Habakkuk 2:15 (LSB)

Passage

“Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk So as to look on their nakedness!

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 2:13 Is it not, behold, from Yahweh of hosts That peoples toil for fire, And nations grow weary for nothing?

Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, As the waters cover the sea.

Habakkuk 2:15 “Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk So as to look on their nakedness!

Habakkuk 2:16 You will be filled with disgrace rather than glory. Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness. The cup in Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, And utter disgrace will come upon your glory.

Habakkuk 2:17 For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, And the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them, Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "make", "neighbors", "drink", "venom", "even", "drunk", and "look". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "make" and "neighbors", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "For the earth will be filled With..." into verse 16's "You will be filled with disgrace rather...", so "make" and "neighbors" belong inside that flow. In Habakkuk context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "make" and "neighbors" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.