Habakkuk 2:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Habakkuk 2:19
Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
wood
לָעֵץ֙la.'Etz
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Awake
הָקִ֔יצָהha.Ki.tzah
H6974
to awake (literally or figuratively) · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
dumb
דּוּמָ֑םdu.Mam
H1748
still · adverb
stone
לְאֶ֣בֶןle.'E.ven
H68
a stone · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Arise
ע֖וּרִי'U.ri
H5782
to wake (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
teach
יוֹרֶ֔הyo.Reh
H3384
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
laid
תָּפוּשׂ֙ta.Fus
H8610
to manipulate · verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
gold
זָהָ֣בza.Hav
H2091
gold · noun, common masculine singular absolute
silver
וָכֶ֔סֶףva.Khe.sef
H3701
silver (from its pale color) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
breath
ר֖וּחַRu.ach
H7307
wind · noun, common feminine singular absolute
midst
בְּקִרְבּֽוֹbe.kir.Bo
H7130
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 135:17 They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths.
Jeremiah 10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
1 Kings 18:26-29 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O…
Jeremiah 10:9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and…
Psalms 97:7 Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.
Isaiah 40:19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
Isaiah 44:17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith,…
Isaiah 46:6 They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they wo…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Habakkuk 2:15–end
The three foregoing articles, upon which the woes here are grounded, are very near akin to each other. The criminals charged by them are oppressors and extortioners, that raise estates by rapine and injustice; and it is mentioned here again (Hab 2:17), the very same that was said Hab 2:8, for that is the crime upon which the greatest stress is laid; it is because of men's blood, innocent blood, barbarously and unjustly shed, which is a provoking crying thing; it is for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein, which God will certainly reckon for, sooner or later, as the asserter of right and the avenger of wrong.
But here are two articles more, of a different natu…
Awake--Arise to my help.
it shall teach!--rather, An exclamation of the prophet, implying an ironical question to which a negative answer must be given. What! "It teach?" Certainly not [MAURER]. Or, "It (the idol itself) shall (that is, ought to) teach you that it is deaf, and therefore no God" [CALVIN]. Compare "they are their own witnesses" (Isa 44:9).
Behold--The Hebrew is nominative, "There it is" [HENDERSON].
it is laid over with gold . . . no breath . . . in the midst--Outside it has some splendor, within none.
Adam Clarke on Habakkuk 2:19
Wo unto him - How foolish and contemptible to worship a thing formed by the hand of man out of wood, stone, gold, or silver! The meanest brute is superior to them all; it breathes and lives, but they have no breath in them. However, they are said above to be teachers of lies; that is, they appeared to give out oracles: but these were lies; and were not given by the statue, but by the priest.
John Gill on Habakkuk 2:19
Woe to him that saith to the wood, Awake,.... That saith to a wooden image, let him go by what name he will; saint such an one, or such an one; awake, arise, exert thyself on our behalf; deliver us from present danger; save us from our enemies; or pray and intercede for us, that we may be delivered and saved, as the Papists do; addressing a block of wood as they would God himself, or as his people do, Psalm 44:23. This must be very displeasing and detestable to God, and therefore a woe is threatened to such idol worshippers: who also say
to the dumb stone, Arise; to the idol of stone, as the Targum; the stone statue, an image made of stone, such as the Papists have even of wood, and of ston…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 19, 20). Woe to him who says to wood, 'Wake up!' or to silent stone (or lying stone), 'Arise!' Can it give instruction? Look, it is covered with gold and silver, but there is no breath in its midst. The Lord, however, is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. LXX: Woe to him who says to wood, 'Wake up!' and to the stone, 'Rise!' and it is the image, the production of gold and silver, but there is no spirit in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. This can also be applied to Nebuchadnezzar and all those who worship idols. And it describes the human error, that they consider silver, gold, gems, and silk, with which idols are adorned or covered, to be gods because of the brilliance of the material, even though an artist can give form, but cannot give life to the limbs. And on the contrary, the Lord is said to be in his holy temple (Psalm X): not in a temple made by hand, but either in heaven or in each of the saints, according to the apostle who says: Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you (I Corinthians III, 16)? And elsewhere: Your bodies are the temple of God (I Corinthians VI, 19); or in the Son, as He Himself says: The Father who dwells in me, He does the works (John XIV, 10). But certainly according to that, which created the heavens and the earth, the seas and the entire world (Virg. VI Aeneid.) The spirit nourishes within; infused throughout the limbs, the mind moves the mass, and mingles itself with the great body: the whole world, which consists of the sky, the earth, and the circles of the heavens, is said to be the house of God. Hence the Apostle confidently says: 'For in Him we live and move and have our being' (Acts 17:28). And if anyone opposes this, let him learn the custom of Holy Scripture, which never refers to a perverse spirit absolutely, but always qualifies it with some addition, as in the case of being led astray by the spirit of fornication (Hosea 4:12). And in the Gospel: But when an unclean spirit goes out of a man (Luke XI, 24), and similar things to these. However, the spirit wherever it is mentioned alone and absolutely without any addition, is always referred to the good part, that is, to the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle says: He who sows in the Spirit, will reap life eternal from the Spirit (Galatians VI, 8). And…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Idolatry · Objects of described as: Dumb Stones — Objects of described as: Dumb Stones
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Habakkuk 2:19
19. Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
19. Vae qui dicit ligno, Expergiscere; excitare, lapidi muto (mortuo,) ipse docebit: Ecce, ipse (vel ipsum lipsum, si vefaremus ad lignum; ipse ergo) opertus est auro et argento; et nullus spiritus in medio ejus.
He pursues, as I have said, the same subject, and sharply inveighs against the sottishness of men, that they call on wood and stone, as though there were some hidden power in them. They say to the wood, Awake; for they implored help from their idols. Shall it teach? Some render it th…
Fifth and last strophe. - Hab 2:18. "What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath carved it; the molten image and the teacher of lies, that the maker of his image trusteth in him to make dumb idols? Hab 2:19. Woe to him that saith to the wood, Wake up; Awake, to the hard stone. Should it teach? Behold, it is encased in gold and silver, and there is nothing of breath in its inside. Hab 2:20. But Jehovah is in His holy temple: let all the world be silent before Him." This concluding strophe does not commence, like the preceding ones, with hōi, but with the thought which prepares the way for the woe, and is attached to what goes before to strengthen the threat, all hope of help…
In the fifth taunt song, the Babylonians are condemned for their devotion to idolatry. Whether idols are carved or cast by the hand of man, they can neither save nor teach their worshipers (Isa 42:17). Only the Lord truly deserves our worship (Hab 2:20; Exod 20:2-6; cp. Eccl 5:1-2).
