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This file was generated by Descript 

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Nancy: Welcome to immerse: the
daily bible reading experience.

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day 200 and 60

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immersed in Habakkuk.

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Habakkuk lived around the same time as
NAMM in the period when the Babylonian

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empire was gaining ascendancy over.

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The Assyrians we're told nothing
explicitly about the prophet

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himself, but we do have some
intriguing clues about his identity.

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The contents of the Book of Habakkuk
are presented in a unique style, quite

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different from the other prophetic books.

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Rather than bringing a message
from God to the people, Habakkuk

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engages in a dialogue with God.

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He also includes a song
complete with musical notations.

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His opening complaint to God resembles
the opening of a lament Psalm, a

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literary form used by God's people.

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Especially after the exile
to express deep sorrow.

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As the book opens, Habakkuk
is identified as a prophet.

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At that time, the term prophet
could be applied to certain

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Levites who served in the temple.

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They were responsible to proclaim
God's messages to the accompaniment

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of liars, harps, and symbols.

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As Chronicles puts it, given the character
of his compositions and his identifying

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title, Habakkuk May well have been
one of the Levite temple musicians.

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We get a further suggestion of this
when he ends his dialogue with God by

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accepting the difficult things he's heard.

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The Lord is in his holy temple.

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Let all the earth be silent before him.

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This could indicate the prophets
close ties to the temple and that his

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messages were spoken and recorded.

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There.

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Habakkuk begins by complaining
that the people of Judah.

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Are using their reprieve from Assyrian
domination to engage in renewed injustice

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and violence against the vulnerable.

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God responds that as a consequence,
he will soon allow the Babylonians

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to subjugate the kingdom of Judah.

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But Habakkuk protests that the Babylonians
are just as cruel and idolatrous as the

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Assyrians and far worse than the people
of Judah whom God is about to judge.

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The prophet asks.

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Should you be silent while
the wicked swallow up?

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People more righteous than they.

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God assures Habakkuk that the Babylonians
of themselves will be judged and

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punished for their own sins in due time.

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This vision is for a future time.

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It describes the end and
it will be fulfilled.

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If it seems slow in coming.

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Wait patiently for
it'll surely take place.

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The Lord then announces a series
of woes against the Babylonians.

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Five times God promises that
sorrow awaits them for their

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violence, extortion, and idolatry.

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In response, Habakkuk quietly and
confidently accepts what God has

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said and then composes a song.

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In the song, he first reviews
God's past deeds of deliverance.

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He portrays these in terms of a
theophany, a description of God

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coming down to earth in great power.

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A literary device also
found in many of the Psalms.

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Even though all seems lost at the
moment, the history of God's previous

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demonstrations of mercy brings hope.

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Habakkuk sings of what the Lord has
already done, resting in the knowledge

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of the redemption that is surely coming
again, I have heard all about you.

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Lord.

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I am filled with awe by your amazing
works in this time of our deep need.

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Help us again, as you did in years Gone by

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the Prophet Habakkuk.

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This is the message that the prophet
Habakkuk received in a vision.

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How long, oh Lord must I call
for help, but you do not listen.

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Violence is everywhere.

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I cry, but you do not come to save.

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Must I forever see these evil deeds?

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Why must I watch all this misery?

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Wherever I look, I see
destruction and violence.

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I'm surrounded by people
who love to argue and fight.

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The law has become paralyzed and
there is no justice in the courts.

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The wicked, far outnumber the righteous,
so that justice has become perverted.

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The Lord replied, look
around at the nations.

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Look and be amazed for I am
doing something in your own day,

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something you wouldn't believe
even if someone told you about it.

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I am raising up the Babylonians,
a cruel and violent people.

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They will march across the
world and conquer other lands.

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They are notorious for their
cruelty and do whatever they like.

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Their horses are swifter than cheetahs
and fiercer than wolves at dusk.

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Their chariot tears charge from
far away like eagles, they swoop

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down to devour their prey on.

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They come all bent on violence.

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Their hoards advance like a desert wind
sweeping captives ahead of them like sand.

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They scoff at kings and princes
and scorn all their fortresses.

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They simply pile ramps of earth
against their walls and capture them.

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They sweep past like
the wind and are gone.

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They are deeply guilty for
their own strength is their God.

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Oh Lord, my God, my holy one.

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You who are eternal.

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Surely you do not plan to wipe us out.

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Oh Lord, our rock.

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You have sent these Babylonians to
correct us, to punish us for our

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many sins, but you are pure and
cannot stand the sight of evil.

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Will you Wink at their treachery.

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Should you be silent while
the wicked swallow up people

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more righteous than they are.

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We only fish to be caught and killed.

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Are we only sea creatures
that have no leader?

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Must we be strung up on their
hooks and caught in their nets

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while they rejoice and celebrate?

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Then they will worship their nets
and burn incense in front of them.

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These nets are the gods
who have made us rich.

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They will claim.

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Will you let them get
away with this forever?

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Will they succeed forever in
their heartless conquests?

