Habakkuk, 3

1. A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk; tone as for dirges.

1. A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.

2. Yahweh, I have heard of your renown; your work, Yahweh, inspires me with dread. Make it live again in our time, make it known in our time; in wrath remember mercy.

2. O LORD, I have heard thy speech, [and] was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

3. Eloah comes from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Pause His majesty covers the heavens, and his glory fills the earth.

3. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

4. His brightness is like the day, rays flash from his hands, that is where his power lies hidden.

4. And [his] brightness was as the light; he had horns [coming] out of his hand: and there [was] the hiding of his power.

5. Pestilence goes before him and Plague follows close behind.

5. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.

6. When he stands up, he makes the earth tremble, with his glance he makes the nations quake. And the eternal mountains are dislodged, the everlasting hills sink down, his pathway from of old.

6. He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways [are] everlasting.

7. I saw the tents of Cushan in trouble, the tent-curtains of Midian shuddering.

7. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: [and] the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

8. Yahweh, are you enraged with the rivers, are you angry with the sea, that you should mount your chargers, your rescuing chariots?

8. Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? [was] thine anger against the rivers? [was] thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses [and] thy chariots of salvation?

9. You uncover your bow, and give the string its fill of arrows. PauseYou drench the soil with torrents;

9. Thy bow was made quite naked, [according] to the oaths of the tribes, [even thy] word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

10. the mountains see you and tremble, great floods sweep by, the abyss roars aloud, lifting high its waves.

10. The mountains saw thee, [and] they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, [and] lifted up his hands on high.

11. Sun and moon stay inside their dwellings, they flee at the light of your arrows, at the flash of your lightning-spear.

11. The sun [and] moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, [and] at the shining of thy glittering spear.

12. In rage you stride across the land, in anger you trample the nations.

12. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.

13. You marched to save your people, to save your anointed one; you wounded the head of the house of the wicked, laid bare the foundation to the rock. Pause

13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, [even] for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

14. With your shafts you pierced the leader of his warriors who stormed out with shouts of joy to scatter us, as if they meant to devour some poor wretch in their lair.

14. Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing [was] as to devour the poor secretly.

15. With your horses you trampled through the sea, through the surging abyss!

15. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, [through] the heap of great waters.

16. When I heard, I trembled to the core, my lips quivered at the sound; my bones became disjointed and my legs gave way beneath me. Calmly I await the day of anguish which is dawning on the people now attacking us.

16. When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

17. (For the fig tree is not to blossom, nor will the vines bear fruit, the olive crop will disappoint and the fields will yield no food; the sheep will vanish from the fold; no cattle in the stalls.)

17. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither [shall] fruit [be] in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and [there shall be] no herd in the stalls:

18. But I shall rejoice in Yahweh, I shall exult in God my Saviour.

18. Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19. Yahweh my Lord is my strength, he will make my feet as light as a doe's, and set my steps on the heights. For the choirmaster; on stringed instruments.

19. The LORD God [is] my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' [feet], and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.