Habakkuk 2:11

11 The very stones in the walls cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint.

Habakkuk 2:11 Meaning and Commentary

Habakkuk 2:11

For the stone shall cry out of the wall
Of their own house; some from among themselves, that truly feared God, seeing the evil practices done among them, and abhorring them, such as their covetousness, ambition, murders, excommunications, and anathemas, should cry out against them in their sermons and writings; such as were lively stones, eminent for religion and godliness, as Bernard, Wickliff, Huss, and others: and the beam out of the timber shall answer it;
such as were of eminent note in things civil, as beams and rafters in the house; emperors and governors of provinces, who observed the complaints of godly ministers and people, answered to them, and checked the evil bishops and clergy, and hindered them in the pursuit of their schemes, and so brought them to shame and confusion. Aben Ezra observes, that the word signifies the hard place in the wood; or the harder part of it, the knotty part, or the knot in it; and which is confirmed by the use of the word in the Arabic language, as Hottinger ^F7 observes; and so may have respect to such persons as were raised up at the beginning of the Reformation, who were of rough dispositions, and hardy spirits, fit to go through the work they were called to; such as Luther, and others, who answered and were correspondent to the doctrines of those before mentioned, who preceded them: for not a beetle, as the Septuagint version, which breeds, and lives not in wood, and so represents heretics, as Jerom; much better, as some other Greek versions, a "worm"; though rather the word may signify a brick, as it is used by the Talmudists ^F8 for one of a span and a half, which answers well enough to a stone in the former clause; nor is it unusual with heathen writers ^F9 to represent stones and timbers speaking, when any criminal silence is kept; see ( Luke 19:40 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Smegma Orientale, l. 1. c. 7. p. 163.
F8 T. Bava Metzia, fol. 117. 2. & Bathra, fol. 3. 1.
F9 "----Secretum divitis ullum Esse putas? servi ut taceant, jumenta loquentur, Et canis, et postes, et marmora.----" Juvenal. Satyr. 9.

Habakkuk 2:11 In-Context

9 “What sorrow awaits you who build big houses with money gained dishonestly! You believe your wealth will buy security, putting your family’s nest beyond the reach of danger.

10 But by the murders you committed, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives.

11 The very stones in the walls cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint.

12 “What sorrow awaits you who build cities with money gained through murder and corruption!

13 Has not the LORD of Heaven’s Armies promised that the wealth of nations will turn to ashes? They work so hard, but all in vain!