Habakkuk 1:10
New International Version
They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them.

New Living Translation
They scoff at kings and princes and scorn all their fortresses. They simply pile ramps of earth against their walls and capture them!

English Standard Version
At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it.

Berean Standard Bible
They scoff at kings and make rulers an object of scorn. They laugh at every fortress and build up siege ramps to seize it.

King James Bible
And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

New King James Version
They scoff at kings, And princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, For they heap up earthen mounds and seize it.

New American Standard Bible
“They make fun of kings, And dignitaries are an object of laughter to them. They laugh at every fortress, Then heap up dirt and capture it.

NASB 1995
“They mock at kings And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress And heap up rubble to capture it.

NASB 1977
“They mock at kings, And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress, And heap up rubble to capture it.

Legacy Standard Bible
And they mock at kings, And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress And heap up dirt and capture it.

Amplified Bible
“They make fun of kings And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They ridicule every stronghold And heap up rubble [for earth mounds] and capture it.

Christian Standard Bible
They mock kings, and rulers are a joke to them. They laugh at every fortress and build siege ramps to capture it.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They mock kings, and rulers are a joke to them. They laugh at every fortress and build siege ramps to capture it.

American Standard Version
Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him; he derideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And he mocks at Kings and he scoffs at Leaders and he laughs at all fortress cities, and he heaps up earth and he seizes it

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And he shall be at his ease with kings, and princes are his toys, and he shall mock at every strong-hold, and shall cast a mound, and take possession of it.

Contemporary English Version
They make fun of rulers and laugh at fortresses, while building dirt mounds so they can capture cities.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it.

English Revised Version
Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him: he derideth every strong hold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They will make fun of kings and treat rulers as a joke. They will laugh at every fortified city and build a dirt ramp to capture it.

Good News Translation
They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them--they pile up earth against it and capture it.

International Standard Version
They make fun of kings, deriding those who rule. They laugh at all of the fortified places, constructing ramps to seize them.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And they scoff at kings, And princes are a derision unto them; They deride every stronghold, For they heap up earth, and take it.

Literal Standard Version
And he scoffs at kings, | And princes [are] a laughter to him, | He laughs at every fortification, | And he heaps up dust, and captures it.

Majority Standard Bible
They scoff at kings and make rulers an object of scorn. They laugh at every fortress and build up siege ramps to seize it.

New American Bible
They scoff at kings, ridicule princes; They laugh at any fortress, heap up an earthen ramp, and conquer it.

NET Bible
They mock kings and laugh at rulers. They laugh at every fortified city; they build siege ramps and capture them.

New Revised Standard Version
At kings they scoff, and of rulers they make sport. They laugh at every fortress, and heap up earth to take it.

New Heart English Bible
And he will scoff at kings and deride rulers. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.

Webster's Bible Translation
And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn to them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

World English Bible
Yes, they scoff at kings, and princes are a derision to them. They laugh at every stronghold, for they build up an earthen ramp and take it.

Young's Literal Translation
And at kings it doth scoff, And princes are a laughter to it, At every fenced place it doth laugh, And it heapeth up dust, and captureth it.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The LORD's Answer
9All of them come bent on violence; their hordes advance like the east wind; they gather prisoners like sand. 10They scoff at kings and make rulers an object of scorn. They laugh at every fortress and build up siege ramps to seize it. 11Then they sweep by like the wind and pass on through. They are guilty; their own strength is their god.”…

Cross References
2 Chronicles 36:6
Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

2 Chronicles 36:10
In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachin's relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Isaiah 10:9
"Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

Isaiah 14:16
Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: "Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble,

Isaiah 37:13
Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'"

Jeremiah 32:24
See how the siege ramps are mounted against the city to capture it. And by sword and famine and plague, the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened, as You now see!

Jeremiah 33:4
For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword:


Treasury of Scripture

And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn to them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

scoff.

2 Kings 24:12
And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

2 Kings 25:6,7
So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him…

2 Chronicles 36:6,10
Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon…

they shall deride.

Isaiah 14:16
They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

Jeremiah 32:24
Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it.

