Habakkuk 2:13

New King James Version

Behold, is it not of the Lord of hostsThat the peoples labor to feed the fire, [fn] And nations weary themselves in vain?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Is it not from the Lord of Armiesthat the peoples labor only to fuel the fireand countries exhaust themselves for nothing?

Hebrew Names Version
Behold, isn't it of the LORD of Hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

King James Version (1611)
Behold, is it not of the Lord of hostes, that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shal wearie themselues for very vanitie?

King James Version
Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?

English Standard Version
Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing?

New American Standard Bible
"Is it not indeed from the LORD of armies That peoples labor merely for fire, And nations become weary for nothing?

New Century Version
The Lord All-Powerful will send fire to destroy what those people have built; all the nations' work will be for nothing.

Amplified Bible
"Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts That peoples labor [only] for the fire [that will destroy their work], And nations grow weary for nothing [that is, things which have no lasting value]?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Beholde, is it not of the Lorde of hostes that the people shal labour in ye very fire? the people shall euen weary themselues for very vanitie.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts That peoples toil for fire, And nations grow weary for nothing?

Legacy Standard Bible
Is it not, behold, from Yahweh of hostsThat peoples toil for fire,And nations grow weary for nothing?

Berean Standard Bible
Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and nations weary themselves in vain?

Contemporary English Version
But the Lord All-Powerful sends up in flames what nations and people work so hard to gain.

Complete Jewish Bible
so that people toil for what will be burned up, and nations exhaust themselves to no purpose. Isn't all this from Adonai -Tzva'ot?

Darby Translation
Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?

Easy-to-Read Version
But the Lord All-Powerful has decided that a fire will destroy everything that those people worked to build. All their work will be for nothing.

George Lamsa Translation
All these things are from the LORD of hosts that the people shall labor in fire, and the nations shall labor in vain.

Good News Translation
The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labor, and all they have built goes up in flames. The Lord Almighty has done this.

Lexham English Bible
Look! Is it not from Yahweh of hosts that people labor for mere fire, and nations exhaust themselves for mere vanity?

Literal Translation
Behold, is it not for Jehovah of Hosts that the people labor only for fire? Yea, nations weary themselves only for vanity.

American Standard Version
Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

Bible in Basic English
See, is it not the pleasure of the Lord of armies that the peoples are working for the fire and using themselves up for nothing?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Behold, is it not of the Lord of hoastes that the people shall labour in the very fire? the people shall euen weery them selues for very vanitie.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Are not these things of the Lord Almighty? surely many people have been exhausted in the fire, and many nations have fainted.

English Revised Version
Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

World English Bible
Behold, isn't it of Yahweh of Hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether not these thingis ben of the Lord of oostis? For puplis schulen trauele in myche fier, and folkis in veyn, and thei schulen faile.

Update Bible Version
Look, is it not of Yahweh of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, [is it] not from the LORD of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?

New English Translation
Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed: The nations' efforts will go up in smoke; their exhausting work will be for nothing.

New Living Translation
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!

New Life Bible
Is it not the will of the All-powerful Lord that people work for what will burn up and nations make themselves tired for nothing?

New Revised Standard
Is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor only to feed the flames, and nations weary themselves for nothing?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Lo! is it not from Yahweh of hosts - that peoples labour for fire, and, populations, for emptiness, weary themselves?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Are not these things from the Lord of hosts? for the people shall labour in a great fire: and the nations in vain, and they shall faint.

Revised Standard Version
Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts that peoples labor only for fire, and nations weary themselves for nought?

Young's Literal Translation
Lo, is it not from Jehovah of Hosts And peoples are fatigued for fire, And nations for vanity are weary?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Shal not the LORDE of hoostes bringe this to passe, that the laboures of the people shal be brent with a greate fyre, and that the thinge wher vpon the people haue weeried them selues, shall be lost?

Contextual Overview

⁵ "Indeed, because he transgresses by wine,He is a proud man,And he does not stay at home.Because he enlarges his desire as hell, [fn] And he is like death, and cannot be satisfied,He gathers to himself all nationsAnd heaps up for himself all peoples. ⁶ "Will not all these take up a proverb against him,And a taunting riddle against him, and say,'Woe to him who increasesWhat is not his--how long?And to him who loads himself with many pledges'? [fn] ⁷ Will not your creditors [fn] rise up suddenly?Will they not awaken who oppress you?And you will become their booty. ⁸ Because you have plundered many nations, All the remnant of the people shall plunder you, Because of men's blood And the violence of the land and the city, And of all who dwell in it. ⁹ "Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, That he may set his nest on high, That he may be delivered from the power of disaster! ¹⁰ You give shameful counsel to your house, Cutting off many peoples, And sin against your soul. ¹¹ For the stone will cry out from the wall, And the beam from the timbers will answer it. ¹² "Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, Who establishes a city by iniquity! ¹³ Behold, is it not of the Lord of hostsThat the peoples labor to feed the fire, [fn] And nations weary themselves in vain? ¹⁴ For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

