Habakkuk 3:1-19
3 * (A prayer of the prophet Hambakuk in dithyrambics.)
2 ** Jehovah, I have heard your story,have feared, Jehovah, at your dealing;As years draw on bring it to life,as years draw on making it known,
fiercely remembering tenderness.
3 God is coming from Teman,the Holy from the highlands of Paran. (Selah)His majesty covers the skyand the earth is full of his praise,
4 * And there is under him a radiance like fire,he has beams of light at his side,and there is the hiding of his power.
5 Before him goes pestilence,and back of him firebolts go out.
6 *** He halts, and earth trembles;He sees, and nations flinch;
And primeval mountains burst,immemorial hills stoop,
7 The packtrains of ‘Us are alarmed,the caravans of Ishbak are dismayed,The homes of Cushan are disquieted,the tents of the Midianite country.
8 * Are you angry with the rivers, Jehovah,or is your wrath against the sea,That you are riding your ponies,your victory-bringing chariot,
9 With your bow stripped bare,your quiver crammed with shafts? [Selah]Earth splits into rivers,
10 ** mountains have seen you, they writhe,Clouds pelt down water,the deep utters its voice,The sun forgets its lofty radiance,
11 the moon stands still in its lodge,At the light of your arrows as they go,at the radiant flash of your spear;
12 In hostility you tread earth,in anger you trample nations.
13 *** You have gone out for the succor of your people,to give victory to your anointed;You have shattered head from wicked man’s house,baring foundation to neck; (Selah)
14 * You have pierced with his shafts the heads of his warriorscoming tempestuously to scatter me,Their exultation as if to eat upa wretch in concealment.
15 You have trod your ponies in the seathe clay of great waters.
16 *** I heard, and my body quivered,my lips purred aloud;Decay comes into my bones,my insteps quiver under me,I moan at a day of distressto come for a nation that raids us.
17 *** For fig-trees are bearing no fruitand nothing grows on the grapevine,Olive-trees’ work is disappointingand terraces are making no food,Sheep have disappeared from foldand there are no cattle in the stalls.
18 But I will glory in Jehovah,I will exult in my God of salvation;
19 The Lord Jehovah is my vigor,and makes my feet like a wild doe’sand makes me tread the heights.
(of the Director; with string accompaniment.)
Footnotes
^ 3:1 (end) Unc.; var. with string accompaniment
^ 3:2 Var. seen, Jehovah, your dealing
^ 3:2 Var.* making yourself known
^ 3:4 Codd. And it is a radiance like light
^ 3:6 Var. halts, and measures earth
^ 3:6 Codd.* and makes nations flinch
^ 3:6-7 (The packtrains etc.) Susp.; codd. He has immemorial goings, under trouble I saw the homes of Cushan, the tents of the Midianite country are disquieted
^ 3:8 Codd. Is it with the rivers, Jehovah, or with the rivers you are angry, or is your wrath against the sea
^ 3:10 Var. peoples have seen Conj. the waters have seen
^ 3:10 Lit. the loftiness of its radiance Codd. Loftiness raises its hands; (11) the sun, the moon, stands still Var. The sun’s bright loftiness pauses, the moon stands still
^ 3:13 Var. shattered the heads of wicked men
^ 3:13-15 (baring . . . sea) the nakedness of their parties is fleeting; you have pierced his neck with your shafts, potentates’ heads go flying. To hurl an overweening man from his foothold, to bring his mockery to an end in obscurity, your ponies tread the sea
^ 3:13 Conj. rock
^ 3:14 (coming tempestuously) Unc.
^ 3:16 (insteps) Unc.
^ 3:16 (my . . . moan) Codd. I quiver where I stand, that I rest
^ 3:16 (raids us) Unc.
^ 3:17 Var. bearing no shoots
^ 3:17 Or Olive-tree work
^ 3:17 Codd. lit. One has cut away sheep from fold
