Hab 2:16 | KingComments | STEP | From cruelty in the third ‘woe’, the prophet in the fourth ‘woe’ about Babylon moves to his shameless treatment of his “neighbors”, whom he should love. Drunkenness makes shameless ( ; ). Babylon gets the nations drunk to let his lusts run wild. God will make Babylon drunk and strip him of all feelings of shame and make him naked and take away all honor ( ; ). Babylon is given the cup to drink that he has given others to drink, that he may also lie down drunk. This cup is given to him by the LORD. Jeremiah also speaks of the cup of the LORD, which is full of his wrath, and which he gives the nations to drink ( ). The “utter disgrace” can also be translated by “disgraceful vomit”. This shows that everything that they have swallowed in their voracity comes out again as vomit. What was their glory then, will now be covered with this vomit. Thus the LORD will cause Babylon to wallow like a drunk in his own vomit, which will be a disgusting and nauseating sight. They deforested Lebanon in the north, where they entered the country, making it bare and bald through their military campaigns ( ). They killed the animals that were there. Land, city and inhabitants in refer to the nations, while here Judah and Jerusalem with its inhabitants are meant. Babylon has caused a massacre there. But the violence he has inflicted on others will return on his own head, so that he will be covered up underneath.

‏ Habakkuk 2:16

Fourth “Woe”

From cruelty in the third ‘woe’, the prophet in the fourth ‘woe’ about Babylon moves to his shameless treatment of his “neighbors”, whom he should love. Drunkenness makes shameless (Hab 2:15; Gen 9:21). Babylon gets the nations drunk to let his lusts run wild.

God will make Babylon drunk and strip him of all feelings of shame and make him naked and take away all honor (Hab 2:16; Jer 25:15). Babylon is given the cup to drink that he has given others to drink, that he may also lie down drunk. This cup is given to him by the LORD. Jeremiah also speaks of the cup of the LORD, which is full of his wrath, and which he gives the nations to drink (Jer 25:26).

The “utter disgrace” can also be translated by “disgraceful vomit”. This shows that everything that they have swallowed in their voracity comes out again as vomit. What was their glory then, will now be covered with this vomit. Thus the LORD will cause Babylon to wallow like a drunk in his own vomit, which will be a disgusting and nauseating sight.

They deforested Lebanon in the north, where they entered the country, making it bare and bald through their military campaigns (Hab 2:17). They killed the animals that were there. Land, city and inhabitants in Hab 2:8 refer to the nations, while here Judah and Jerusalem with its inhabitants are meant. Babylon has caused a massacre there. But the violence he has inflicted on others will return on his own head, so that he will be covered up underneath.