The Expressiveness of Devout Silence
Habakkuk 2:20
But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.


Addison professes to have been wonderfully delighted with a masterpiece of music, when in the very tumult and ferment of their harmony all the voices and instruments have stopped short on a sudden, and after a little pause recovered themselves again as it were, and renewed the concert in all its parts. "Methought this short interval of silence has had more music in it than any one same space of time before or after it." And he goes on to cite from Homer and from Virgil two instances of silence, "which have something in them as sublime as any of the speeches in their whole works."

(Francis Jacox.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

WEB: But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!"




Silence in the Temple
Top of Page
Top of Page