Introduction

Habakkuk 2:6–20 contains God’s response to Habakkuk’s confusion and discouragement over His sovereign plans. God declares five woes against Babylon, proclaiming judgment on their arrogance, violence, and idolatry. Through these woes, God assures Habakkuk of His sovereign justice: He will use Babylon as His instrument for judgment, but He will also hold them accountable for their sins.

Key Points

• Main Point: God will judge arrogantly godless Babylon by turning their own evil against them.
• Purpose: Take comfort in God’s sovereign justice even if it delays or feels confusing.
• Situation: Habakkuk was discouraged and even confused by God’s sovereign plans.

Habakkuk 2:6–7

Shall not all these take up their taunt against him,
with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,
“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
for how long?—
and loads himself with pledges!”
Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
and those awake who will make you tremble?
Then you will be spoil for them.

God levels five woes against Babylon. The first of these woes is Babylon’s endless debt they took from neighboring nations. Whatever they owed—money, human lives, dignity—the defeated surrounding nations will collect Babylon’s debt in due time, and plunder Babylon completely. No nation gets away with violence, since the human heart inclines to vengeance, rightly or not, that demands payment for debt. Justice demands the payment of all debt—another groundshaking effect of the cross on our souls.

Habakkuk 2:8

Because you have plundered many nations,
all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.

Babylon ruthlessly conquered the Ancient Near East, only to eventually be overthrown by Medo-Persian king Cyrus the Great. God turned Babylon’s plundering on their own head. While God allows evil to tarry, He accumulates their crimes, until they are sufficiently overwhelming and ripe for His righteous justice against their evil.

Habakkuk 2:9–11

Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!
You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life.
For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.

The second woe denounces Babylon’s false security. They sought to build an empire protected from harm, but their own constructions—built on bloodshed—will cry out against them. No fortress can shield the wicked from God’s justice, for only He grants true security.

Habakkuk 2:12–13

Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!
Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing?

The third woe warns that Babylon’s cities, built on oppression and violence, will ultimately amount to nothing. Their labor will be consumed by God’s judgment, leaving them with destruction instead of lasting power. But in contrast to Babylon’s fleeting empire, God’s glory will endure and fill the earth completely.

Habakkuk 2:14

For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

Habakkuk quotes Isaiah 11:9, which describes God’s all-known glory in the new creation. Just as certain as the waters cover the sea, so also will the earth surely recognise God’s glory. Where sin increases, God’s glory increases all the moreacross all the earth, be it in a greater judgment against sinful rebels, or greater grace in forgiving them completely of their sins (Romans 5:20).

Habakkuk 2:15

Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink—
you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
in order to gaze at their nakedness!

The fourth woe condemns Babylon’s humiliation of nations, stripping them of dignity and using their downfall for selfish gain. Just as they shamed others, they will drink the cup of God’s wrath and be exposed in disgrace. Their violence against people and even creation itself will overwhelm them in judgment.

Habakkuk 2:16

You will have your fill of shame instead of glory.
Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!
The cup in the LORD’s right hand
will come around to you,
and utter shame will come upon your glory!

Reflection: Just like how Babylon shamed the nations around them by conquering and plundering them completely, God will judge Babylon by turning the nations’ humiliation against Babylon their perpetrator. One of God’s purposes in allowing evil nations to shamefully shame others is so that they may experience peak shame when He exposes them of their pathetic emptiness before Him.

Habakkuk 2:17

The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,
for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.

The very same violence that Babylon used against even the abundance of nature will be as abundant as the violence that Babylon will receive. God’s justice accounts for every cry of injustice, and will avenge those on her receiving end. When we witness injustice with our own eyes, take strong comfort in God’s absolute justice. Vengeance is the Lord’s, He will repay.

Habakkuk 2:18

What profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes speechless idols!

God exposes the heart of Babylon’s woes: they have prostituted themselves to lifeless idols of their own making. They have turned themselves into their own gods, and now serve their own lifeless creations. The greatest woe that creates all other lesser woes is the lust (i.e. idolatry) of self. And the most potent remedy to the lust of self is the worship of God Almighty. When He is God, we live in life. When we are gods, we die in death.

Habakkuk 2:19

Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and there is no breath at all in it.

A synonym for ‘woe’ is ‘pitiful’. Pitiful is Babylon who calls a dead idol to arise to no avail. So what if it’s overlaid in material treasure; it’s hopelessly dead and unable to lend any true insight! Pitiful are we when we try to resurrect our dead idols, no matter how much treasure they falsely promise. Blessed, on the other hand, are we when we delight in God’s word, and meditate on His living words day and night!

Habakkuk 2:20

But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him.

In contrast to Babylon’s silent idols, the LORD reigns in His holy temple, commanding all the earth to be silent before Him. While evil nations rise and fall, God remains sovereign, executing perfect justice in His time. Our response is not rebellion, but reverent awe, trusting in His ultimate rule.

Conclusion

Habakkuk 2:6–20 assures God’s people that He will bring justice against the arrogant, violent, and idolatrous Babylon by turning their own sins against them. The five woes reveal God’s righteous judgment on their sins, offering hope to Habakkuk that God’s justice is absolute and sovereign. Even when God’s plans are difficult to comprehend, He remains in control, working all things for His glory and the good of His people.

Summary

1. Babylon’s arrogance and exploitation will result in their own destruction (2:6–8).
2. Their false security and evil-built empire will collapse under God’s judgment (2:9–13).
3. God’s glory will ultimately fill the earth as He enforces His justice (2:14).
4. Babylon’s violence and shameful actions will return upon them (2:15–17).
5. Their idolatry and self-worship will lead to their downfall as God reigns in His temple (2:18–20).