Habakkuk’s Prayer of Faith
3 A prayer by the prophet Habakkuk, set to music.[a]
2 Lord, as I listen to what has been said about you,
I am afraid.
Lord, revive your work throughout all of our lives—
reveal yourself[b] throughout all of our lives—
when you[c] are angry,
remember compassion.
3 God comes from Teman[d]—
the Holy One from Mount Paran.[e]
Interlude
His glory spreads throughout the heavens,
and praises about him fill the earth.
4 His radiance is like sunlight;
beams of light shine[f] from his hand,
where his strength lays hidden.
5 Before him pestilence walks,
and disease follows behind him.[g]
6 He stood up and shook the land;
with his stare he startled the nations.
The age-old mountains were shattered,
and the ancient hilltops bowed down.
His ways are eternal.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress,
and the tent curtains of the land of Midian in anguish.
8 Was the Lord displeased with the rivers?
Was your anger directed[h] against the watercourses
or your wrath against the sea?
Indeed, you rode upon your horses,
upon your chariots of deliverance.
9 Your bow was exposed,
and your[i] arrows targeted by command.
Interlude
You split the earth with rivers.
10 When the mountains looked upon you, they trembled;
the overflowing water passed by,
the ocean shouted,
and its waves[j] surged upward.
11 The sun and moon stand still in their orbits;
at the glint of your arrows they speed along,
even at the gleam of your flashing spear.
12 You march through the land in righteous[k] indignation;
you tread down the nations in anger.
13 You marched out to deliver your people,
to deliver with your anointed.
You struck the head of the house of the wicked;
you stripped him naked from head to foot.
Interlude
14 With his own lances you pierced the heads of his warriors,
who came out like a windstorm to scatter us[l]—
their joy is to devour the afflicted who are in hiding.
15 You rode on the sea with your horses,
even riding[m] the crested waves of mighty waters.
Habakkuk’s Response
16 I heard and I trembled within.
My lips quivered at the noise.
My legs gave way beneath me,[n]
and I trembled.
Nevertheless, I await the day of distress
that will dawn on our invaders.
17 Even though the fig tree does not blossom,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even if the olive harvest fails,
and the fields produce nothing edible;
even if the flock is snatched from the sheepfold,
and there is no herd in the stalls—
18 as for me, I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will find my joy in the God who delivers me.
19 The Lord God is my strength—
he will make my feet like those of a deer,
equipping me to tread on my mountain heights.
For the choir director:
On my stringed instruments.
Footnotes
- Habakkuk 3:1 Lit. prayer upon Shigionoth
- Habakkuk 3:2 The Heb. lacks yourself
- Habakkuk 3:2 The Heb. lacks you
- Habakkuk 3:3 I.e. an Edomite desert town
- Habakkuk 3:3 I.e. in the Sinai desert
- Habakkuk 3:4 The Heb. lacks shine
- Habakkuk 3:5 Lit. follows at his feet
- Habakkuk 3:8 The Heb. lacks directed
- Habakkuk 3:9 The Heb. lacks your
- Habakkuk 3:10 Lit. hands
- Habakkuk 3:12 The Heb. lacks righteous
- Habakkuk 3:14 Lit. me
- Habakkuk 3:15 The Heb. lacks even riding
- Habakkuk 3:16 Lit. Rottenness enters my bones