Habakkuk’s Prayer
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
2 O Lord, aI have heard the report of you,
and byour work, O Lord, do I fear.
In the midst of the years crevive it;
in the midst of the years make it known;
din wrath remember mercy.
3 God came from aTeman,
band the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His splendor covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
4 aHis brightness was like the light;
rays flashed from his hand;
and there he veiled his power.
5 aBefore him went pestilence,
and plague followed bat his heels.
6 He stood aand measured the earth;
he looked and shook the nations;
then the beternal mountains cwere scattered;
the everlasting hills sank low.
His were dthe everlasting ways.
7 I saw the tents of aCushan in affliction;
bthe curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
8 aWas your wrath against the rivers, O Lord?
Was your anger against the rivers,
aor your indignation against the sea,
bwhen you rode on your horses,
bon your chariot of salvation?
9 You stripped the sheath from your bow,
calling for many arrows. Selah
aYou split the earth with rivers.
10 aThe mountains saw you and writhed;
the raging waters swept on;
bthe deep gave forth its voice;
cit lifted its hands on high.
11 aThe sun and moon stood still in their place
bat the light of your arrows as they sped,
at the flash of your glittering spear.
12 aYou marched through the earth in fury;
byou threshed the nations in anger.
13 aYou went out for the salvation of your people,
for the salvation of byour anointed.
cYou crushed the head of the house of the wicked,
laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah
14 You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors,
who came like a whirlwind to scatter me,
rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.
15 aYou trampled the sea with your horses,
the surging of mighty waters.
16 aI hear, and bmy body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
crottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet dI will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
Habakkuk Rejoices in the Lord
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 ayet I will rejoice in the Lord;
bI will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
ahe makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me btread on my chigh places.
dTo the choirmaster: with estringed instruments.