Passage

Habakkuk 2.14

Book: Habakkuk · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

12. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity! 13. Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

14. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, to thee that addest thy venom, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! 16. Thou art filled with shame, and not glory: drink thou also, and be as one uncircumcised; the cup of Jehovah's right hand shall come round unto thee, and foul shame shall be upon thy glory. (Habakkuk 2:12-16, ASV)

WEB

12. Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity! 13. Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

14. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.

“Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! 16. You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. (Habakkuk 2:12-16, WEB)

KJV

12. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity! ^{blood: Heb. bloods} 13. Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? ^{for: or, in vain?}

14. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. ^{with: or, by knowing the glory}

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! 16. Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. ^{with: or, more with shame than with glory} (Habakkuk 2:12-16, KJV)

YLT

12. Woe [to] him who is building a city by blood, And establishing a city by iniquity. 13. Lo, is it not from Jehovah of Hosts And peoples are fatigued for fire, And nations for vanity are weary?

14. For full is the earth of the knowledge of the honour of Jehovah, As waters cover [the bottom of] a sea.

Woe [to] him who is giving drink to his neighbour, Pouring out thy bottle, and also making drunk, In order to look on their nakedness. 16. Thou hast been filled, shame without honour, Drink thou also, and be uncircumcised, Turn round unto thee doth the cup of the right hand of Jehovah, And shameful spewing [is] on thine honour. (Habakkuk 2:12-16, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

Speaker: YHWH's answer to Habakkuk, voiced through the taunt-song that the plundered nations "take up" against the Chaldean (2:6), in the third of five woes (2:12-14)
Audience: Habakkuk and his readers in Judah; rhetorically, the Chaldean conqueror
Location: Judah, presumably Jerusalem. The book names no town and gives no family line for the prophet.
Time period: Late seventh century BC, as the Chaldeans (the Neo-Babylonian empire) were rising (1:6). The book carries no regnal date; most place it within a few years either side of Babylon's victory at Carchemish in 605 BC.

Theological reading

"For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea." The verse closes the third woe, against the one "that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity" (2:12).

Two kinds of building. The verse before it says the peoples "labor for the fire" and weary themselves "for vanity" (2:13). Jeremiah says almost the same of Babylon: "the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire" (Jeremiah 51:58). An empire built on blood labors for something that will burn. Against that, God sets the outcome that will last: the whole earth full of His glory.

Borrowed and sharpened. The line echoes Isaiah 11:9: "for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea." Habakkuk adds "the glory of." Numbers 14:21 makes the same promise as an oath: "as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah." The KJV margin reads "by knowing the glory," which brings out that the filling is with knowledge (Strong's H3045) of His glory (H3519, kavod).

As the waters cover the sea. The simile is total. Water does not partly cover the sea bed. For a prophet who began by asking why God watched violence fill the land (1:2-3), the answer includes a horizon in which God's glory, not the conqueror's, fills the earth.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H3519 - kavod, kavod, Strong's H3519
H3045 - yada, yada, Strong's H3045
H3068 - YHWH, YHWH, Strong's H3068

Quoted in

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.