The prayer of the prophet Habakkuk
1This is the prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet. The people must sing this as they sing the song of Shigionoth:
2‘Lord, I have heard people talking about You.
I honour You for everything that You have done.
But I ask you: Please do those things again,
and show us what You have done.
You are angry now,
but please be good to us again.
3God comes from the land of Teman.
The holy God comes from Mount Paran. Selah
Everything in heaven praises Him.
He is the King.
All the people on earth praise Him.
4The glory of God
shines around Him like a light.
It is as bright as the sun,
and from his hand comes lightning.
In his hand is a lot of power
that people can not see.
5Before He comes, people are sick,
and when He goes away,
they get diseases and they suffer.
6The earth trembles where He stands,
and the nations tremble where He is looking.
The mountains and the hills are very old,
but they break and fall down.
The Lord walks on them as He has always done.
7I see how the Lord punishes the Midianites,
the people living in tents in the land of Cush.
I see how afraid the people are in their tents
in the land of Midian.
8Lord, it seems that You are angry
with the rivers and the sea
because You come on the clouds.
They are your horses and your war-chariots.
You come to defeat your enemies.
9You take out your bow
and you shoot your arrows.
The lightning is your arrows.
Lightning strikes where You tell it to go. Selah
Then the rain falls down
and the rivers cut the earth.
10The mountains look at You and they tremble.
The streams of water flow away.
The sea makes a loud_noise
and its waves are getting big.
11The lightning is your arrows
and your spears.
When the lightning strikes,
the sun and the moon stand still.
12You are angry, and You come down to earth.
You are angry with the nations
and You come to punish them.
13You come to save your people
and the king that You have anointed.
You kill the leader of the bad people
and You break down their homes completely. Selah
14The soldiers of the enemies
are running to us,
and they want to chase us away,
but You kill their leader with his own spear.
They thought your people were weak.
They thought they could easily catch us
and kill us where no one could see them.
They have already started to rejoice.
15When you ride over the sea on your horses,
the water makes a loud_noise.
The clouds are your horses.
16I have heard it and I am afraid.
My lips tremble, my body becomes weak,
and my legs start to shake.
I keep quiet and I wait for the day to come.
I wait for the day
when those people will also suffer,
because they made war_against us.
17Even if the fig trees have no flower-buds,
and there are no grapes on the vines,
even if there are no olives
and we do not have any wheat
in our wheat_fields,
even if the enemies have taken our sheep
and goats from our kraals
and there are no cattle in the stables,
18even if all these things happen,
I will still be happy. I will rejoice
because of the things that God does.
He is the God who saves me.
19The Lord makes me strong.
He helps me to walk safely
over high mountains,
as easily as a deer walks there.’
You must play the lyre and sing this song.
