Habakkuk 2:9

Bible in Basic English (1941)

A curse on him who gets evil profits for his family, so that he may put his resting-place on high and be safe from the hand of the wrongdoer!

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

ה֗וֹי בֹּצֵ֛עַ בֶּ֥צַע רָ֖ע לְבֵית֑וֹ לָשׂ֤וּם בַּמָּרוֹם֙ קִנּ֔וֹ לְהִנָּצֵ֖ל מִכַּף־רָֽע׃

Transliteration

Hôy bōṣēaʿ beṣaʿ rāʿ for his house, to lāśûm bammārôm qinnô, to lĕhinnāṣēl from kap-rāʿ.

Grammar Details

• *hôy*: interjection - woe/alas
• *bōṣēaʿ*: verb, qal participle, masculine singular - cutting off/gaining
• *beṣaʿ*: noun, masculine, singular - unjust gain/profit
• *rāʿ*: adjective, masculine, singular - evil/calamity
• *lāśûm*: preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct - to put/place
• *bammārôm*: preposition + noun, masculine, singular with definite article - in the height
• *qinnô*: noun, masculine, singular construct with 3rd person masculine singular suffix - his nest
• *lĕhinnāṣēl*: preposition + verb, niphal infinitive construct - to be delivered
• *kap*: noun, feminine, singular construct - palm/power

Word Meanings

• *bōṣēaʿ*: cutting off/gaining/acquiring unjustly
• *beṣaʿ*: unjust gain/profit/dishonest profit
• *bammārôm*: in the height/on high/in a lofty place
• *lĕhinnāṣēl*: to be delivered/rescued/saved
• *kap-rāʿ*: power of evil/hand of calamity

