Habakkuk 2:6

Bible in Basic English (1941)

Will not all these take up a word of shame against him and a bitter saying against him, and say, A curse on him who goes on taking what is not his and is weighted down with the property of debtors!

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

הֲלוֹא־אֵ֣לֶּה כֻלָּ֗ם עָלָיו֙ מָשָׁ֣ל יִשָּׂ֔אוּ וּמְלִיצָ֖ה חִיד֣וֹת ל֑וֹ וְיֹאמַ֗ר ה֚וֹי הַמַּרְבֶּ֣ה לֹּא־ל֔וֹ עַד־מָתַ֕י וּמַכְבִּ֥יד עָלָ֖יו עַבְטִֽיט׃

Transliteration

Will not these all of them against him māšāl yiśśāʾû and mĕlîṣâ ḥîdôt for him? And it will say, 'hôy hammarbe not to him! Until when? And makbîd upon him ʿabṭîṭ.'

Grammar Details

• *māšāl*: noun, masculine, singular - proverb/taunt/parable
• *yiśśāʾû*: verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural - they will lift up/take up
• *mĕlîṣâ*: noun, feminine, singular - mocking poem/satire
• *ḥîdôt*: noun, feminine, plural construct - riddles of
• *hôy*: interjection - woe/alas
• *hammarbe*: verb, hiphil participle, masculine singular with definite article - the one increasing
• *makbîd*: verb, hiphil participle, masculine singular - loading/making heavy
• *ʿabṭîṭ*: noun, masculine, singular - pledge/debt/thick clay

Word Meanings

• *māšāl*: taunt/proverb/parable/riddle
• *mĕlîṣâ*: mocking poem/satire/taunting riddle
• *ḥîdôt*: riddles/enigmas/dark sayings
• *makbîd*: making heavy/loading/burdening
• *ʿabṭîṭ*: pledges/thick clay/debt

