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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Habakkuk 3: MSG
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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's Prayer
1A prayer of Habak´kuk the prophet upon Shigi-o´noth.
2O 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.
3God came from Teman,
and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah.
His glory covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
4And his brightness was as the light;
he had horns coming out of his hand:
and there was the hiding of his power.
5Before him went the pestilence,
and burning coals went forth at his feet.
6He 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.
7I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction:
and the curtains of the land of Mid´i-an did tremble.
8Was 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?
9Thy bow was made quite naked,
according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah.
Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
10The 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.
11The sun and moon stood still in their habitation:
at the light of thine arrows they went,
and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
12Thou didst march through the land in indignation,
thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
13Thou 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.
14Thou 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.
15Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses,
through the heap of great waters.
16When 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.
17Although the fig tree shall not blossom,
neither shall fruit be in the vines;
the labor 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:
18yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 #
2 Sam 22.34; Ps 18.33. 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.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.