PSALM CHAPTER 23 - 33

PSALM 23

1 A Psalm of David. YHWH is my shepherd, I
Shall never be in need. 2 He makes me to lie
Down in green pastures, He leads me beside still
Waters. 3 He restores my soul, and without chill
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for
His name’s sake. 4 Indeed, though I walk on before
Through the valley and through the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for You give me breath,
Your rod and staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare
A table before me in the presence where
Are my enemies, You pour oil on my head,
My cup is overflowing. 6 As I am led
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life, and so I shall be
Living in the house of YHWH forever free.

Your house is made of Psalms sung by the likes
Of me. I give You only breath in spikes,
While You give me a place to rest and feed,
Deep waters and whatever I may need.
You give me paths of divine law and more,
You take me there and back from death’s bare shore.
You guide with comfort, and You give both meat
And drink in safety from the brawling street.
The oil of mercy and the cup of good
Accompany my footsteps where they should.
All these and more make up the palace where
I live on earth below the gates of air.
All these I need to make a home, but You
Are satisfied to live where I say YHWH.

You are a shepherd, if David’s bright words
Have weight against a morning filled with light
Winging upon a sky after the night
Has turned from silence to the voice of birds.
Many are those shepherds of flocks and herds
You send out on the barren hills to fight
Sometimes for danger, sometimes for the right,
But always in bare boredom on the sherds.
“Effendim” said the man who kept the sheep,
Piling flatbread with succulent cold meat.
Hours on the hillside and I knew his song.
Everywhere such are bottom of the heap,
Robbed of the right to read, unseen to greet.
Do You look like a shepherd to the throng?

PSALM 24

1 A Psalm of David. The earth’s YHWH’s,
And all its fullness, world and those
Who live there. 2 For He’s founded it
Upon the seas, and made to sit
Upon the waters. 3 Who may go
Up to the hill of YHWH? Or who
May stand in His holy place? 4 He
Who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his part
To idol, sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive blessing from YHWH,
And righteousness from the God true
Of his salvation. 6 This is Jacob,
The generation who will wake up
To seek Him, and who seek Your face.
7 Be raising up your tops, you gates!
Be lifted up, eternal doors!
The King of glory who awaits
Shall enter in the corridors.
8 Who is this King of glory? YHWH
Strong and mighty, the mighty YHWH
In battle. 9 Be lifting your tops,
O you gates! Lift up where it drops
The everlasting doors! The King
Of glory shall come in and sing.
10 Who is this King of glory? YHWH
Of hosts, He’s King of glory true.

I come with hands washed clean in that ablution
That prophets’ long have taught for distribution
To faithful and untried. I bring my prayer
To temple and to throne in gate of air
In lawful and appropriate prostration.
My literal and humble soul and nation
Do not distinguish from the spirit act,
But follow and perform the simple fact.
And You, Beloved, draw near to such as I,
Once they have lifted not the hand to sky
Nor idol for Your name, nor sworn to do
And failed to carry out the sworn and true.
And so I pray You enter in the door
Where I bow down with forehead on the floor.

PSALM 25

1 A Psalm of David. To You, YHWH,
I lift up my soul, 2 Trust in You,
My Ælohim let me not be
Ashamed, let not my enemy
Triumph over me. 3 Indeed, let
None waiting on You be ashamed,
Let those be ashamed and be blamed
Who deal treacherously no fret.
4 Show me Your ways, O YHWH, teach me
Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth free
And teach me, for You are the God
Of my salvation, on Your rod
I wait all day. 6 Remember, YHWH,
The tender mercies that You do
And Your lovingkindnesses, for
They are from of old and from yore.

Remember, if You will, Beloved, and note
The times when my heart twined with Yours to dote
On You alone. Remember, if You will,
Or mind not those times on the darkly hill
When I forgot to glory in You still.
My youth is filled with days forgetful and
With actions that I should never have planned,
And yet my breath from birth has always caught
Your sacred Name without having been taught.
You are alone my teacher in the rude
And simple way I walk without a brood.
And yet I find with memory or not
Your guidance is a thing so starkly wrought
That it serves as my only drink and food.

