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
The Prophet’s Prayer
1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth.
2O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
3God came from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran.
Selah
His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of His praise.
4His brightness was like the light;
He had rays flashing from His hand,
And there His power was hidden.
5Before Him went pestilence,
And fever followed at His feet.
6He stood and measured the earth;
He looked and startled the nations.
#Nah. 1:5And the everlasting mountains were scattered,
The perpetual hills bowed.
His ways are everlasting.
7I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
The curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
8O Lord, were You displeased with the rivers,
Was Your anger against the rivers,
Was Your wrath against the sea,
That You rode on Your horses,
Your chariots of salvation?
9Your bow was made quite ready;
Oaths were sworn over Your arrows.
Selah
You divided the earth with rivers.
10The mountains saw You and trembled;
The overflowing of the water passed by.
The deep uttered its voice,
And #Ex. 14:22lifted its hands on high.
11The #Josh. 10:12–14sun and moon stood still in their habitation;
At the light of Your arrows they went,
At the shining of Your glittering spear.
12You marched through the land in indignation;
You trampled the nations in anger.
13You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
For salvation with Your Anointed.
You struck the head from the house of the wicked,
By laying bare from foundation to neck.
Selah
14You thrust through with his own arrows
The head of his villages.
They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me;
Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret.
15#Ps. 77:19; Hab. 3:8You walked through the sea with Your horses,
Through the heap of great waters.
16When I heard, #Ps. 119:120my body trembled;
My lips quivered at the voice;
Rottenness entered my bones;
And I trembled in myself,
That I might rest in the day of trouble.
When he comes up to the people,
He will invade them with his troops.
A Hymn of Faith
17Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
18Yet I will #Is. 41:16; 61:10rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19The Lord God is my strength;
He will make my feet like #2 Sam. 22:34; Ps. 18:33deer’s feet,
And He will make me #Deut. 32:13; 33:29walk on my high hills.
To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.