Habakkuk's Prayer
3 1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth. a a v1 Shigionoth: likely a passionate, free-flowing musical style; this prayer was written to be sung. 2 Our Father, I have heard the report of you, and I stand in awe. Our Father, revive your work in our own time; in our own time make it known; in wrath remember mercy. b b v2 Habakkuk asks our Father to remember his heart of compassion — the deep love a parent feels for a child. Beneath every cry for mercy lies the cry for our Father's heart to turn toward us. 3 Our Father came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. 4 His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there his power lay hidden. 5 Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his feet. 6 He stood and shook the earth; he looked and made the nations tremble. The eternal mountains were shattered; the everlasting hills sank low. His ways are ancient. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian trembled. 8 Was your wrath against the rivers, our Father? Was your anger against the rivers, or your fury against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation? 9 You uncovered your bow; you called for many arrows. Selah. You split the earth open with rivers. 10 The mountains saw you and writhed; the raging waters swept by; the deep lifted up its voice and raised its hands high. 11 The sun and moon stood still in their lofty place, at the light of your speeding arrows, at the flash of your gleaming spear. 12 In fury you marched through the earth; in anger you threshed the nations. 13 You 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 head to toe. Selah. 14 With his own arrows you pierced the head of his warriors, who came storming out to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the poor in secret. 15 You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters. 16 I heard, and my body trembled; my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs shook beneath me. Yet I will wait quietly for the day of trouble to come upon the people who invade us.
17 Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the olive crop fails, and the fields produce no food; though there is no flock in the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls— 18 yet I will rejoice in our Father; I will take joy in the Father of my salvation. 19 The Sovereign Father is my strength; he makes my feet like a deer's; he makes me tread on the heights. To the choirmaster: with my stringed instruments. c c v19 "To the choirmaster: with my stringed instruments" is a performance direction showing this prayer was composed for the temple choir.