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Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul.
Habakkuk 2:10 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.
  • BSB You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life.
  • NKJV You give shameful counsel to your house, Cutting off many peoples, And sin against your soul.
  • NASB “You have planned a shameful thing for your house By bringing many peoples to an end; So you are sinning against yourself.
  • NLT But by the murders you committed, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

By destroying many peoples, the oppressor has actually brought shame on his own house and forfeited his life. It shows that wickedness ultimately ruins the one who practices it.

Overview

What the plunderer intended as gain and glory becomes shame, and his violence against others is sin against his own soul. The pursuit of security through bloodshed proves self-destructive. This sobering truth, that sin recoils upon the sinner, reminds us that no scheme of injustice can finally prosper, for God ensures that the wicked reap what they sow.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 14

  • 2 Kgs 9:26Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD.
  • Nah 1:14And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.
  • Jer 36:31And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.
  • Jer 26:19Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
  • 2 Kgs 10:7And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.
  • 1 Kgs 2:23Then king Solomon sware by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.
  • Prov 8:36But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
  • Prov 1:18And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
  • Isa 14:20–22Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
  • Isa 33:11Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
  • Hab 2:16Thou 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.
  • Num 16:38The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.
  • Matt 27:25Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
  • Jer 22:30Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Habakkuk videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Habakkuk 2:10YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on HabakkukMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

'The righteous shall live by his faith' (2:4) becomes a cornerstone of the gospel in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews — the faith that lays hold of Christ.

How Habakkuk 2:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.