For
the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.
Habakkuk 2:11
Habakkuk 2 [2.] Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith. Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples. Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’ Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim? Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it. Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
Habakkuk 2 [10.] You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul. For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it. Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity! Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2 [15.] “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.
Meaning:
Habakkuk complained to God about violence and injustice, and then about God’s plan to use the cruel Babylonians as his instrument. God answered that the vision would surely come, and that “the righteous will live by his faith.” Then Habakkuk 2 pronounces a series of woes on the proud oppressor. This verse belongs to the second woe, against the one who “gets an evil gain for his house,” building his security on what he has taken from others.
- “The stone will cry out of the wall”
The oppressor thinks his fine house is safe and silent, but its very stones and timbers become witnesses against him. Every stone was paid for by violence, and every beam was bought with plunder. The building itself accuses its builder. Jeremiah used a similar picture against a king of Judah: “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice” (Jeremiah 22:13). James also warns the rich that the wages kept back from the labourers “cry out” and reach the ears of the Lord (James 5:4).
- Nothing is hidden from God
No court may convict the powerful, but God hears the silent testimony of what they have done. The woes in this chapter end with confidence that God will set things right: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
- The stones and Jesus
When the Pharisees asked Jesus to silence the disciples who praised him as King, he answered, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out” (Luke 19:40). Shortly afterwards he wept over Jerusalem, saying that its enemies “will not leave in you one stone on another” (Luke 19:44). As in Habakkuk, the stones bear witness to the truth when people refuse to speak it.
The Significance of Habakkuk 2:11
- Integrity in how we gain
What we build with unjust gain will testify against us. Honest work and fair dealing please God.
- Hope for the oppressed
The verse comforts those who suffer injustice. God hears even when others are silent, and he will judge rightly.
Cross-References:
Jeremiah 22:13: "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness" A similar woe on unjust building.
James 5:4: The withheld wages of workers cry out to the Lord.
Luke 19:40: "if these were silent, the stones would cry out." Jesus uses the same image.
Conclusion: In Habakkuk’s woe against the one who builds his house with unjust gain, the stones of the wall and the beams of the roof cry out as witnesses against him. God hears what people try to hide, and he will bring justice; the stones that testify against injustice also testify, in the words of Jesus, to the truth about the King.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible