Habakkuk 2:5-7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Sayings Against Tyrants
5 [a]Indeed wealth is treacherous;
a proud man does not succeed.
He who opens wide his throat like Sheol,
and is insatiable as death,
Who gathers to himself all the nations,
and collects for himself all the peoples—
6 Shall not all these take up a taunt against him,(A)
and make a riddle about him, saying:
Ah! you who store up what is not yours
—how long can it last!—
you who load yourself down with collateral.
7 Will your debtors[b] not rise suddenly?
Will they not awake, those who make you tremble?
You will become their spoil!
Footnotes
- 2:5 This verse describes any tyrant who, like the Babylonians, possesses insatiable greed.
- 2:7 Debtors: the Hebrew term can mean either debtors or creditors, and this double meaning is likely intended: the debtor nations rise up against their creditor nation and become its creditors in the reversal of affairs described here.
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