Habakkuk 2:9 (LSB)

Passage

“Woe to him who is greedy for evil gain for his house To put his nest on high, To be delivered from the hand of evil!

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 2:7 Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, And those who make you tremble awaken? Indeed, you will become spoil for them.

Habakkuk 2:8 Because you have taken many nations as spoil, All that is left of the peoples will take you as spoil— Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants.

Habakkuk 2:9 “Woe to him who is greedy for evil gain for his house To put his nest on high, To be delivered from the hand of evil!

Habakkuk 2:10 You have counseled a shameful thing for your house By cutting off many peoples; So you are sinning against your own soul.

Habakkuk 2:11 Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, And the rafter will answer it from the framework.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "greedy", "evil", "gain", "house", "nest", "high", "delivered", and "hand". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "greedy" and "evil", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Because you have taken many nations as..." into verse 10's "You have counseled a shameful thing for...", so "greedy" and "evil" 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 "greedy" and "evil" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.