~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ ~~~~~~1~~~~~ The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld. How long, O Yahweh, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see wickedness And cause me to look on trouble? Indeed, devastation and violence are before me; And there is strife, and contention is lifted up. Therefore the law is ignored, And justice never comes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes forth perverted. “See among the nations! And look! Be also astonished! Be astounded! Because I am doing something in your days— You would not believe if it was recounted to you. “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That bitter and hasty nation Who walks on the breadth of the land To possess dwelling places which are not theirs. “They are dreaded and feared; Their justice and exaltation come forth from themselves. “Their horses are swifter than leopards And sharper than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping; Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour. “All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. And they gather captives like sand. “And they mock at kings, And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress And heap up dirt and capture it. “Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, They whose power is their god.” Are You not from everlasting, O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Yahweh, have placed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to reprove. Your eyes are too pure to see evil, And You cannot look on trouble. Why do You look On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they? And You have made men like the fish of the sea, Like creeping things without a ruler over them. The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, Drag them away with their net, And gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore they are glad and rejoice. Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net And burn incense to their fishing net Because through these things their portion is rich And their food is fat. Will they therefore empty their net And continually kill nations without sparing?

~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ ~~~~~~2~~~~~ I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the fortification; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me And how I may respond when I am reproved. Then Yahweh answered me and said, “Write down the vision And write it on tablets distinctly, That the one who reads it may run. “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It pants toward its end, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come; it will not delay. “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith. “And indeed, wine betrays the haughty man So that he does not stay at home. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, And he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all nations And assembles to himself all peoples. “Will not all of these lift up a taunt-song against him, Even satire and riddles against him And say, ‘Woe to him who increases what is not his— For how long— And makes himself rich with loans?’ “Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, And those who make you tremble awaken? Indeed, you will become spoil for them. “Because you have taken many nations as spoil, All that is left of the peoples will take you as spoil— Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants. “Woe to him who is greedy for evil gain for his house To put his nest on high, To be delivered from the hand of evil! “You have counseled a shameful thing for your house By cutting off many peoples; So you are sinning against your own soul. “Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, And the rafter will answer it from the framework. “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed And founds a town with injustice! “Is it not, behold, from Yahweh of hosts That peoples toil for fire, And nations grow weary for nothing? “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, As the waters cover the sea. “Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk So as to look on their nakedness! “You will be filled with disgrace rather than glory. Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness. The cup in Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, And utter disgrace will come upon your glory. “For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, And the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them, Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants. “What profit is the graven image when its maker has engraved it, Or a molten image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own making When he fashions speechless idols. “Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, And there is no breath at all inside it. “But Yahweh is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”

~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ ~~~~~~3~~~~~ A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. O Yahweh, I have heard the report about You, and I fear. O Yahweh, revive Your work in the midst of the years; In the midst of the years make it known; In rage remember compassion. God comes from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens, And the earth is full of His praise. His brightness is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, And there is the hiding of His strength. Before Him goes pestilence, And plague comes after Him. He stood and measured out the earth; He looked and startled the nations. So the perpetual mountains were shattered; The ancient hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of Cushan under wickedness; The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling. Did Yahweh’s fury burn against the rivers, Or was Your anger against the rivers, Or was Your wrath against the sea, That You rode on Your horses, On Your chariots of salvation? Your bow was made bare; Rods were sworn unto battle by word. Selah. You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw You and writhed; The downpour of waters passed by. The deep gave forth its voice; It lifted high its hands. Sun and moon stood in their lofty places; They went away at the light of Your arrows, At the brightness of Your flashing spear. In indignation You marched through the earth; In anger You trampled the nations. You went forth for the salvation of Your people, For salvation with Your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked To lay him bare from thigh to neck. Selah. You pierced with his own sharpened rods The head of his throngs. They stormed in to scatter us; Their exultation was like those Who devour the afflicted in secret. You tread on the sea with Your horses, On the surge of many waters. I heard, and my inward parts trembled; At the sound my lips tingled. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no produce on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields yield no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength, And He has set my feet like hinds’ feet And makes me tread on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.
