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.)
Currently Selected:
Habakkuk 3: MSG
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
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
Hymn About God’s Reign
1Prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet. According to Shigyonot.#Shigyonot: a Hebrew technical term no longer understood, but probably a musical notation regarding the following hymn. This term, the references to the leader and stringed instruments at the end of the hymn (v. 19), and the use of the term selah in vv. 3, 9, and 13 are found elsewhere in the Bible only in the Psalter, and they indicate that, like the psalms, this poem was once used in worship.
2O Lord, I have heard your renown,
and am in awe, O Lord, of your work.
In the course of years revive it,#In the course of years revive it: a plea for God to renew the works of the past.
in the course of years make yourself known;
in your wrath remember compassion!
3#Cf. the theophanies in Dt 33:2–3; Jgs 5:4–5; Ps 18:8–16; 68:8–9; 77:17–21; 97:1–5; Na 1:3–6, etc. Conventional language is employed to describe the appearance of the Lord, as in Ex 19:16–19. God came from Teman,#Teman: a region in Edom. Mount Paran: in the territory of Edom, or the northern part of the Sinai peninsula.
the Holy One from Mount Paran.#Dt 33:2.
Selah
His glory covered the heavens,
and his praise filled the earth;
4his splendor spread like the light.
He raised his horns high,#Ps 18:3.
he rejoiced on the day of his strength.
5Before him went pestilence,
and plague#Pestilence…plague: these may be figures who are part of the heavenly armies God leads into battle. followed in his steps.
6He stood and shook the earth;
he looked and made the nations tremble.
Ancient mountains were shattered,
the age-old hills bowed low,
age-old orbits#Age-old orbits: the regular paths through the skies of heavenly bodies are disrupted at the appearance of the divine warrior, as are the ancient mountains on earth. Such cosmic disruption is typical of divine appearances (Ps 18:8; Na 1:5). collapsed.
7The tents of Cushan trembled,
the pavilions of the land of Midian.#Cushan…Midian: the inhabitants of the area southeast of Judah where the divine march originates (Teman, Mount Paran), who are shaken, together with the cosmos, at God’s appearance.
8Was your anger against the rivers, O Lord?
your wrath against the rivers,
your rage against the sea,#Rivers…sea: the forces of chaos personified as yam (Sea) and nahar (River) try to destroy the order God imposed at creation by sweeping past their boundaries and covering the earth. Their mention here and in v. 15 emphasizes that God is both creator and deliverer, subduing historical enemies and cosmic forces. #Ps 74:13; 89:11; Is 51:9; Na 1:4.
That you mounted your steeds,
your victorious chariot?
9You readied your bow,
you filled your bowstring with arrows.
Selah
You split the earth with rivers;
10at the sight of you the mountains writhed.
The clouds poured down water;
the deep roared loudly.
The sun#Sun…moon: heavenly figures who, like pestilence and plague (v. 5), serve in God’s army, or are startled at God’s appearance, as are the ancient constellations (v. 6). forgot to rise,
11the moon left its lofty station,#Jos 10:12–13.
At the light of your flying arrows,
at the gleam of your flashing spear.
12In wrath you marched on the earth,
in fury you trampled the nations.
13You came forth to save your people,
to save your anointed one.#Your anointed one: the theocratic king, the head of God’s people. The back of the wicked: this may refer both to God’s cosmic enemy, River/Sea, and to the leader of Israel’s historical enemy.
You crushed the back of the wicked,
you laid him bare, bottom to neck.
Selah
14#The last two lines of this verse are obscure in Hebrew and difficult to translate. You pierced his head with your shafts;
his princes you scattered with your stormwind,
as food for the poor in unknown places.
15You trampled the sea with your horses
amid the churning of the deep waters.
16I hear, and my body trembles;
at the sound, my lips quiver.
Decay invades my bones,
my legs tremble beneath me.
I await the day of distress
that will come upon the people who attack us.
17For though the fig tree does not blossom,
and no fruit appears on the vine,
Though the yield of the olive fails
and the terraces produce no nourishment,
Though the flocks disappear from the fold
and there is no herd in the stalls,
18Yet I will rejoice in the Lord
and exult in my saving God.
19God, my Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet swift as those of deer
and enables me to tread upon the heights.#The heights: this term can also mean “backs” and may be an image of conquest over the poet’s foes. #Ps 18:32–34.
For the leader; with stringed instruments.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc