1This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. It is on shigionoth. Here is what he said.2LORD, I know how famous you are. I have great respect for you because of your mighty acts. Do them again for us. Make them known in our time. When you are angry, please have mercy on us.3God came from Teman. The Holy One came from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens. His praise filled the earth.4His glory was like the sunrise. Rays of light flashed from his mighty hand. His power was hidden there.5He sent plagues ahead of him. Disease followed behind him.6When he stood up, the earth shook. When he looked at the nations, they trembled with fear. The age-old mountains crumbled. The ancient hills fell down. But he marches on for ever.7I saw the tents of Cushan in trouble. The people of Midian were suffering greatly.8LORD, were you angry with the rivers? Were you angry with the streams? Were you angry with the Red Sea? You rode your horses and chariots to overcome it.9You got your bow ready to use. You asked for many arrows. You broke up the surface of the earth with rivers.10The mountains saw you and shook. Floods of water swept by. The sea roared. It lifted its waves high.11The sun and moon stood still in the sky. They stopped because your flying arrows flashed by. Your gleaming spear shone like lightning.12When you were angry, you marched across the earth. Because of your anger you destroyed the nations.13You came out to set your people free. You saved your chosen ones. You crushed Pharaoh, the leader of that evil land of Egypt. You stripped him from head to foot.14His soldiers rushed out to scatter us. They were laughing at us. They thought they would easily destroy us. They saw us as weak people who were trying to hide. So you wounded Pharaoh’s head with his own spear.15Your horses charged into the Red Sea. They stirred up the great waters.16I listened and my heart pounded. My lips trembled at the sound. My bones seemed to rot. And my legs shook. But I will be patient. I’ll wait for the day of trouble to come on Babylon. It’s the nation that is attacking us.17The fig-trees might not bud. The vines might not produce any grapes. The olive crop might fail. The fields might not produce any food. There might not be any sheep in the pens. There might not be any cattle in the barns.18But I will still be glad because of what the LORD has done. God my Saviour fills me with joy.19The LORD and King gives me strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He helps me walk on the highest places. This prayer is for the director of music. It should be sung while being accompanied by stringed instruments.
Habbakuk 3
English Standard Version
Habakkuk’s Prayer
1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.2O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. (Ps 44:1; Ps 77:9; Ps 85:6; Ps 90:16; Hab 3:16)3God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. (De 33:2; 1Ch 1:45)4His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power. (Eze 1:27)5Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels.[1] (Ex 12:29; 2Ki 19:35; 1Ch 21:11; Job 18:11)6He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations; then the eternal mountains were scattered; the everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways. (Ge 49:26; De 33:15; Ps 60:6; Isa 51:9; Mic 1:4; Na 1:5)7I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. (Jud 3:8; Jud 8:19)8Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation? (De 33:26; Ps 18:10; Ps 68:4; Ps 68:17; Ps 104:3; Ps 114:5; Isa 19:1; Isa 66:15)9You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows.[2] You split the earth with rivers. (Ps 78:15)10The mountains saw you and writhed; the raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice; it lifted its hands on high. (Ex 14:22; Ex 15:8; Ex 19:18; Jud 5:5; Ps 93:3)11The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear. (Jos 10:12; 2Sa 22:15; Hab 3:5)12You marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger. (Jos 10:42; Mic 4:12)13You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck.[3] (1Ch 16:22; Ps 68:21; Ps 105:15; Ps 110:6; Hab 3:12)14You 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.15You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters. (Ps 77:19)16I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. (Ps 94:13; Pr 12:4; Isa 14:3; Jer 4:19; Hab 3:2)
Habakkuk Rejoices in the Lord
17Though 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,18yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. (Job 13:15; Ps 9:14; Ps 13:5; Ps 21:1; Ps 35:9; Joe 2:23; Lu 1:47)19God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed[4] instruments. (De 32:13; De 33:29; 2Sa 2:18; Isa 38:20; Am 4:13; Mic 1:3)