Habakkuk's Divine Colloquy Poem by Robert Pettit

“Oh Lord, I’ve requested your help in all this wrongness.
You’ve not answered me; the people are in great distress.
Are we to suffer for destruction with tolerance?
Why do you not intervene to cease this violence?
Justice for the righteous appears to be doomed to fail.
Will you allow our wicked enemies to prevail? ”
Following what appeared to be a long time passage,
Habakkuk received his awaited divine message:

Judah’s strong enemies will encroach upon the land.
They will plunder and overwhelm those taking a stand.
The Babylonians are conquerors so ruthless.
They sweep across the earth, and are quite impetuous.
Pretentious as the violent strong people they are;
Their cavalry swifter than leopards comes from afar.
They’ve captured cities, and shown derisiveness to kings.
“They’ll take people away as you shall see all these things.”

“Oh Lord, My God, Holy One; are you everlasting?
With evil, why are you silent and tolerating?
Men are like fishes in the sea being caught in nets.
They’re victimized by an enemy with no regrets.”
I shall wait on the ramparts for God’s answer to me.
I’m quite curious about what His response will be.

Habakkuk was then addressed by the Lord in this way:
“Write down plainly on tablets these words that I must say:
My revelation of an inevitable day,
it will prove to be truthful and without a delay.
The righteous by their unyielding faith will stay alive.
Those who are greedy and arrogant will not survive.
They will drink, and like death, will never be satisfied.
The conquered will rise, and the masters will be defied.
Those who’ve plundered in turn shall lose all that they’ve gained.
The haughty in reciprocation will be disdained.
The very stones within the walls will echo the sound,
The wood from the rafters speaking of it will abound.
To those who’ve provided pain to others without thought,
it will soon be their time when they will become distraught.
What value has an idol as either wood or stone?
If covered with gold and silver, it still can’t be shown
to speak to men, and provide guidance to everyone.
The Lord’s in His holy temple. His will shall be done.”

Lord God, I’ve heard of Your fame and your deeds; I now see!
Please renew them to us, and grant us Your great mercy.
The Holy One comes from Teman and Mount Paran.
His praise fills the earth and His glory covers heaven.
His splendor has shown like the sun rising in the sky.
His power is hidden from His hand; it will flash high.
Plague comes, pestilence follows, all other ills also.
The earth shakes, the mountains crumble. Everything would go.
As they all were distressed, I saw the tents in Cushan,
all in anguish, each of the dwellings in Midian.
Do the rivers, streams, and seas incur your resentment?
The mountains collapsing due to Your discontentment?
Torrents of high water rush by at Your command,
while shooting those arrows at the heavens and the land.
With Your anger, You’ll thresh this belligerent nation;
put his own spear through his head in retaliation.
As the enemy approaches, I’ll hear my heart pound.
The bones in my legs will quiver as I hear the sound.
The enemy will no longer have strength to display.
I will wait patiently here to see the final day.
As no crops grow, and no grapes are growing on the vine,
My Lord God shall be my strength, for I have seen the sign.