is it: Genesis 11:6-9, 2 Samuel 15:31, Job 5:13, Job 5:14, Psalms 39:6, Psalms 127:1, Psalms 127:2, Proverbs 21:30, Isaiah 41:5-8, Isaiah 50:11, Isaiah 55:2, Jeremiah 51:58, Jeremiah 51:64, Malachi 1:4

for very vanity: or, in vain

Reciprocal: Leviticus 26:20 - your strength Job 28:3 - searcheth Job 39:16 - her labour Proverbs 16:27 - diggeth Ecclesiastes 1:3 - profit Ecclesiastes 2:11 - behold Ecclesiastes 5:11 - what Isaiah 44:12 - he is Isaiah 47:13 - wearied Isaiah 57:10 - wearied Jeremiah 9:5 - weary Jeremiah 12:13 - put Ezekiel 24:12 - wearied Habakkuk 2:6 - ladeth John 6:27 - the meat 1 Thessalonians 2:1 - in vain James 1:13 - no man

Cross-References

Genesis 10:6
The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, [fn] and Canaan.

Isaiah 11:11
It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, [is it] not of the Lord of hosts?.... That which follows; the judgments of God upon the bloody city, which they that labour to prevent labour in vain. So the Targum,

"lo, strong and mighty blows or judgments come from the Lord of hosts;''

the mighty God, the Lord of armies, whose hand when stretched out none can turn back; he does what he pleases, and none can hinder him; when the decree is gone forth from him, it is in vain to attempt to stop it:

that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? words of the same import, and expressed in much the same language, were used of the destruction of literal Babylon by fire, and of the vain attempts of the Chaldeans in labouring and wearying themselves to quench it, Jeremiah 51:58 and here of mystical Babylon, and the vanity of the people of it, in labouring to support it by their wars, for recovering the holy land from the Turks, and against the Waldenses, Hussites, and Bohemians; for, notwithstanding all their successes, and the vast number of persons slain by them, yet they could never prevail so as to root out the kingdom and interest of Christ: and their city and state shall fall, and they will not be able to uphold it; and a considerable blow and shock it received at the time of the Reformation; and this great city Babylon will be destroyed by fire, which its best friends cannot prevent; even the ten kings that have given their kingdom to the beast will hate the whore, and burn her with fire; and those antichristian kings that will continue friends to her, when they see her burning, will find it in vain to attempt to help her, and will stand afar off lamenting her case, Revelation 17:16. Kimchi begins here to see that this section and paragraph does not belong to Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, but to the times of the Messiah; and interprets it of the vengeance of God that shall come upon all the nations that come along with Gog against Jerusalem in the latter day; but he is mistaken: it designs what will come on mystical Babylon; so Abarbinel owns, that, from Habakkuk 2:12, what is said belongs to the Roman empire, which he calls the kingdom of Edom.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that (the) people (nations) shall labor - ^o

In (for) the very fire - literally, to suffice the fire? By God’s appointment, the end of all their labor is for the fire, what may suffice it to consume. This is the whole result of their labor; and so it is as if they had toiled for this; they built ceiled palaces and gorgeous buildings, only for the fire to consume them.

And the peoples shall weary themselves for very vanity - They wearied themselves, and what was their reward? What had they to suffice and fill them? “Emptiness.” This is “from the Lord of hosts,” whom all the armies of heaven obey and all creatures stand at His command against the ungodly, and in whose Hand are all the hosts of earth, and so the oppressor’s also, to turn as He wills.

Near upon the first stage of the fulfillment, Jeremiah reinforces the words with the name of Babylon; Jeremiah 51:58 : “Thus saith the Lord of hosts! The broad walls of Babylon, shall be utterly destroyed, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain (for vanity), and the folk in (for) the fire, and they shall be weary.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Habakkuk 2:13. The people shall labour in the very fire — All these superb buildings shall be burnt down. See the parallel passage, Jeremiah 51:58, and the note there.

Shall weary themselves for very vanity? — For the gratification of the wishes of ambition, and in buildings which shall be brought to naught.