The Book of the Prophet Habakkuk 3 The Prayer of Habakkuk

 The Book of the Prophet Habakkuk 3

The Prayer of Habakkuk

1 The prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.

2 I have heard, O Lord, of your word, and was afraid: revive, O Lord! In the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

4 His brightness was like the light; rays of light shone from his hand, and there was the hiding place of his power.

5 Pestilence went before him, and burning coals were at his feet.

6 He stood, and measured the earth; he looked, and divided the nations: the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills bowed down; his ways are everlasting.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress; the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

8 Is it against the rivers, Lord, that you are angry? Was your wrath against the streams, or your fury against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?

9 Your bow was uncovered; the oaths sworn to the tribes were a sure word. You split the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains saw you and trembled; the floodwaters passed by; the deep uttered its voice, it lifted up its hands on high.

11 The sun and moon stood still in their dwelling places; they walked at the light of your arrows, at the brightness of the lightning of your spear.

12 In indignation you marched through the earth; in wrath you trampled the nations.

13 You went forth for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed one; You struck the head of the house of the wicked, uncovering its foundations to the neck.

14 You pierced the heads of their warriors with their own staffs; they came against me like a storm to scatter me; they rejoiced as if they were about to devour the poor in secret.

15 You marched through the sea with your horses, through the mass of great waters.

16 When I heard it, my stomach churned, my lips trembled at the sound; decay entered my bones; I trembled within myself; may I rest in the day of trouble, when he comes against the people who will destroy us.

17 For though the fig tree does not blossom, nor is there fruit on the vine; Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are taken from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls:

18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation.

19 The Lord God is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. (For the director of music, on my instruments of music.)