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I will climb up to my watchtower
and stand at my guard post there.

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I will wait to see what the Lord says
and how he will answer my complaint.

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Then the Lord said to me, write my answer
plainly on tablets so that a runner can

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carry the correct message to others.

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This vision is for a future time.

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It describes the end and
it will be fulfilled.

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If it seems slow in coming, wait
patiently for it will surely take place.

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It will not be delayed.

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Look at the proud.

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They trust in themselves and their
lives are crooked, but the righteous

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will live by their faithfulness to God.

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Wealth is treacherous and the
arrogant are never at rest.

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They open their mouths as wide
as the grave and like death.

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They are never satisfied in their greed.

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They have gathered up many nations
and swallowed many peoples, but

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soon their captives will taunt them.

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They will mock them, saying, what?

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Sorrow awaits you.

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Thieves.

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Now you will get what you deserve.

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You've become rich by extortion.

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But how much longer can this go on?

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Suddenly your debtors will take action.

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They will turn on you and
take all you have while you

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stand trembling and helpless.

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Because you have plundered many nations,
now all the survivors will plunder you.

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You committed murder throughout
the countryside and filled

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the towns with violence.

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What sorrow awaits you, who build big
houses with money gained dishonestly.

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You believe your wealth will buy security.

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Putting your family's nest beyond
the reach of danger, but by the

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murders you committed, you have shamed
your name and forfeited your lives.

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The very stones in the
walls cry out against you.

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And the beams in the
ceilings echo the complaint.

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What sorrow awaits you?

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Who builds cities with money gained
through murder and corruption?

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Has not the Lord of heaven's
armies promised that the wealth

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of nations will turn to ashes.

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They work so hard, but all in vain,
for as the waters fill the sea,

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the earth will be filled with an
awareness of the glory of the Lord.

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What sorrow awaits you who make
your neighbors drunk, you force

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your cup on them so you can gloat
over their shameful nakedness.

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But soon it will be your
turn to be disgraced.

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Come drink and be exposed.

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Drink from the cup of the
Lord's judgment and all your

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glory will be turned to shame.

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You cut down the forests of Lebanon.

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Now you will be cut down.

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You destroyed the wild animals,
so now their terror will be yours.

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You committed murder throughout
the countryside and filled

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the towns with violence.

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What good is an idol carved by man
or a cast image that deceives you?

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How foolish to trust in your own creation?

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A God that can't even talk.

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What sorrow awaits you?

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Who say to wooden idols, wake up and
save us to speechless, stoned images.

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You say, rise up and teach us.

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Can an idol tell you what to do?

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They may be overlaid with gold and
silver, but they are lifeless inside.

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But the Lord is in his holy temple.

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Let all the earth be silent before him.

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This prayer was sung by
the prophet Habakkuk.

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I have heard all about you.

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Lord, I am filled with
awe by your amazing works.

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In this time of our deep need.

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Help us again as you did in
years gone by and in your anger.

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Remember your mercy.

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I see God moving across the
deserts from Eden, the Holy

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one coming from Mount Paren.

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His brilliant splendor fills the heavens
and the earth is filled with his praise.

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His coming is as brilliant as the
sunrise rays of light flash from his

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hands where his awesome power is hidden.

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Pestilence marches before him.

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Plague follows close behind.

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When he stops the earth shakes.

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When he looks the nations tremble,
he shatters the everlasting mountains

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and levels the eternal hills.

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He is the eternal one.

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I see the people of cushion
in distress and the nation of

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Midian trembling in terror.

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Was it in anger, Lord, that you
struck the rivers and parted the sea?

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Were you displeased with them?

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No, you were sending your
chariots of salvation.

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You brandished your bow
and your quiver of arrows.

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You split open the earth
with flowing rivers.

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The mountains watched and trembled
onward swept the raging waters.

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The mighty deep cried out
lifting its hands in submission.

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The sun and moon stood still in the
sky as your brilliant arrows flew

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and your glittering spear flashed.

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You marched across the land in anger
and trampled the nations in your fury.

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You went out to rescue your chosen
people to save your anointed ones.

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You crushed the heads of the wicked
and stripped their bones from

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head to toe with his own weapons.

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You destroyed the chief of those
who rushed out like a whirlwind

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thinking Israel would be easy prey.

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You trampled the sea with your horses
and the mighty waters piled high.

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I trembled inside when I heard this.

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My lips quivered with fear.

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My legs gave way beneath me and I shook In
terror, I will wait quietly for the coming

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day when disaster will strike The people
who invade us, even though the fig trees

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have no blossoms and there are no grapes
on the vines, even though the olive crop

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fails and the fields lie empty and barren.

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Even though the flocks die in the
fields and the cattle barns are

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empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

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I will be joyful in the
God of my salvation.

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The sovereign Lord is my strength.

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He makes me as surefooted as
a deer able to tread upon the

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heights for the choir director.

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This prayer is to be accompanied
by stringed instruments.

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This concludes today's
Immerse Reading experience.

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Thank you for joining us.