Habakkuk 2:9

Webster's Bible (1833)

Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

📖 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 As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh.
• Obad 1:4 : 4 Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh.
• Zech 5:1-4 : 1 Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, a flying scroll. 2 He said to me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits." 3 Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side. 4 I will cause it to go out," says Yahweh of Hosts, "and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the midst of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones."
• Acts 1:17-25 : 17 For he was numbered with us, and received his portion in this ministry. 18 Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out. 19 It became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem that in their language that field was called 'Akeldama,' that is, 'The field of blood.' 20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his habitation be made desolate, Let no one dwell therein,' and, 'Let another take his office.' 21 Of the men therefore who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection." 23 They put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24 They prayed, and said, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place."
• Jude 1:11 : 11 Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah's rebellion.
• Gen 13:10-13 : 10 Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. 11 So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves the one from the other. 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
• Gen 19:26-38 : 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. 28 He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace. 29 It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. 30 Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31 The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 32 Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed." 33 They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. 34 It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed." 35 They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger arose, and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. 36 Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. The same is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. The same is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
• Deut 7:25-26 : 25 The engraved images of their gods shall you burn with fire: you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it to you, lest you be snared therein; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God. 26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like it: you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
• Josh 7:21-26 : 21 when I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonian mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. 23 They took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the children of Israel; and they laid them down before Yahweh. 24 Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his donkeys, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? Yahweh shall trouble you this day. All Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones. 26 They raised over him a great heap of stones, to this day; and Yahweh turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called "The valley of Achor" to this day.
• 1 Kgs 21:2-4 : 2 Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it: or, if it seem good to you, I will give you the worth of it in money. 3 Naboth said to Ahab, Yahweh forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you. 4 Ahab came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. He laid him down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
• 1 Kgs 21:19-24 : 19 You shall speak to him, saying, Thus says Yahweh, Have you killed and also taken possession? You shall speak to him, saying, Thus says Yahweh, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your blood, even yours. 20 Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, my enemy? He answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh. 21 Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel: 22 and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made Israel to sin. 23 Of Jezebel also spoke Yahweh, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. 24 Him who dies of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him who dies in the field shall the birds of the sky eat.
• 2 Kgs 5:20-27 : 20 But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: as Yahweh lives, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him. 21 So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he alighted from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? 22 He said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Behold, even now there are come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets; please give them a talent of silver, and two changes of clothing. 23 Naaman said, Be pleased to take two talents. He urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants; and they bore them before him. 24 When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house; and he let the men go, and they departed. 25 But he went in, and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, Whence come you, Gehazi? He said, Your servant went no where. 26 He said to him, Didn't my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive groves and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and men-servants and maid-servants? 27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave to you, and to your seed forever. He went out from his presence a leper [as white] as snow.
• Job 20:19-28 : 19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up. 20 "Because he knew no quietness within him, He shall not save anything of that in which he delights. 21 There was nothing left that he didn't devour, Therefore his prosperity shall not endure. 22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him: The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him. 23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating. 24 He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through. 25 He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him. 26 All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent. 27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, The earth shall rise up against him. 28 The increase of his house shall depart; They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.
• Ps 10:3-6 : 3 For the wicked boasts of his heart's cravings, He blesses the greedy, and condemns Yahweh. 4 The wicked, in the pride of his face, Has no room in his thoughts for God. 5 His ways are prosperous at all times; He is haughty, and your laws are far from his sight: As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them. 6 He says in his heart, "I shall not be shaken; For generations I shall have no trouble."
• Ps 49:11 : 11 Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, And their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves.
• Ps 52:7 : 7 "Behold, this is the man who didn't make God his strength, But trusted in the abundance of his riches, And strengthened himself in his wickedness."
• Prov 18:11-12 : 11 The rich man's wealth is his strong city, Like an unscalable wall in his own imagination. 12 Before destruction the heart of man is proud, But before honor is humility.
• Isa 28:15 : 15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
• Isa 47:7-9 : 7 You said, I shall be mistress forever; so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither did remember the latter end of it. 8 Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 9 but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments.
• Jer 22:13-19 : 13 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and doesn't give him his hire; 14 who says, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cuts him out windows; and it is ceiling with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 15 Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn't your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him. 16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Wasn't this to know me? says Yahweh. 17 But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. 18 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: they shall not lament for him, [saying], Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! They shall not lament for him, [saying] Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! 19 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.