Referenced Verses

• Job 20:15-29 : 15 He takes down wealth as food, and sends it up again; it is forced out of his stomach by God. 16 He takes the poison of snakes into his mouth, the tongue of the snake is the cause of his death. 17 Let him not see the rivers of oil, the streams of honey and milk. 18 He is forced to give back the fruit of his work, and may not take it for food; he has no joy in the profit of his trading. 19 Because he has been cruel to the poor, turning away from them in their trouble; because he has taken a house by force which he did not put up; 20 There is no peace for him in his wealth, and no salvation for him in those things in which he took delight. 21 He had never enough for his desire; for this cause his well-being will quickly come to an end. 22 Even when his wealth is great, he is full of care, for the hand of everyone who is in trouble is turned against him. 23 God gives him his desire, and sends the heat of his wrath on him, making it come down on him like rain. 24 He may go in flight from the iron spear, but the arrow from the bow of brass will go through him; 25 He is pulling it out, and it comes out of his back; and its shining point comes out of his side; he is overcome by fears. 26 All his wealth is stored up for the dark: a fire not made by man sends destruction on him, and on everything in his tent. 27 The heavens make clear his sin, and the earth gives witness against him. 28 The produce of his house is taken away into another country, like things given into the hands of others in the day of wrath. 29 This is the reward of the evil man, and the heritage given to him by God.
• Mic 2:4 : 4 In that day this saying will be said about you, and this song of grief will be made: The heritage of my people is measured out, and there is no one to give it back; those who have made us prisoners have taken our fields from us, and complete destruction has come to us.
• Num 23:7 : 7 And in the words which the Lord had given him he said, From Aram Balak has sent for me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East: come, put curses on Jacob for me and be angry with Israel.
• Jer 50:13 : 13 Because of the wrath of the Lord no one will be living in it, and it will be quite unpeopled: everyone who goes by Babylon will be overcome with wonder, and make sounds of fear at all her punishments.
• Jer 51:34-35 : 34 Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, has made a meal of me, violently crushing me, he has made me a vessel with nothing in it, he has taken me in his mouth like a dragon, he has made his stomach full with my delicate flesh, crushing me with his teeth. 35 May the violent things done to me, and my downfall, come on Babylon, the daughter of Zion will say; and, May my blood be on the people of Chaldaea, Jerusalem will say.
• Ezek 32:21 : 21 The strong among the great ones will say to him from the underworld, Are you more beautiful than any? go down, you and your helpers, and take your rest among those without circumcision, and those who have been put to the sword.
• Num 23:18 : 18 And in the words which the Lord had given him he said, Up! Balak, and give ear; give attention to me, O son of Zippor:
• Hab 1:9-9 : 9 They are coming all of them with force; the direction of their faces is forward, the number of their prisoners is like the sands of the sea. 10 He makes little of kings, rulers are a sport to him; all the strong places are to be laughed at; for he makes earthworks and takes them.
• Hab 1:15 : 15 He takes them all up with his hook, he takes them in his net, getting them together in his fishing-net: for which cause he is glad and full of joy.
• Hab 2:13 : 13 See, is it not the pleasure of the Lord of armies that the peoples are working for the fire and using themselves up for nothing?
• Luke 12:20 : 20 But God said to him, You foolish one, tonight I will take your soul from you, and who then will be the owner of all the things which you have got together?
• 1 Cor 7:29-31 : 29 But I say this, my brothers, the time is short; and from now it will be wise for those who have wives to be as if they had them not; 30 And for those who are in sorrow, to give no signs of it; and for those who are glad, to give no signs of joy; and for those who are getting property, to be as if they had nothing; 31 And for those who make use of the world, not to be using it fully; for this world's way of life will quickly come to an end.
• Jas 5:1-4 : 1 Come now, you men of wealth, give yourselves to weeping and crying because of the bitter troubles which are coming to you. 2 Your wealth is unclean and insects have made holes in your clothing. 3 Your gold and your silver are wasted and their waste will be a witness against you, burning into your flesh. You have put by your store in the last days. 4 See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies.
• 1 Pet 4:7 : 7 But the end of all things is near: so be serious in your behaviour and keep on the watch with prayer;
• Job 22:6-9 : 6 For you have taken your brother's goods when he was not in your debt, and have taken away the clothing of those who have need of it. 7 You do not give water to the tired traveller, and from him who has no food you keep back bread. 8 For it was the man with power who had the land, and the man with an honoured name who was living in it. 9 You have sent widows away without hearing their cause, and you have taken away the support of the child who has no father. 10 For this cause nets are round your feet, and you are overcome with sudden fear.
• Ps 94:3 : 3 How long will sinners, O Lord, how long will sinners have joy over us?
• Prov 22:16 : 16 He who is cruel to the poor for the purpose of increasing his profit, and he who gives to the man of wealth, will only come to be in need.
• Isa 14:4-9 : 4 That you will take up this bitter song against the king of Babylon, and say, How has the cruel overseer come to an end! He who was lifted up in pride is cut off; 5 The stick of the evil-doers, the rod of the rulers, is broken by the Lord; 6 He whose rod was on the peoples with an unending wrath, ruling the nations in passion, with an uncontrolled rule. 7 All the earth is at rest and is quiet: they are bursting into song. 8 Even the trees of the wood are glad over you, the trees of Lebanon, saying, From the time of your fall no wood-cutter has come up against us with an axe. 9 The underworld is moved at your coming: the shades of the dead are awake before you, even the strong ones of the earth; all the kings of the world have got up from their seats. 10 They all make answer and say to you, Have you become feeble like us? have you been made even as we are? 11 Your pride has gone down into the underworld, and the noise of your instruments of music; the worms are under you, and your body is covered with them. 12 How great is your fall from heaven, O shining one, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the earth, low among the dead bodies! 13 For you said in your heart, I will go up to heaven, I will make my seat higher than the stars of God; I will take my place on the mountain of the meeting-place of the gods, in the inmost parts of the north. 14 I will go higher than the clouds; I will be like the Most High. 15 But you will come down to the underworld, even to its inmost parts. 16 Those who see you will be looking on you with care, they will be in deep thought, saying, Is this the troubler of the earth, the shaker of kingdoms? 17 Who made the world a waste, overturning its towns; who did not let his prisoners loose from the prison-house. 18 All the kings of the earth are at rest in glory, every man in his house, 19 But you, like a birth before its time, are stretched out with no resting-place in the earth; clothed with the bodies of the dead who have been put to the sword, who go down to the lowest parts of the underworld; a dead body, crushed under foot.
• Isa 44:20 : 20 As for him whose food is the dust of a dead fire, he has been turned from the way by a twisted mind, so that he is unable to keep himself safe by saying, What I have here in my hand is false.
• Isa 55:2 : 2 Why do you give your money for what is not bread, and the fruit of your work for what will not give you pleasure? Give ear to me, so that your food may be good, and you may have the best in full measure.
• Jer 29:22 : 22 And their fate will be used as a curse by all the prisoners of Judah who are in Babylon, who will say, May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, who were burned in the fire by the king of Babylon;