7 Do not remember youthful sins
Of my days and their outs and ins,
Nor my transgressions, bear in mind
Me by Your mercy unconfined,
And for Your goodness’ sake, O YHWH.
8 For righteous and upright is YHWH,
He teaches sinners in the way.
9 The humble He guides every day
In justice, and the humble He
Teaches His way. 10 All the paths free
Of YHWH are mercy and truth, to
Such as keep His covenant true
And all of His testimonies.
11 For Your name’s sake, O YHWH, no please
Pardon my iniquity, for
It is great. 12 Who is the man more
Who fears YHWH? He’ll teach him the way
He chooses. 13 He shall live his day
As prosperous, and his descendants
Shall inherit the earthly pendants.
14 The secret of YHWH is with those
Who fear Him, it is He who shows
Them His covenant. 15 My eyes are
Always toward YHWH like a star,
For He shall pluck my feet from net.
16 Turn back to me, and on me set
Your mercy, for I’m desolate
And afflicted. 17 The troubled state
Of my heart is enlarged, bring me
Out of my distresses and free!
18 Look on my affliction and pain,
Forgive all my sins and their stain.
19 Consider my foes, they are many,
And they hate me cruelly with any
Hatred. 20 Keep my soul, and deliver,
Let me not be ashamed or quiver,
For I put all my trust in You.
21 Let my integrity and true
Uprightness preserve me, for I
Wait for You. 22 Redeem Israel nigh,
O Ælohim, from every sigh!

I merely wait in silence for Your word,
In my own silence is my spirit stirred.
Some think remembrance is to say Your name
Again and once again, always the same.
But Your remembrance is not speech of mine,
But divine speech beyond world and its sign.
The true remembrance is the word You speak
In mercy to the soul that comes to seek
Instruction in the way and turning round
To leave the evil act, and thought, and sound.
Remembrance is that You repeat my name,
Not that I whirl in gratifying game.
Remember me, Beloved, in mercy yet,
Perchance I also shall fail to forget.

PSALM 26

1 A Psalm of David. Judge me, YHWH,
For I have walked right before You.
I have also trusted in YHWH,
I shall not slip. 2 Examine me,
O YHWH, and prove me, try my mind
And heart. 3 For You are loving-kind
Before my eyes, and as You see
I have walked in Your truth not blind.
4 I’ve not sat with idolatrous,
Nor will I join with garrulous
Hypocrites. 5 I have hated the
Wicked and evil assembly,
And will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash hands of what I hid
In innocence, so I will walk
About Your altar, and not balk,
O YHWH, 7 and that I may proclaim
With grateful voice Your marvels’ fame.
8 YHWH, I have loved the habitation
Of Your house, and the place and station
Where dwells Your glory. 9 Do not gather
My soul with sinners, nor life rather
With bloodthirsty men, 10 in whose hands
Is a sinister scheme and bands,
And whose right hand is full of bribes.
11 But as for me, as love prescribes,
I’ll walk in my integrity,
Redeem, be merciful to me.
12 My foot stands in an even place,
And in the congregations’ trace,
I will bless YHWH etermally.

Since I do not sit with the wicked people,
Nor with the evildoers under steeple,
And since I do not enter hypocrites’
Mosque nor the synagogue where sinner sits,
And yet my soul, Beloved, adores Your house
Above the palaces of king and mouse,
Then show me congregations and the place,
The even place that spreads out from Your face.
I walk in my integrity, be sure,
But I find no church made up of the pure,
Unless it is the church where You alone
Stand to be worshipped, and not gold or stone.
To enter that place and its altar I
Give up myself and let my own will die.

PSALM 27

1 A Psalm of David. YHWH’s my light
And my salvation, whom in sight
Shall I fear? YHWH is my life’s strength,
Of whom shall be afraid at length?
2 When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh, enemy
And my foes stumbled, fell sadly.
3 Though armies encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear, though war should
Rise against me, in this one good
I will be confident. 4 One thing
I have desired for YHWH to bring,
That will I seek: that I may live
In house of YHWH no fugitive
All the days of my life, behold
The beauty of YHWH, things untold
To inquire in His temple. 5 For
In time of trouble He shall hide
Me in His pavilion and floor,
In His tent’s secret place He’ll bide
Me, He shall set me high upon
A rock. 6 And now my head withdrawn
Shall be uplifted above my
Enemies all around I spy,
Therefore I’ll offer sacrifice
Of joy in His pavilion’s spice,
I will sing, yes, I will sing praise
To YHWH forever and always.

Beloved, do not hide me within your tent!
I’m not an Arab wife who’s only meant
To be seen by her husband and her brother.
Do not hide me away to sink and smother!
First take away my vain desires to be
Known by the vagrant multitudes that see
Their idols swell and gyrate on the stage.
Free me first from such pride before the cage.
When I am hidden from myself at last
And known only to Your Self in the blast,
Then hide me in the darkened comfort of
Your private tent and sacred springs of love.
Beloved, once hidden, set me on Your rock
To view a grand horizon and take stock.