Referenced Verses

• Jer 49:16 : 16 ... the pride of your heart has been a false hope, O you who are living in the cracks of the rock, keeping your place on the top of the hill: even if you made your living-place as high as the eagle, I would make you come down, says the Lord.
• Obad 1:4 : 4 Though you go up on high like an eagle, though your house is placed among the stars, I will make you come down from there, says the Lord.
• Zech 5:1-4 : 1 Then again lifting up my eyes I saw a roll in flight through the air. 2 And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, A roll going through the air; it is twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide. 3 Then he said to me, This is the curse which goes out over the face of all the land: for long enough has every thief gone without punishment, and long enough has every taker of false oaths gone without punishment. 4 And I will send it out, says the Lord of armies, and it will go into the house of the thief and into the house of him who takes a false oath by my name: and it will be in his house, causing its complete destruction, with its woodwork and its stones.
• Acts 1:17-25 : 17 For he was numbered among us, and had his part in our work. 18 (Now this man, with the reward of his evil-doing, got for himself a field, and falling head first, came to a sudden and violent end there. 19 And this came to the knowledge of all those who were living in Jerusalem, so that the field was named in their language, Akel-dama, or, The field of blood.) 20 For in the book of Psalms it says, Let his house be waste, and let no man be living in it: and, Let his position be taken by another. 21 For this reason, of the men who have been with us all the time, while the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 Starting from the baptism of John till he went up from us, one will have to be a witness with us of his coming back from death. 23 And they made selection of two, Joseph, named Barsabbas, whose other name was Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they made prayers and said, Lord, having knowledge of the hearts of all men, make clear which of these two has been marked out by you, 25 To take that position as a servant and Apostle, from which Judas by his sin was shut out, so that he might go to his place.
• Jude 1:11 : 11 A curse on them! They have gone in the way of Cain, running uncontrolled into the error of Balaam for reward, and have come to destruction by saying evil against the Lord, like Korah.
• Gen 13:10-13 : 10 And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking an the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, on the way to Zoar. 11 So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another. 12 Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.
• Gen 19:26-38 : 26 But Lot's wife, looking back, became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had been talking with the Lord: 28 And looking in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the lowland, he saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of an oven. 29 So it came about that when God sent destruction on the towns of the lowland, he kept his word to Abraham, and sent Lot safely away when he put an end to the towns where he was living. 30 Then Lot went up out of Zoar to the mountain, and was living there with his two daughters, for fear kept him from living in Zoar: and he and his daughters made their living-place in a hole in the rock. 31 And the older daughter said to her sister, Our father is old, and there is no man to be a husband to us in the natural way: 32 Come, let us give our father much wine, and we will go into his bed, so that we may have offspring by our father, 33 And that night they made their father take much wine; and the older daughter went into his bed; and he had no knowledge of when she went in or when she went away. 34 And on the day after, the older daughter said to the younger, Last night I was with my father; let us make him take much wine this night again, and do you go to him, so that we may have offspring by our father. 35 And that night again they made their father take much wine; and the younger daughter went into his bed; and he had no knowledge of when she went in or when she went away. 36 And so the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 And the older daughter had a son, and she gave him the name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 And the younger had a son and gave him the name Ben-ammi: from him come the children of Ammon to this day.
• Deut 7:25-26 : 25 The images of their gods are to be burned with fire: have no desire for the gold and silver on them, and do not take it for yourselves, for it will be a danger to you: it is a thing disgusting to the Lord your God: 26 And you may not take a disgusting thing into your house, and so become cursed with its curse: but keep yourselves from it, turning from it with fear and hate, for it is a cursed thing.
• Josh 7:21-26 : 21 When I saw among their goods a fair robe of Babylon and two hundred shekels of silver, and a mass of gold, fifty shekels in weight, I was overcome by desire and took them; and they are put away in the earth in my tent, and the silver is under it. 22 So Joshua sent men quickly, and looking in his tent, they saw where the robe had been put away secretly with the silver under it. 23 And they took them from the tent and came back with them to Joshua and the children of Israel, and put them before the Lord. 24 Then Joshua and all Israel took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver and the robe and the mass of gold, and his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his asses and his sheep and his tent and everything he had; and they took them up into the valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, Why have you been a cause of trouble to us? Today the Lord will send trouble on you. And all Israel took part in stoning him; they had him stoned to death and then burned with fire. 26 And over him they put a great mass of stones, which is there to this day; then the heat of the Lord's wrath was turned away. So that place was named, The Valley of Achor, to this day.
• 1 Kgs 21:2-4 : 2 And Ahab said to Naboth, Give me your vine-garden so that I may have it for a garden of sweet plants, for it is near my house; and let me give you a better vine-garden in exchange, or, if it seems good to you, let me give you its value in money. 3 But Naboth said to Ahab, By the Lord, far be it from me to give you the heritage of my fathers. 4 So Ahab came into his house bitter and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, I will not give you the heritage of my fathers. And stretching himself on the bed with his face turned away, he would take no food.
• 1 Kgs 21:19-24 : 19 Say to him, The Lord says, Have you put a man to death and taken his heritage? Then say to him, The Lord says, In the place where dogs have been drinking the blood of Naboth, there will your blood become the drink of dogs. 20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Have you come face to face with me, O my hater? And he said, I have come to you because you have given yourself up to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. 21 See, I will send evil on you and put an end to you completely, cutting off from Ahab every male child, him who is shut up and him who goes free in Israel; 22 And I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the family of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, because you have made me angry, and have made Israel do evil. 23 And of Jezebel the Lord said, Jezebel will become food for dogs in the heritage of Jezreel. 24 Any man of the family of Ahab who comes to his death in the town will become food for the dogs; and he who comes to his death in the open country will be food for the birds of the air.
• 2 Kgs 5:20-27 : 20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Now my master has taken nothing from Naaman, this Aramaean, of what he would have given him: by the living Lord, I will go after him and get something from him. 21 So Gehazi went after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from his carriage and went back to him and said, Is all well? 22 And he said, All is well: but my master has sent me, saying, Even now, two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim; will you give me a talent of silver and two changes of clothing for them? 23 And Naaman said, Be good enough to take two talents. And forcing him to take them, he put two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and gave them to his two servants to take before him. 24 When he came to the hill, he took them from their hands, and put them away in the house; and he sent the men away, and they went. 25 Then he came in and took his place before his master. And Elisha said to him, Where have you come from, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant went nowhere. 26 And he said to him, Did not my heart go with you, when the man got down from his carriage and went back to you? Is this a time for getting money, and clothing, and olive-gardens and vine-gardens, and sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants? 27 Because of what you have done, the disease of Naaman the leper will take you in its grip, and your seed after you, for ever. And he went out from before him a leper as white as snow.
• Job 20:19-28 : 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.
• Ps 10:3-6 : 3 For the evil-doer is lifted up because of the purpose of his heart, and he whose mind is fixed on wealth is turned away from the Lord, saying evil against him. 4 The evil-doer in his pride says, God will not make a search. All his thoughts are, There is no God. 5 His ways are ever fixed; your decisions are higher than he may see: as for his haters, they are as nothing to him. 6 He has said in his heart, I will not be moved: through all generations I will never be in trouble.
• Ps 49:11 : 11 The place of the dead is their house for ever, and their resting-place through all generations; those who come after them give their names to their lands.
• Ps 52:7 : 7 See, this is the man who did not make God his strength, but had faith in his goods and his property, and made himself strong in his wealth.
• Prov 18:11-12 : 11 The property of a man of wealth is his strong town, and it is as a high wall in the thoughts of his heart. 12 Before destruction the heart of man is full of pride, and before honour goes a gentle spirit.
• Isa 28:15 : 15 Because you have said, We have made death our friend, and with the underworld we have made an agreement; when the overflowing waters come through they will not come near us; for we are looking to false words for help, taking cover in what is untrue:
• Isa 47:7-9 : 7 And you said, I will be a queen for ever: you did not give attention to these things, and did not keep in mind what would come after. 8 So now take note of this, you who are given up to pleasure, living without fear of evil, saying in your heart, I am, and there is no one like me; I will never be a widow, or have my children taken from me. 9 But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day, the loss of children and of husband: in full measure they will come on you, for all your secret arts, and all your wonders.
• Jer 22:13-19 : 13 A curse is on him who is building his house by wrongdoing, and his rooms by doing what is not right; who makes use of his neighbour without payment, and gives him nothing for his work; 14 Who says, I will make a wide house for myself, and rooms of great size, and has windows cut out, and has it roofed with cedar and painted with bright red. 15 Are you to be a king because you make more use of cedar than your father? did not your father take food and drink and do right, judging in righteousness, and then it was well for him? 16 He was judge in the cause of the poor and those in need; then it was well. Was not this to have knowledge of me? says the Lord. 17 But your eyes and your heart are fixed only on profit for yourself, on causing the death of him who has done no wrong, and on violent and cruel acts. 18 So this is what the Lord has said about Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! 19 They will do to him what they do to the dead body of an ass; his body will be pulled out and placed on the earth outside the doors of Jerusalem.