The Prophet's Prayer

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet,

on Shigionoth.

O 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.

God came fromm Teman,

The Holy One from Mount Paran.

His glory covered the heavens,

And the earth was full of His praise.

His brightness was like the light;

He had rays flashing from His hand,

And there His power was hidden.

Before Him went pestilence,

And fever followed at His feet.

He stood and measured the earth;

He looked and starled the nations.

And the everlasting mountains were 

scattered,

The perpetual hills bowed.

His ways are everlasting.

I saw the tents of Cushan in 

affliction;

The curtains of the land of Midian

trembled.

O 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?

Your bow was made quite ready;

Oaths were sworn over Your 

arrows.

You divided the earth with rivers.

The mountains saw You and

trembled;

The overflowing of the water passed by.

The deep uttered its voice,

And lifted its hands on high.

The sun and moon stood still in

their habitation;

At the light of Your arrows they

went,

At the shining of Your glittering spear.

You marched through the land in 

indignation;

You trampled the nations in anger.

You 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.

You trust through with his own arrows

The head of his villages.

They came out like a whirlwind to

scatter me;

Their rejoice was like feasting on

the poor in secret.

You walked through the sea with

Your horses,

Through the heap of great waters.

When I heard, my 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.