Habakkuk 3
3
God Racing on the Crest of the Waves
1-2A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk, with orchestra:
God, I’ve heard what our ancestors say about you,
and I’m stopped in my tracks, down on my knees.
Do among us what you did among them.
Work among us as you worked among them.
And as you bring judgment, as you surely must,
remember mercy.
* * *
3-7God’s on his way again,
retracing the old salvation route,
Coming up from the south through Teman,
the Holy One from Mount Paran.
Skies are blazing with his splendor,
his praises sounding through the earth,
His cloud-brightness like dawn, exploding, spreading,
forked-lightning shooting from his hand—
what power hidden in that fist!
Plague marches before him,
pestilence at his heels!
He stops. He shakes Earth.
He looks around. Nations tremble.
The age-old mountains fall to pieces;
ancient hills collapse like a spent balloon.
The paths God takes are older
than the oldest mountains and hills.
I saw everyone worried, in a panic:
Old wilderness adversaries,
Cushan and Midian, were terrified,
hoping he wouldn’t notice them.
* * *
8-16 God, is it River you’re mad at?
Angry at old River?
Were you raging at Sea when you rode
horse and chariot through to salvation?
You unfurled your bow
and let loose a volley of arrows.
You split Earth with rivers.
Mountains saw what was coming.
They twisted in pain.
Flood Waters poured in.
Ocean roared and reared huge waves.
Sun and Moon stopped in their tracks.
Your flashing arrows stopped them,
your lightning-strike spears impaled them.
Angry, you stomped through Earth.
Furious, you crushed the godless nations.
You were out to save your people,
to save your specially chosen people.
You beat the stuffing
out of King Wicked,
Stripped him naked
from head to toe,
Set his severed head on his own spear
and blew away his army.
Scattered they were to the four winds—
and ended up food for the sharks!
You galloped through the Sea on your horses,
racing on the crest of the waves.
When I heard it, my stomach did flips.
I stammered and stuttered.
My bones turned to water.
I staggered and stumbled.
I sit back and wait for Doomsday
to descend on our attackers.
* * *
17-19Though the cherry trees don’t blossom
and the strawberries don’t ripen,
Though the apples are worm-eaten
and the wheat fields stunted,
Though the sheep pens are sheepless
and the cattle barns empty,
I’m singing joyful praise to God.
I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God.
Counting on God’s Rule to prevail,
I take heart and gain strength.
I run like a deer.
I feel like I’m king of the mountain!
(For congregational use, with a full orchestra.)
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Habakkuk 3
3
Habakkuk 3
1¶ A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, because of all the ignorance.
2O Lord, I have heard thy word and was afraid; O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the times; in the midst of the times make it known; in wrath remember mercy.
3¶ God shall come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was filled with his praise.
4And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand; and there was hidden his strength.
5Before his face went mortality, and burning coals went forth from his feet.
6He stood and measured the earth; he beheld and drove out the Gentiles; and the ancient mountains crumbled, the ancient hills; the ways of the world bowed unto him.
7I saw the tents of Cushan as nothing, and the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
8Oh Lord, wast thou displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath even against the sea when thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of saving health?
9Thy bow was entirely uncovered, and the oaths unto the tribes, eternal word, when thou didst divide the earth with rivers.
10The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the waters passed by; the abyss uttered its voice; the deep lifted up its hands.
11The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
12Thou didst tread upon the land in wrath; thou didst thresh the Gentiles in anger.
13Thou didst go forth to save thy people, to save with thine anointed; thou didst shatter the head of the house of the wicked by uncovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
14Thou didst strike through with his staffs the heads of his villages, who as a whirlwind attempted to scatter me; their pride was as to devour the poor secretly.
15Thou didst make a way through the sea for thine horses through the heap of great waters.
16¶ When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in my seat, that I might rest in the day of trouble when he comes up unto the people to destroy them.
17Because the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on the vines; the labour of the olive shall lie, and the cultivated fields shall yield no food; the sheep shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my saving health.
19The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and upon my high places he will cause me to walk victorious in my instruments of music.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International