The Prayer of Habakkuk

¹A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth.

²O Lord , I have heard the report of You,

and was afraid;

O Lord , revive Your work

in the midst of the years!

In the midst of these years

make them known;

in wrath remember mercy.

³God came from Teman,

and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah

His glory covered the heavens,

and the earth was full of His praise.

⁴His brightness was like the light;

rays flashed from His hand,

and there His power was hidden.

⁵Pestilence went out before Him,

and plague followed His feet.

⁶He stood and measured the earth;

He looked and shook the nations.

The eternal mountains were scattered,

the perpetual hills bowed.

His ways are everlasting.

⁷I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;

the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

⁸Were you displeased with the rivers, O Lord ?

Was Your anger against the rivers,

and was Your wrath against the sea

when You rode on Your horses,

on Your chariots of salvation?

⁹You made bare Your bow;

oaths were the arrows at Your command. Selah

You divided the earth with the rivers.

¹⁰The mountains saw You and trembled;

the overflowing water passed by.

The deep lifted its voice,

and lifted its hands on high.

¹¹The sun and moon stood still in their places;

at the light of Your arrows they went,

at the flash of Your glittering spear.

¹²You marched throughout the earth in indignation;

You threshed the nations in anger.

¹³You went forth to deliver Your people,

to deliver Your anointed one.

You wounded the head of the house of the wicked,

laying him bare from head to foot. Selah

¹⁴You pierced with his own arrows

the leaders of his villages.

They came like a whirlwind to scatter me;

their rejoicing was like devouring the poor in secret.

¹⁵You trampled the sea with Your horses,

through the wakes of great waters.

¹⁶I heard, and my body trembled;[#Hab 3:2]

my lips quivered at the sound;

rottenness entered my bones;

my legs tremble beneath me.

Yet I will wait quietly for the day

when calamity comes on the people invading us.

A Hymn of Faith

¹⁷Though the fig tree does not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines;

though the yield of the olive fails,

and the fields produce no food;

though the flocks are cut off from the fold,

and there be no herd in the stalls—

¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the Lord ;[#Php 4:4]

I will exult in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹The Lord God is my strength;

He will make my feet like hinds’ feet,

and He will make me walk on my high places.

To the Music Director: with my stringed instruments.