LHC Midday Word

Monday, 28 September 2026

The Book of HABAKKUK - Chapter One

1
The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

2
How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’
    but you do not save?
3
Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4
Therefore the law is paralysed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.
5
‘Look at the nations and watch –
    and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.
6
I am raising up the Babylonians,
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
    to seize dwellings not their own.
7
They are a feared and dreaded people;
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honour.
8
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
9
    they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners like sand.
10
They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11
Then they sweep past like the wind and go on –
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.’
12
Lord, are you not from everlasting?
    My God, my Holy One, you will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
13
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14
You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15
The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
    he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his drag-net;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.
16
Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense to his drag-net,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.
17
Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?

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READINGS

The Book of HABAKKUK

Chapter One

Read by Sir David Suchet

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OVERVIEW

The Book of HABAKKUK

- Overview -

The Bible Project

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STUDY - LINKS

The Book of HABAKKUK

David Pawson

https://youtu.be/lGYkZtGoXvs

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Are We There Yet? - Habakkuk 1:2-4

How Long and Why? Alistair Begg

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Sunday, 27 September 2026

The Book of JUDGES - Chapter Twenty One

1 The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: ‘Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjaminite.’

2 The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. 3 ‘Lord, God of Israel,’ they cried, ‘why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?’

4 Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

5 Then the Israelites asked, ‘Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the Lord?’ For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah was to be put to death.

6 Now the Israelites grieved for the tribe of Benjamin, their fellow Israelites. ‘Today one tribe is cut off from Israel,’ they said. 7 ‘How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?’ 8 Then they asked, ‘Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?’ They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. 9 For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.

10 So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. 11 ‘This is what you are to do,’ they said. ‘Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.’ 12 They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.

13 Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjaminites at the rock of Rimmon. 14 So the Benjaminites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.

15 The people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. 16 And the elders of the assembly said, ‘With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? 17 The Benjaminite survivors must have heirs,’ they said, ‘so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. 18 We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: “Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjaminite.” 19 But look, there is the annual festival of the Lord in Shiloh, which lies north of Bethel, east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.’

20 So they instructed the Benjaminites, saying, ‘Go and hide in the vineyards 21 and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. 22 When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, “Do us the favour of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give your daughters to them.”’

23 So that is what the Benjaminites did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.

24 At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.

25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

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READINGS

The Book of JUDGES

Chapter Twenty One

Read by Sir David Suchet