New International Version
Habakkuk 2:12
12“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by 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!
- 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!
- New Living Translation (NLT)“What sorrow awaits you who build cities with money gained through murder and corruption!
Context of Habakkuk 2:12
10You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. 11The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice! 13Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? 14For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover 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 4:11Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
- Joshua 6:26At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”
- 1 Kings 16:34In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun.
- Jeremiah 22:13“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.
- Ezekiel 24:9“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “ ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed! I, too, will pile the wood high.
- Daniel 4:27Therefore, Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.”
- Micah 3:10who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness.
- Nahum 3:1Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!
- John 11:47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs.
- Revelation 17:6I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
- Habakkuk 2:8Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone 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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