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The Prayer of Habakkuk

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth.

O 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.

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.
His brightness was like the light;
    rays flashed from His hand,
    and there His power was hidden.
Pestilence went out before Him,
    and plague followed His feet.
He stood and measured the earth;
    He looked and shook the nations.
The eternal mountains were scattered,
    the perpetual hills bowed.
    His ways are everlasting.
I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
    the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

Were 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?
You made bare Your bow;
    oaths were the arrows at Your command.     Selah
You divided the earth with the rivers.
10     The mountains saw You and trembled;
the overflowing water passed by.
    The deep lifted its voice,
    and lifted its hands on high.

11 The sun and moon stood still in their places;
    at the light of Your arrows they went,
    at the flash of Your glittering spear.
12 You marched throughout the earth in indignation;
    You threshed the nations in anger.
13 You 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
14 You 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.
15 You trampled the sea with Your horses,
    through the wakes of great waters.

16 I heard, and my body trembled;
    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

17 Though 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—
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will exult in the God of my salvation.

19 The 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.