Yahweh continues to answer Habakkuk. He refers to the Chaldeans as though they are one person.

## Woe to the one who builds a city with blood, and who establishes a town in iniquity ##

These two phrases are saying the same thing in different ways. Alternate translation: "A warning to the Chaldeans who built their cities with what they have stolen from the people they have killed" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]])

## with blood ##

by killing people (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]]). Alternate translation: "the one who kills people and steals their goods in order to build a city." (See [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit]])

## and who establishes a town in iniquity ##

"The one who starts a town through evil behavior." The Chaldeans built their cities using goods stolen from the people they killed. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit]])

## Is it not from Yahweh of Hosts that peoples labor for fire and that the nations weary themselves for nothing? ##

God has caused the destruction of what the people built. It is said in two different ways in order to make the meaning more clear. Alternate translation: "Yahweh is the one who causes what people work hard to build to be destroyed by fire and result in nothing." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-rquestion]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]])