Habakkuk 3

¹Prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet. According to Shigyonot.[#: a Hebrew technical term no longer understood, but probably a musical notation regarding the following hymn. This term, the references to the leader and stringed instruments at the end of the hymn (v. 19), and the use of the term selah in vv. 3, 9, and 13 are found elsewhere in the Bible only in the Psalter, and they indicate that, like the psalms, this poem was once used in worship.]

²O Lord , I have heard your renown,

and am in awe, O Lord , of your work.

In the course of years revive it,

in the course of years make yourself known;

in your wrath remember compassion!

³God came from Teman,[#Cf. the theophanies in Dt 33:2–3; Jgs 5:4–5; Ps 18:8–16; 68:8–9; 77:17–21; 97:1–5; Na 1:3–6, etc. Conventional language is employed to describe the appearance of the Lord, as in Ex 19:16–19.; #: a region in Edom. : in the territory of Edom, or the northern part of the Sinai peninsula.]

the Holy One from Mount Paran.

His glory covered the heavens,

and his praise filled the earth;

⁴his splendor spread like the light.

He raised his horns high,

he rejoiced on the day of his strength.

⁵Before him went pestilence,

and plague followed in his steps.

⁶He stood and shook the earth;

he looked and made the nations tremble.

Ancient mountains were shattered,

the age-old hills bowed low,

age-old orbits collapsed.

⁷The tents of Cushan trembled,

the pavilions of the land of Midian.

⁸Was your anger against the rivers, O Lord ?

your wrath against the rivers,

your rage against the sea,

That you mounted your steeds,

your victorious chariot?

⁹You readied your bow,

you filled your bowstring with arrows.

You split the earth with rivers;

¹⁰at the sight of you the mountains writhed.

The clouds poured down water;

the deep roared loudly.

The sun forgot to rise,

¹¹the moon left its lofty station,[#Jos 10:12–13.]

At the light of your flying arrows,

at the gleam of your flashing spear.

¹²In wrath you marched on the earth,

in fury you trampled the nations.

¹³You came forth to save your people,

to save your anointed one.

You crushed the back of the wicked,

you laid him bare, bottom to neck.

¹⁴You pierced his head with your shafts;[#The last two lines of this verse are obscure in Hebrew and difficult to translate.]

his princes you scattered with your stormwind,

as food for the poor in unknown places.

¹⁵You trampled the sea with your horses

amid the churning of the deep waters.

¹⁶I hear, and my body trembles;

at the sound, my lips quiver.

Decay invades my bones,

my legs tremble beneath me.

I await the day of distress

that will come upon the people who attack us.

¹⁷For though the fig tree does not blossom,

and no fruit appears on the vine,

Though the yield of the olive fails

and the terraces produce no nourishment,

Though the flocks disappear from the fold

and there is no herd in the stalls,

¹⁸Yet I will rejoice in the Lord

and exult in my saving God.

¹⁹God , my Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet swift as those of deer

and enables me to tread upon the heights.

For the leader; with stringed instruments.