish it by outward…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-14Verses 5-14 The prophet reads the doom of all proud and oppressive powers that bear hard upon God's people. The lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, are the entangling snares of men; and we find him that led Israel captive, himself led captive by each of these. No more of what we have is to be reckoned ours, than what we come honestly by. Riches are but clay, thick clay; what are gold and silver but white and yellow earth? Those…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12-14In the third taunt song, the Babylonians face condemnation for their murder and corruption, which they used to gain wealth and build their cities. God will turn their apparent gain into a total loss. Earth will be filled: Unlike violence and stolen wealth, the awareness of the Lord's glory will spread as widely as water in the ocean (Isaiah 11:9).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. buildeth a town with blood--namely, Babylon rebuilt and enlarged by blood-bought spoils (compare Da 4:30).Read the comment
Topics related to Habakkuk 2:12
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Habakkuk 2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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