Habakkuk 2:16 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.

Thou art filled with shame - now that thou art fallen. "Thou art filled" indeed (though so insatiable), but it is "with shame."

Shame for glory - instead of thy former glory (Hosea 4:7, "As they were increased, so they sinned against me, therefore will I change their glory into shame."

Drink thou also - the cup of sorrow is now in thy turn to pass to thee (Jeremiah 25:15-17, etc.; Lamentations 4:21).

Let thy foreskin be uncovered - expressing in Hebrew feeling the most utter contempt. So of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:36, "this uncircumcised, Philistine"). It is not merely thy "nakedness," as in Habakkuk 2:15, that shall be "uncovered," but the foreskin, the badge of thy being an uncircumcised alien from God. The same shall be done to thee as thou didst to others, and worse.

The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee - literally, shall turn itself, namely, from the nations whom thou hast made to drink it. 'Thou shalt drink it all, so that it may be turned, as being drained' (Grotius).

And shameful spewing shall be on thy glory - "spewing," i:e., vomiting-namely, that of the King of Babylon, compelled to disgorge the spoil he had swallowed. It expresses also the ignominious state of Babylon in its calamity (Jeremiah 25:27, "Be drunken, and spue, and fall"). Less appropriately, it is explained of the foe spewing in the face of the Babylonian king.

Habakkuk 2:16

16 Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.