I inquire in Your temple with the word
Of Baqir hidden in my heart of bird,
The dove upon my bosom, and I wait
To let it fly out living for its mate.
Inquiring in the Hebrew turns at last
To splitting verdicts in the burning blast
Of questioning and doubting that You stand
Alone as Sovereign King in every land.
Beloved, I catch Muhammad Baqir’s hand
And race to find the better light to show
The way across the desert where I go.
Beloved, I catch the hand that bent the bow.
The temple sweeps above me in its glow,
And shines first gold, then crimson in its band.

7 Hear, YHWH, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also on my choice,
And answer me. 8 When You said, “Seek
My face,” my heart said from Your week,
“Your face, YHWH, I will seek.” 9 Do not
Hide Your face from me, and do not
Turn Your servant away in wrath,
You have been my help on the path,
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation free.
10 When my father and mother shall
Forsake me, then YHWH eternal
Will take me up. 11 Teach me Your way,
O YHWH, lead me in a smooth path,
Because of my enemies’ fray.
12 Do not deliver me to wrath
Of adversaries, false witness
Has risen on me to oppress,
And such as breathe out violence.
13 Lost I should be and without sense
Unless I had believed that I
Would see the goodness of YHWH by
The land of the living. 14 Wait on
YHWH, be of good courage at dawn,
And He shall strengthen your heart, wait,
I say, on YHWH, and not be late!

Some sink the hopeful sight on things past looking
For Your goodness once raised in what’s been cooking.
Some hope in worlds of justice to be fair
When mahdis and messiahs shall be there.
My strength and life is in my waiting now
To find Your face of goodness in the plough.
Who find You not instead of petty gain
And quarrel on the sunny side and rain,
Who find You not today shall seek in vain
Your footprints on earth’s yesterdays of pain,
Your healing balms tomorrow on the dole.
The path to death is long before the soul,
But path to You and life is just a point:
It’s now alone the graces can anoint.

PSALM 28

1 A Psalm of David. To You I
Will cry, O YHWH my Rock and tie:
Do not be silent to me, lest,
If You are silent to my rest,
I become like those who go down
To the pit. 2 Hear, beneath your crown,
My supplications’ voice when I
Cry to You, when I lift up my
Hands toward Your holy temple’s sway.
3 Don’t take me with wicked away,
With workers of iniquity,
Who speak peace to their neighbours free,
But evil’s in their hearts and hand.
4 Give them what their bad deeds demand,
According to the wickedness
Of their endeavours, come to bless
Them according to their hands’ work,
Render them their desert for shirk.
5 Because they don’t regard the work
Of YHWH, nor action of His hands,
He shall destroy them in their bands
And not build them up in their stands.
6 Blessed be YHWH, because He has heard
Voice of my supplications’ word!
7 YHWH is my strength, He is my shield,
My heart trusted in Him, appealed
To Him and I am helped, therefore
My heart greatly rejoices, for
With my song I will praise Him. 8 YHWH
Is their strength, and He is the crew
Of saving refuge of His own
Anointed. 9 Save Your people shown,
And bless Your inheritance, and
Shepherd them too, always in hand.

The Psalmist makes complaint that when You speak
The human ears hear not the sounds they seek.
Your silence is the problem in the show:
If You would speak more constantly, we’d know
That You are there to see, to judge, to aid.
Beloved, You need to go on flash parade.
If we could only hear You in the dark,
And understand Your message in the park,
If we could only have a radio
Transmission of Your music and tango,
Then we would be more likely to remember
To do what You tell us to in December.
You are too quiet for this age of brash,
You need to advertise, lay on the cash.

PSALM 29

1 A Psalm of David. Give to YHWH,
O you mighty ones, give to YHWH
Glory and strength. 2 Give unto YHWH
The glory that to His name’s due,
Worship YHWH in holy beauty.
3 The voice of YHWH thunderously
Sounds over the waters, glorious
God thunders, YHWH over the fuss
Of many waters. 4 Voice of YHWH
Is powerful in thunder true,
The voice of YHWH in majesty
Of His thunders sounded fully.
5 The voice of YHWH breaks cedars, yes,
YHWH splinters Lebanon’s address.
6 He makes them also skip like calf,
Lebanon and Sirion to laugh
Like young wild ox. 7 The voice of YHWH
Divides the flames of fire in crew.
8 The voice of YHWH shakes wilderness,
YHWH shakes in Kadesh wilderness.
9 The voice of YHWH makes deer bear young,
And strips the forests bare, and sung
In His temple all shout, “Glory!”
10 YHWH sat upon the flood to see,
And YHWH sits King eternally.
11 YHWH will give strength to His folk, YHWH
Will bless His folk with Islam’s dew.

