Habakkuk 2:8 - Exposition

The law of retaliation is asserted. All the remnant of the people ( peoples ) shall spoil thee. The remnant of the nations subjugated and plundered by the Chaldeans shall rise up against them. The downfall of Babylon was brought about chiefly by the combined forces of Media, Persia, and Elam ( Isaiah 21:2 ; Jeremiah 1:9 , etc.); and it is certain that Nebuchadnezzar, at one period of his reign, conquered and annexed Elam; and there is every probability that he warred successfully against Media (see Jeremiah 25:9 , Jeremiah 25:25 ; Judith 1:5, 13, etc.); and doubtless many of the neighbouring tribes, which had suffered under these oppressors, joined in the attack. Because of men's blood. Because of the cruelty and bloodshed of which the Babylonians were guilty. For the violence of (done to) the land, of the city (see Habakkuk 2:17 ). The statement is general, but with special reference to the Chaldeans' treatment of Judaea and Jerusalem, as in Isaiah 43:14 ; Isaiah 45:4 ; Jeremiah 51:4 , Jeremiah 51:11 . Jerome takes "the violence of the land," etc; to mean the wickedness of the Jews themselves, which is to be punished. He is led astray by the Septuagint, which gives, διὰ … ἀσεβείας γῆς , "through … the iniquity of the land."