What Does Habakkuk 2:6 Mean in the King James?
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!
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
What the taker piles up becomes weight he must carry.
THE MEANING
What grows by taking what belongs to another becomes a burden on the one who gathers it. The rare Hebrew word behind “thick clay” is often understood as a pile of pledges or debts, a load that the people bearing its cost eventually name aloud. The verse meets you wherever accumulation promises security but tightens into weight.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that taking more makes you secure; the verse shows that what you take can become the very burden that weighs you down and turns others’ voices against you.
THE ROOT
הַמַּכְבִּיד
hamakhbid
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy or make weighty.
“ladeth himself” in this verse is hamakhbid. The Hebrew verb means “making heavy.” It shares its root with kavod, כָּבוֹד (kavod), meaning weight: what looks like an increase in possessions becomes an accumulated weight carried by the possessor.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy, weighty.
כָּבֵד
The same root makes clear that the one accumulating this load is also making himself heavy.
kavod: Weight or substance.
כָּבוֹד
The root ties the holder’s burden to the idea of weight itself, making the accumulation feel consequential rather than merely plentiful.
עַבְטִיט
avtit
GROWS FROM
עבט
ʿ-b-ṭ
To pledge or take security; the rare word here is commonly understood as a mass of pledges or debt.
“thick clay” in this verse is avtit. The KJV preserves the image of a dense, oppressive load, while the Hebrew may also evoke piled-up pledges. The word brings the burden close to the act of taking security and accumulating obligations.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvaṭ: To give or take a pledge.
עָבַט
This root links the load to pledges and claims, suggesting that the accumulation carries obligations with it.
ʿavōṭ: A pledge or collateral.
עֲבֹט
The pledge branch makes the burden concrete: what is gathered is tied to someone else’s claim.
הַמַּרְבֶּה
hammarbeh
GROWS FROM
רבה
r-b-h
To grow, become many, or multiply.
“increaseth” in this verse is hammarbeh. The word names expansion, but its object is “that which is not his.” The verse exposes how increase can become a growing claim built on another’s loss.
ALSO GROWS
rav: Many, much, or great.
רַב
This branch carries the sense of accumulation that drives the verse’s warning.
ravah: To grow or become many.
רָבָה
The verb shares the verse’s image of a claim expanding until it becomes a load.
THE PATTERN
What is accumulated as if it belongs securely to its keeper can become a burden and a witness against that keeper.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?THE THREAD
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.Habakkuk’s הַמַּכְבִּיד (hamakhbid, “making heavy”) and Psalm 38’s כָּבֵד (kaved, “heavy”) share the root כבד (k-b-d, “heavy; make weighty”). The shared root reveals how an accumulated load presses on the one carrying it until its weight can no longer be ignored.
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