A psalm of praise
3
📚A prayer 📖 of Habakkuk the prophet,on Shigionoth 📖.
2 📚O LORD, I have heard your renown,
and was afraid.
O LORD, revive 📖 your work
in the midst of the years.
In the midst of the years make
yourself known.
In wrath 📖 remember mercy 📖.
3 📚God came from Teman 📖,
the Holy One from mount Paran 📖. Selah 📖
His glory covered the heavens,
and the earth 📖 was full of his praise.
4 📚And his brightness was
like the light.
He had rays flashing out
of his hand,
and there his power was
hidden.
5 📚Before him went the plague,
and burning coals followed
at his feet.
6 📚He stood and measured the earth.
He looked and made the nations
tremble,
and the everlasting 📖 mountains
were scattered,
the perpetual hills bowed down.
His ways are everlasting.
God’s fierce anger against the nations
7 📚I saw the tents of Cushan in distress;
and the tent curtains
of the land of Midian trembled.
3:7 Cushan and Midian were tribes living near Edom. The prophet gives these two names as two examples among many – v 12.⚜
8 📚Was the LORD displeased
with the rivers?
Was your anger against
the rivers?
Was your wrath against the sea,
that you rode on your horses and
your chariots of salvation?
9 📚Your bow was completely uncovered,
oaths were sworn over your tribes. Selah
You split the earth with rivers.
10 📚The mountains saw you,
and they trembled.
Floods of water swept by.
The deep uttered its voice,
and lifted up its hands
on high.
11 📚The sun and moon stood
still in their habitation.
At the light of your arrows they went,
and at the shining of
your glittering spear.
12 📚You marched through the land
in indignation,
you threshed the nations in anger.
3:12 This happened in the past and is happening now, but will be more fully true in the future – Isa 24:1-6; 34:1-4; Zech 14:2-5.⚜
13 📚You went forth for the deliverance
of your people,
for the deliverance of your anointed.
You struck the head of the house
of the wicked,
by baring its foundation
to the neck. Selah
14 📚You pierced the head of his villages
with his own spears.
They came out like a whirlwind
to scatter me.
Their rejoicing was like devouring
the poor in secret.
15 📚You walked through the sea
with your horses,
through the heap
of great waters.
3:14-15 See v 8.⚜
The prophet’s faith and joy in God, no matter what may happen
16 📚When I heard, my body trembled 📖,
my lips quivered at the sound.
Decay entered my bones,
and I trembled in myself.
But I will wait quietly 📖 for the day
of trouble which will come
on the people
who will invade 📖 us with his troops.
3:16 The language here seems to indicate that Habakkuk has seen and heard the things of vs 3-15 in a vision.⚜
17 📚Though the fig tree does not blossom
and there is no fruit
on the vines,
though the yield of the olive fails
and the fields produce no food,
though the flock is cut off
from the fold and there is no herd
in the stalls,
18 📚Yet I will rejoice 📖 in the LORD,
I will be glad in the God
of my salvation 📖.
3:17-18 Habakkuk puts into practice the word God gave him – “the righteous will live by his faith” (Hab 2:4). He is willing to leave the matter of God’s judgments and His dealings in the world where they belong – in God’s hands, and trust Him and rejoice in Him no matter what happened. Surely this is a great lesson for all of us to learn. The condition described in v 17 would be the result of the Babylonian invasion. The whole idea of this was once a terrible shock to him – Hab 1:12-17. Now he rests in God who always knows what is the best thing to do.⚜
19 📚The Lord God is my strength 📖,
and he will make my feet
like a deer’s feet,
and he causes me to walk
on my heights 📖.
For the choir director.
On my stringed instruments.