Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!
Shall not all these - the "nations" and "peoples" (Habakkuk 2:5) "heaped unto him" by the Chaldean.
Take up a parable - a derisive song. Habakkuk follows Isaiah (Isaiah 14:4) and Micah (Micah 2:4) in the phraseology.
Against him - when dislodged from his former eminence.
Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! The 'derisive song' here begins, and continues to the end of the chapter. It is a symmetrical whole, and consists of five stanzas, the three first consisting of three verses each, the fourth of four verses, and the last of two. Each stanza has its own subject, and all except the last begin with "Woe;" and all have a closing verse introduced with "for," "because," or "but."
How long? - how long is he destined to retain his ill-gotten gains? But for a short time, as his speedily coming fall proves (Maurer). 'Covetousness is the greatest bane to men. For they who invade others' goods often lose even their own' [Pleonexia megiston anthroopois kakon, etc.] (Menander). Calvin makes "how long" to be the cry of those groaning under the Chaldean oppression while it still lasted-How long shall such oppression be permitted to continue? But it is plainly part of the derisive song, after the Chaldean tyranny had passed away.
And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay - namely, gold and silver dug out of the "clay" of which they are a part. The covetous man, in heaping them together, is only lading himself with a clay burden, as he dares not enjoy them, and is always anxious about them. Lee and Fuller translate the Hebrew х `abTiyT (H5671), from `aabaT (H5670), to give a pledge] as a reduplicated single noun (the reduplication intensifying the sense of the simple word), and not two words, 'an accumulation of pledges' (Deuteronomy 24:10-13). The Chaldean is compared to a harsh usurer, and his ill-gotten treasures to heaps of pledges in the hands of an usurer. The Syriac and Vulgate versions, and the Rabbis, support the English version. Ten of Kennicott's MSS. read two words, which would necessitate the English version.