Jeremiah 33:4
For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;

Jump to Previous
Builds Capture Captureth Cities Deride Derision Dust Earth Earthen Earthworks Fenced Fortified Fortress Heap Heapeth Hold Kings Laughed Laughs Makes Matter Mock Places Princes Ramp Ramps Rubble Rulers Scoff Scoffeth Scoffs Scorn Sport Strong Stronghold
Jump to Next
Builds Capture Captureth Cities Deride Derision Dust Earth Earthen Earthworks Fenced Fortified Fortress Heap Heapeth Hold Kings Laughed Laughs Makes Matter Mock Places Princes Ramp Ramps Rubble Rulers Scoff Scoffeth Scoffs Scorn Sport Strong Stronghold
Habakkuk 1
1. Unto Habakkuk, complaining of the iniquity of the land,
5. is shown the fearful vengeance by the Chaldeans.
12. He complains that vengeance should be executed by them who are far worse.














(10) Kings and princes are deposed or enthroned at the invader's pleasure. Thus Nebuchadnezzar set Jehoiakim as a tributary sovereign on the throne of Jerusalem and three years later deposed his son and successor Jehciaohin and made Zedekiah king.

For they shall heap dust, and take it.--This means that they shall besiege and carry all strongholds by means of the mounds of earth commonly used in sieges. These mounds were employed either to place the besieger on a level with the besieged, and so facilitate the operations of siege engines, or to form an inclined plane, up which the besieger might march his men, and so take the place by escalade. We find they were used by the Egyptians (Ezekiel 17:17) and the Assyrians (2Kings 19:32), as well as by the Babylonians (Jeremiah 6:6, and passim). They are mentioned as employed by the Spartan king Archidamus in the celebrated siege of Plataea in B.C. 429 (Thucydides, lib. 2). In the present passage the term "dust" is used to indicate these mounds of earth, as expressing the contemptuous ease with which the invader effects his capture of strongholds.

Verse 10. - And they shall scoff, etc.; it, or he, scoffeth at kings. The Chaldean nation makes light of the power and persons of kings. Compare Nebuchadnezzar's treatment of Jehoiakim (2 Chronicles 36:6; 2 Kings 24:1, 3; Jeremiah 22:19) and Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:12, 15). They shall deride every strong hold. The strongest fortress is no impediment to them. They shall heap dust. This refers to the raising of a mound or embankment for the purpose of attacking a city (comp. 2 Samuel 20:15; 2 Kings 19:32; 2 Kings 25:1). In the Assyrian monuments one often sees representations of these mounds, or of inclined planes constructed to facilitate the approach of the battering ram (see Bonomi, 'Nineveh and its Palaces,' pp. 181, 188, etc.; Layard, 'Nineveh,' etc., 2:369).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
They
וְהוּא֙ (wə·hū)
Conjunctive waw | Pronoun - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are

scoff at
יִתְקַלָּ֔ס (yiṯ·qal·lās)
Verb - Hitpael - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7046: To disparage, ridicule

kings
בַּמְּלָכִ֣ים (bam·mə·lā·ḵîm)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4428: A king

and {make} rulers
וְרֹזְנִ֖ים (wə·rō·zə·nîm)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 7336: To be weighty, judicious or commanding

an object of scorn.
מִשְׂחָ֣ק (miś·ḥāq)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4890: Object of derision

They
ה֚וּא (hū)
Pronoun - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are

laugh
יִשְׂחָ֔ק (yiś·ḥāq)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7832: To laugh, to play

at every
לְכָל־ (lə·ḵāl)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

fortress
מִבְצָ֣ר (miḇ·ṣār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4013: A fortification, castle, fortified city, a defender

and build up
וַיִּצְבֹּ֥ר (way·yiṣ·bōr)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6651: To aggregate

siege ramps
עָפָ֖ר (‘ā·p̄ār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6083: Dust, clay, earth, mud

to seize it.
וַֽיִּלְכְּדָֽהּ׃ (way·yil·kə·ḏāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 3920: To catch, to capture, occupy, to choose, to cohere


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OT Prophets: Habakkuk 1:10 Yes he scoffs at kings and princes (Hab Hb)
Habakkuk 1:9
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