Habakkuk 2:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Habakkuk 2:5
Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
home
יִנְוֶ֑הyin.Veh
H5115
to rest (as at home) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
enlargeth
הִרְחִ֨יבhir.Chiv
H7337
to broaden (intransitive or transitive · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
desire
נַפְשׁ֗וֹnaf.Sho
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
hell
כִּשְׁא֜וֹלkish.'ol
H7585
Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean re… · preposition + noun, common both genders singular absolute
death
כַמָּ֙וֶת֙kha.Ma.vet
H4194
death (natural or violent) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
satisfied
יִשְׂבָּ֔עyis.Ba'
H7646
to sate · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
gathereth
וַיֶּאֱסֹ֤ףvai.ye.'e.Sof
H622
to gather for any purpose · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
nations
הַגּוֹיִ֔םha.go.Yim
H1471
a foreign nation · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
heapeth
וַיִּקְבֹּ֥ץvai.yik.Botz
H6908
to grasp · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
people
הָעַמִּֽיםha.'a.Mim
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
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
Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Proverbs 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Isaiah 5:11-12 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
Proverbs 31:4-5 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
2 Kings 14:10 Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy h…
Psalms 138:6 Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.
Proverbs 23:29-33 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Proverbs 30:13-16 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Habakkuk 2:5-14
The prophet having had orders to write the vision, and the people to wait for the accomplishment of it, the vision itself follows; and it is, as divers other prophecies we have met with, the burden of Babylon and Babylon's king, the same that was said to pass over and offend, Hab 1:11. It reads the doom, some think, of Nebuchadnezzar, who was principally active in the destruction of Jerusalem, or of that monarchy, or of the whole kingdom of the Chaldeans, or of all such proud and oppressive powers as bear hard upon any people, especially upon God's people. Observe,
I. The charge laid down against this enemy, upon which the sentence is grounded, Hab 1:5. The lusts of the flesh, the lusts of t…
Yea also, because--additional reason why the Jews may look for God punishing their Chaldean foe, namely, because . . . he is
a proud man--rather, this clause continues the reason for the Jews expecting the punishment of the Chaldeans, "because he transgresseth by wine (a besetting sin of Babylon, compare Dan. 5:1-31, and CURTIUS [5.1]), being a proud man." Love of wine often begets a proud contempt of divine things, as in Belshazzar's case, which was the immediate cause of the fall of Babylon (Dan 5:2-4, Dan 5:30; compare Pro 20:1; Pro 30:9; Pro 31:5).
enlargeth his desire as hell--the grave, or the unseen world, which is "never full" (Pro 27:20; Pro 30:16; Isa 5:14). The Chaldeans under…
Because he transgresseth by wine - From the present translation, it is not easy to see either reason or meaning in the first clause of this verse. Newcome translates, "Moreover, as a mighty man transgresseth through wine, he is proud, and remaineth not at rest." Houbigant thus: "For he, though he be a despiser, and powerful, and proud, yet shall he not have rest."
Nebuchadnezzar is here represented in his usual character, proud, haughty, and ambitious; inebriated with his successes, and determined on more extensive conquests; and, like the grave, can never have enough: yet, after the subjugation of many peoples and nations, he shall be brought down, and become so despicable that he shall be…
The Church Fathers
Since, therefore, the Lord thus threatens such shepherds through whom the sheep of the Lord are neglected and perish, what else ought we to do, dearly beloved brother, but to show full diligence in collecting and restoring the sheep of Christ and to apply the medicine of paternal piety to care for the wounds of the lapsed? The Lord also in the Gospel warns and says, "It is not the healthy who need a physician, but they who are sick." For although we shepherds are many, yet we feed one flock. All of the sheep whom Christ sought by his blood and passion we ought to embrace and to cherish, and not to allow our suppliant and grieving brothers to be cruelly despised and to be trodden under foot by the proud presumption of certain ones, since it is written, "The man, however, who is stiff-necked, boastful of himself, will accomplish nothing at all. His greed is as wide as Sheol."
(Verse 5 and following) And just as wine deceives a drinker, so too will the proud man be, and he will not be adorned, who has expanded his soul like Sheol and is like death, and he will not be satisfied. And he will gather all nations to himself, and he will heap all peoples to himself. Will not all these take up a proverb against him and a taunting riddle about him, and say: Woe to him who multiplies what is not his own! How long will he heap up thick clay against himself? Will not those who bite you suddenly rise up and those who harass you wake up, and you will become their prey? Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you because of human bloodshed and the violence done to the land, the city, and all its inhabitants. Woe to him who is arrogant though! Man of pride, who accomplishes nothing. He who enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. And he will gather all nations to himself, and he will receive all peoples to himself: will not all these take up a parable against him, and a mockery of his narration, and say: Woe to him who multiplies things that are not his own: how long will he burden himself heavily with his own torment, because suddenly those who bite him will rise up, and your schemers will be watchful, and you will be a prey to them? For you have plundered many nations, all the remaining peoples will plunder you because of the blood of men and the wickedness of the land, city, and all its inhabitants. When these things have been promised concerning the coming of Christ, or, as some please, concerning the end of the vision, and the fulfillment of God's help: whoever believes that it will come, will live by his faith; but whoever is unbelieving, will displease the Lord's souls; King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon will be deceived by his pride. And just as wine affects the drinker, and after he has risen, neither his foot, nor his mind fulfills its duty; and all joy and exhilaration of the mind turns into ruin: so a proud man will not be adorned, nor will he achieve his own will to the end, and according to Symmachus he will not prosper, that is, there will be a shortage in all things. Who, like death and hell, is not satisfied with the slain: and subduing all nations and peoples under his rule, he did not consider an end to his greed. Will not everyone speak out against him…
Pride · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine,.... Or rather, "how much less" or "more (o), wine dealing treacherously": or "a man of wine", as Aben Ezra supplies it; that is, a winebibber, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it: and the sense in connection with the preceding verse Habakkuk 2:4 is, if a Jew, elated with his works of righteousness, his soul is not right in him, "how much less" a drunken, treacherous, proud, and ambitious heathen? if the Scribes and Pharisees, who expected the coming of the Messiah, yet withdrew from him, and opposed themselves unto him when come, "how much more" will such persons set themselves against him and his interest, thus described? by whom are meant, not…
Habakkuk 2:5
5. Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people.
5. Quanto magis (vel, etiam certe) vino transgrediens vir superbus, et non habitabit, quid dilatat quasi sepulchrum animam suam, et est similis morti, (ipse quasi mors, ad verbum,) et non satiabitur (non satiatur, significat actum continuum,) et colliget ad se omnes gentes, et coacervabit ad se omnes populos.
The Prophet has taught us that a tranquil state of mind cannot be otherwise had than by recumbing on the grace of God alone; and that the…
With these verses the prophecy itself commences; namely, with a statement of the fundamental thought, that the presumptuous and proud will not continue, but the just alone will live. Hab 2:4. "Behold, puffed up, his soul is not straight within him: but the just, through his faith will he live. Hab 2:5. And moreover, the wine is treacherous: a boasting man, he continues not; he who has opened his soul as wide as hell, and is like death, and is not satisfied, and gathered all nations to himself, and collected all peoples to himself." These verses, although they contain the fundamental thought, or so to speak the heading of the following announcement of the judgment upon the Chaldaeans, are nev…
God is aware of the self-centeredness of the proud. Their crooked lives demonstrate their unrighteousness; they refuse God’s instruction and gratify their own desires (Prov 12:15; 21:8, 29; 29:27). In contrast, the righteous enjoy proper judicial standing before God. They make God’s righteous standards their own and reproduce them in their lives. • faithfulness: Hebrew ’emunah. In Genesis, the same Hebrew root (’mn) describes Abram’s trust in God (Gen 15:6). God transforms the hearts of those who trust him so they can faithfully follow God’s holy standards. See also Rom 1:16-17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:37-39.
Rashi on Habakkuk 2:5
And surely he, whom wine betrays And surely, when Belshazzar, this one’s grandson, comes; the one whose wine shall betray him for he drank as much wine as a thousand (Dan. 5:1).
who widened Nebuchadnezzar.
a haughty man whose dwelling shall not remain [Belshazzar’s] dwelling and his residence shall not remain in existence, for he was haughty and said, with the counsel of the wine, to bring the vessels of the Temple; and he drank with them. That shall cause him to be slain, and the seed of Nebuchadnezzar to be destroyed, for a haughty man is a scorner; he shall not have a dwelling. Neither he nor his dwelling shall remain in existence.
his desire like the nether-world to attain all his des…
