Emmanuel Reformed Church of the United Church of Christ

Habakkuk, Selected Verses:

The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

² O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?
³ Why do you make me see wrongdoing
    and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
⁴ So the law becomes slack
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous—
    therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

I will stand at my watchpost,
    and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
    and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

² Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
    make it plain on tablets,
    so that a runner may read it.
³ For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
    it speaks of theend, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
    it will surely come, it will not delay.
⁴ Look at the proud!
    Their spirit is not right in them,
    but the righteous live by their faith.

God’s glory covered the heavens,
    and the earth was full of his praise.
⁴ The brightness was like the sun;
    rays came forth from his hand,
    where his powerlay hidden.
⁵ Before him went pestilence,
    and plague followed close behind.
⁶ 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.

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
    and no fruit ison 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,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will exult in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    and makes me tread upon the heights.