Habakkuk 2:9 (WEB)

Passage

Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

Nearby Context

Habakkuk 2:7 Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?

Habakkuk 2:8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.

Habakkuk 2:9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

Habakkuk 2:10 You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.

Habakkuk 2:11 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "gets", "evil", "gain", "house", "nest", "high", "delivered", and "hand". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "gets" 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 plundered many nations all..." into verse 10's "You have devised shame to your house...", so "gets" 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 "gets" and "evil" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.