Albert Barnes Commentary Habakkuk 2:11

"For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." — Habakkuk 2:11 (ASV)

For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it — All things have a voice, in that they exist. God’s works speak of that for which He made them (Psalms 19:1): The heavens declare the glory of God. (Psalms 65:13): the valleys are clad with corn, they laugh, yea, they sing; their very look speaks gladness. Cyril says: “For the creation itself proclaims the glory of the Maker, because it is admired as well made. Therefore there are voices in things, although there are not words.” The works of human beings speak of that within them, from which and for which they made them.

Works of mercy go up as a memorial before God and plead there; great works, performed amidst wrong and cruelty and for human ambition and pride, also have a voice and cry out to God, calling down His vengeance on the oppressor. Here the stones of the wall, by which the building is raised, and the beam (the tie-beam) from the timber-work with which it is finished, and which, as it were, crowns the work, join as in a chorus, answering one another, and—in a deep, solemn wailing before God and the whole world—together chant “Woe, Woe.” Even if the blood and groans of people did not cry out to God, speechless things have a voice to appeal to Him . Against Belshazzar, the wall literally had words to speak.

With each three verses forming a stanza, as it were, of the dirge, the following words are probably not directly connected with the previous ones, as if the woe that follows were, so to speak, the chant of these inanimate witnesses against the Chaldeans. Yet they are connected with it. The dirge began with woe upon the wrongful accumulation of wealth from the conquered and oppressed people; it continues with the selfish use of the wealth thus won.