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A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk according to Shigionoth.

The Prophet’s Prayer

O L ord, I have heard of your renown,

and I stand in awe, O L ord, of your work.

In our own time revive it;

in our own time make it known;

in wrath may you remember mercy.

God came from Teman,

the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah

His glory covered the heavens,

and the earth was full of his praise.

The brightness was like the sun;

rays came forth from his hand,

where his power lay hidden.

Before him went pestilence,

and plague followed close behind.

He stopped and shook the earth;

he looked and made the nations tremble.

The eternal mountains were shattered;

along his ancient pathways

the everlasting hills sank low.

I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction;

the tent-curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

Was your wrath against the rivers, O L ord?

Or your anger against the rivers,

or your rage against the sea,

when you drove your horses,

your chariots to victory?

You brandished your naked bow,

sated were the arrows at your command. Selah

You split the earth with rivers.

The mountains saw you, and writhed;

a torrent of water swept by;

the deep gave forth its voice.

The sun raised high its hands;

the moon stood still in its exalted place,

at the light of your arrows speeding by,

at the gleam of your flashing spear.

In fury you trod the earth,

in anger you trampled nations.

You came forth to save your people,

to save your anointed.

You crushed the head of the wicked house,

laying it bare from foundation to roof. Selah

You pierced with their own arrows the head of his warriors,

who came like a whirlwind to scatter us,

gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding.

You trampled the sea with your horses,

churning the mighty waters.

I hear, and I tremble within;

my lips quiver at the sound.

Rottenness enters into my bones,

and my steps tremble beneath me.

I wait quietly for the day of calamity

to come upon the people who attack us.

Trust and Joy in the Midst of Trouble

Though the fig tree does not blossom,

and no fruit is on the vines;

though the produce of the olive fails,

and the fields yield no food;

though the flock is cut off from the fold,

and there is no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the L ord;

I will exult in the God of my salvation.

G od, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

and makes me tread upon the heights.

To the leader: with stringed instruments.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

At the beginning of this verse the Prophet pursues the same subject—that God had wounded all the enemies of his people; and he says that the head of villages or towns had been wounded, though some think that פרזים, perezim, mean rather the inhabitants of towns; for the Hebrews call fortified towns or villages פרזות, perezut, and the word is commonly found in the feminine gender; but as it is here a masculine noun, it is thought that it means the inhabitants. At the same time this does not much affect the subject; for the Prophet simply means, that not only things had been overthrown by God’s hand, but also all the provinces under their authority; as though he had said that God’s vengeance, when his purpose was to defend his people, advanced through all the villages and through every region, so that not a corner was safe. ⁶²⁶² The Keri and many MSS. read [פרזיו], “his villages;” but there is no need of this change, for the singular is used throughout instead of the plural, until we come to the two following lines; and this proves that the singular is to be taken in a collective sense. Henderson renders it “captains,” contrary to the meaning of the word in other parts. It means an open unfortified village, as it were scattered, and without any boundaries.—Ed. But we must also notice what follows—with his rods. The Prophet means that the wicked had been smitten by their own sword. Though the word rods is put here, it is yet to be taken for all kinds of instruments or weapons; it is the same as though it was said that they had been wounded by their own hands. ⁶³⁶³ Newcome and some others, without any authority, read “thy rod;” but conjecture, without some solid reason, cannot be allowed.—Ed.

We now perceive the import of this clause—that God not only put forth his strength when he purposed to crush the enemies of his people, but that he had also smitten them with infatuation and madness, so that they destroyed themselves by their own hands. And this was done, as in the case of the Midianites, who, either by turning their swords against one another, fell by mutual wounds, or by slaying themselves, perished by their own hands. (Judges 7:2.) We indeed often read of the wicked that they ensnared themselves, fell into the pit which they had made, and, in short, perished through their own artifices; and the Prophet says here that the enemies of the Church had fallen, through God’s singular kindness, though no one rose up against them; for they had transfixed or wounded themselves by their own staff. Some read—“Thou hast cursed his sceptres and the head of his villages;” but the interpretation which I have given is much more appropriate.

He adds, that they came like a whirlwind. It is indeed a verb in the future tense; but the sentence must be thus rendered—“When they rushed as a whirlwind to cast me down, when their exultation was to devour the poor in their hiding-places.” It is indeed only a single verb, but it comes from סער, sor, which means a whirlwind, and we cannot render it otherwise than by a paraphrase. They rushed, he says, like a whirlwind. The Prophet here enlarges on the subject of God’s power, for he had checked the enemies of his people when they rushed on with so much impetuosity. Had their advance been slow God might have frustrated their attempts without a miracle, but as their own madness rendered them precipitate, and made them to be like a whirlwind, God’s power was more clearly known in restraining such violence. We now understand the import of what is here said; for the Prophet’s special object is not to complain of the violent and impetuous rage of enemies, but to exalt the power of God in checking the violent assaults of those enemies whom he saw raging against his people.

He subjoins, their exultation was to devour the poor. He intimates that there was nothing in the world capable of resisting the wicked, had not God brought miraculous help from heaven; for when they came to devour the poor, they came not to wage war, but to devour the prey like wild beasts. Then he says, to devour the poor in secret. He means, that the people of God had no strength to resist, except help beyond all hope came from heaven. ⁶⁴⁶⁴     “To devour the poor in secret,” seems to have an allusion to the practice of wild beasts, who take their prey to their dens to devour it there. The poor her, as in many other places, mean the helpless, such as are destitute of aid or power to resist their enemies. The line may be thus rendered—
   Their joy was, as it were, to devour the helpless in secret.
   —Ed.

The import of the whole is—that when the miserable Israelites were without any protection, and exposed to the rage and cruelty of their enemies, they had been miraculously helped; for the Lord destroyed their enemies by their own swords; and that when they came, as it were to enjoy a victory, to take the prey, they were laid prostrate by the hand of God: hence his power shone forth more brightly. It follows—

⁶² The Keri and many MSS. read [פרזיו], “his villages;” but there is no need of this change, for the singular is used throughout instead of the plural, until we come to the two following lines; and this proves that the singular is to be taken in a collective sense. Henderson renders it “captains,” contrary to the meaning of the word in other parts. It means an open unfortified village, as it were scattered, and without any boundaries.—Ed.

⁶³ Newcome and some others, without any authority, read “thy rod;” but conjecture, without some solid reason, cannot be allowed.—Ed.

⁶⁴ “To devour the poor in secret,” seems to have an allusion to the practice of wild beasts, who take their prey to their dens to devour it there. The poor her, as in many other places, mean the helpless, such as are destitute of aid or power to resist their enemies. The line may be thus rendered— Their joy was, as it were, to devour the helpless in secret. —Ed.