3:9 Your bow is ready for action;
you commission your arrows.
You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface.
3:10 When the mountains see you, they shake.
The torrential downpour sweeps through.
The great deep
it lifts its hands high.
3:11 The sun and moon stand still in their courses;
the flash of your arrows drives them away,
the bright light of your lightning-quick spear.
3:12 You furiously stomp on the earth,
you angrily trample down the nations.
3:13 You march out to deliver your people,
to deliver your special servant.
You strike the leader of the wicked nation,
laying him open from the lower body to the neck.
3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors
They storm forward to scatter us;
they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition.
3:15 But you trample on the sea with your horses,
on the surging, raging waters.
3:16 I listened and my stomach churned;
the sound made my lips quiver.
My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying,
and I shook as I tried to walk.
I long
to come upon
3:17 When
and there are no grapes on the vines;
when the olive trees do not produce,
and the fields yield no crops;
when the sheep disappear
and there are no cattle in the stalls,
3:18 I will rejoice because of
I will be happy because of the God who delivers me!
3:19 The sovereign Lord is my source of strength.
He gives me the agility of a deer;
he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain.
(This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)