Habakkuk Chapter 1 verse 10 Holy Bible
Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him; he derideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it.
read chapter 1 in ASV
He makes little of kings, rulers are a sport to him; all the strong places are to be laughed at; for he makes earthworks and takes them.
read chapter 1 in BBE
Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a scorn unto him; he derideth every stronghold: for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it.
read chapter 1 in DARBY
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.
read chapter 1 in KJV
read chapter 1 in WBT
Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.
read chapter 1 in WEB
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.
read chapter 1 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 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).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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.
