1 A PRAYER of Habakkuk the prophet:

2 O LORD, I have heard thy name and am afraid. O LORD, thy works are in the midst of the years of life, in the midst of years they shall be known; in wrath remember thy mercy.

3 God came from the south, and the Holy One from mount Paran. The heavens were covered with the brightness of his glory, and the earth was full of his praise.

4 And his brightness was as the light; in the city which his hands had established shall he store his power.

5 Before him went pestilence, and birds went forth before his feet.

6 He stood and measured the earth; he beheld and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the eternal hills were brought low; his ways are everlasting.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; and the curtains of the tents of Midian did tremble.

8 Was the LORD angry against the rivers? Was thy anger against the rivers? Was thy rage against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thy horses and upon the chariots of thy salvation?

9 Thy bow was made ready, the arrows were abundant at the command of thy glorious word. Thou didst furrow the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains saw thee and they quaked; the downpour of the waters passed by; the deep uttered its voice and lifted up its hands on high.

11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitations; at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spears.

12 Thou didst tread upon the earth in thy indignation, thou didst thresh the nations in thine anger.

13 Thou wentest forth to save thy people and to save thine anointed; thou didst cut off the head out of the house of the wicked, thou hast laid him bare from his foundations even to the neck for ever.

14 Thou didst break with his own staves the heads of his princes; for they trusted in their savagery to devour the poor secretly.

15 Thou didst tread upon the sea with thy horses, through the heap of great waters.

16 When I heard it, my body trembled, confusing the words of my mouth; fear entered into my bones and my knees trembled, for he searched me out and declared to me the day of trouble that comes upon the people.

17 Though the fig tree has not blossomed and there are no leaves on the vine, though the produce of the olive tree has failed, the threshing-floors have not yielded grain, the sheep are cut off from the flocks, and there are no oxen in the herd;

18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, and I will joy in the God my Saviour.

19 The LORD God is my strength, for he has made my feet like hinds' feet, and made me stand on my high places that I may sing his praise.