Habakkuk 2:7 - Exposition

That shall bite thee. As thou hast cruelly treated others, so shall they, like fierce vipers ( Jeremiah 8:17 ), bite thee. Henderson, Delitzsch, Keil, and others see in the word a double entendre connected with the meaning of "lending on interest," so the "biting" would signify "exacting a debt with usury." Such a term for usury is not unknown to classical antiquity; thus (quoted by Henderson) Aristoph; 'Nub.,' 12—

δακόμενος

υπὸ τὴς δαπάνης καὶ τῆς φάτνης καὶ τῶν χρεῶν

"By the expenditure deep bitten,

And by the manger and the debts"

Lucan, 'Phars.,' 1.181," Hinc usura vorax, avidumque in tempore faenus." The "biters" rising up suddenly are the Persians who destroyed the Babylonian power as quickly and as unexpectedly as it had arisen. Vex ; literally, shake violently, like διασείσητε ( Luke 3:14 ), or like the violent arrest of a creditor ( Matthew 18:28 ); Septuagint, οἱ ἐπίβουλοί σου , "thy plotters;" Vulgate, lacerantes te . So of the mystic Babylon, her end comes suddenly ( Revelation 18:10 , Revelation 18:17 ).