Hab 2:6 | NET2full | STEP | “But all these nations will someday taunt him and ridicule him with proverbial sayings : ‘ Woe to the one who accumulates what does not belong to him ( how long will this go on?)

Habakkuk 2:6

The Proud Babylonians Are as Good as Dead

6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ^{▼▼tn Heb “Will not these, all of them, take up a taunt against him…?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.}
and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ^{▼▼tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”}
‘Woe to the one who accumulates ^{▼▼tn Or “increases.”} what does not belong to him
(how long will this go on?) ^{▼▼tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.} —
he who gets rich by extortion!’ ^{▼▼tn Heb “and the one who makes himself heavy [i.e., wealthy] [by] debts.” Though only appearing in the first line, the term הוֹי (hoy) is to be understood as elliptical in the second line.}