Habakkuk 3

¹ A prayer[*a] of Habakkuk the prophet; tone as for dirges.

² Yahweh, I have heard of your renown, your work, Yahweh, inspires me with dread. Repeat it in our own time, reveal it in our time. For all your wrath, remember to be merciful.

³ Eloah is coming from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.[*b] (Pause) His majesty veils the heavens, the earth is filled with his glory.

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

⁵ Plague goes in front of him, fever follows on his heels.

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

⁷ I have seen the tents of Cushan terrified, the pavilions of the land of Midian shuddering.[*c]

⁸ Yahweh, is your anger blazing against the rivers, or your fury against the sea, that you come mounted on your horses, on your victorious chariots?

⁹ You uncover your bow, you ply its string with arrows. (Pause) You trench the soil with torrents;

¹⁰ the mountains shiver when they see you; great floods sweep on their way, the abyss[*d] roars aloud, high it lifts its hands.

¹¹ Sun and moon stay in their houses, avoiding the flash of your arrows, the gleam of your glittering spear.

¹² Raging, you stride the earth, in anger you trample the nations.

¹³ You have marched to save your people, to save your own anointed; you have beaten down the wicked man’s house, bared its foundations to the rock. (Pause)

¹⁴ With your shafts you have 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.

¹⁵ You have trampled the sea with your horses, the surge of great waters.

¹⁶ I have heard. My whole body trembles, my lips quiver at the sound; decay creeps into my bones, my steps falter beneath me. Calmly I await the day of anguish which is dawning on the people now attacking us.

¹⁷ (For the fig tree is not going to blossom, nor will there be any fruit on the vine, the yield of the olive will fail, the fields afford no food; the sheep will vanish from the fold, nor will there be any cattle in the stalls.)

¹⁸ But I will rejoice in Yahweh, I will exult in God my saviour.

¹⁹ Yahweh my Lord is my strength, he makes my feet as light as a doe’s, he sets my steps on the heights. (For the choirmaster; on stringed instruments.)