O my Beloved, the faith that You have given
Needs not to leave a single soul unshriven.
The strength You gave to Adam was a joy
To labour on the earth and field, employ
His days and nights in cantillation of
Your holy names with obedience and love.
The covenant and blessing that you gave
To Abraham brought forth from being slave
The people working Egypt’s land for naught.
From Flood of earth to Red Sea’s flood were brought
The people of Your strength and blessing. Now
Beyond strength, blessing and salvation how
You cap the edifice of faith with peace!
In strength and blessing may it never cease.

PSALM 30

1 A Psalm. A Song at the dedication of the house of David.
Now I shall extol You, O YHWH,
For You have lifted me up true,
And have not let my foes rejoice
Over me with triumphant voice.
2 O YHWH my God, I cried to You,
And You healed me. 3 And so, O YHWH,
You brought my soul up from the grave,
You’ve kept me alive, that as slave
I should not go down to the pit.
4 Sing praise to YHWH, You saints most fit
Of His, and give thanks zikr held
Of His holy name unbeheld.
5 For His anger’s a moment brief,
His favour life in its relief,
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning light.
6 In my prosperity I said,
“I shall never be moved, though led.”
7 YHWH, by Your favour You have made
My mountain stand strong for my shade,
You hid Your face, I was distraught.
8 I cried out to You in my plot,
O YHWH, and to YHWH I have made
My supplication unafraid.

You hid Your face, and I was troubled, yet
You are not One, Belovèd, lightly met.
You hide Your face that I be led to cry
Allahu akbar, and repeating sigh
The heart full longing for my divine Friend,
My breath calls You and Huu and does not end.
Through weeping of a night I call Your name,
And morning joy is just more of the same.
Allahu akbar, You are greater far
Than all the round world’s joys and sorrows are.
My mountain stands from birth to death as firm
As life is fleeting, dogwood white in germ
Or red in autumn, oak and maple full,
Belovèd, You are greater miracle.

9 “What profit is there in my blood,
When I go down to the pit’s flood?
Will the dust praise You and declare
Your truth in hearing everywhere?
10 Hear, O YHWH, have mercy on me,
YHWH, be my helper faithfully!”
11 You’ve turned mourning to dance for me,
You’ve put off my sackcloth freely
And clothed me with gladness to be,
12 To the end that glory may sing
Praise to You and in silence ring.
O YHWH my God, to You I’ll give
Thanks always as long as I live.

Some people expect to rise in the air
As spirit beings when the body’s stair
Is cast aside. Beloved, that may be true
For all I know of nature in the crew.
Some people think the blood spilled on the ground
Is useful to the God or gods around
Who thirst for fleshly pots and when they get
The treat forgive the sins against those set
To be the victims of grief, greed and let.
Instead I lift a voice to cantillate
Your name and praise and Your divine estate,
And for the present reward stop and wait,
Expecting no more in the course of hope
For punishment or pay beyond this scope.

PSALM 31

1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
In You, O YHWH, I put my trust,
Let me not be ashamed in dust,
Deliver me in righteousness.
2 Bow down Your ear to my distress,
Deliver me quickly, and be
My rock of refuge, a fortress
Of my strong defence to save me.
3 For You are my rock and You are
My fortress, therefore, be not far
For Your name’s sake, lead me, guide me.
4 Pull me out of the net which they
Have secretly laid in my way,
For You are my strength day to day.
5 Into Your hand my spirit I
Commit, and though I groan and sigh,
You’ve redeemed me, YHWH God of truth.
6 I have hated whom without ruth
Regard vain idols, but I trust
In YHWH. 7 I will be glad and must
Rejoice in Your mercy, for You
Have considered my trouble, You
Have known my soul’s adversities,
8 And have not shut me in the hand
Of any of my enemies,
You’ve set my feet in a wide place,
And made me stand before Your face.

How many at the moment of their death,
When they see ending of the loan of breath,
Commend the spirit into Your hand till
You shall call back to life and at the spill
They must return to that one face that’s set
Divinely for all creatures to have met.
How many at that moment quote the word
Of commendation with a heart that’s stirred!
Beloved, let me say the word now though I
Perceive no end of life that has come by.
Around me I see only life and health,
The gathering of morning’s gold in wealth,
The soft return of evening in its stealth,
Yet I commend my spirit to Your net.

9 Have mercy on me, YHWH, for I
Am in distress, and so my eye
Wastes away with grief, yes, my soul
And my body! 10 For my life whole
Is spent with grief, and my years sighing,
My strength fails because I am dying
In my iniquity, and my
Bones waste away. 11 And here am I
Reproach among my enemies,
Especially as my neighbour sees,
And am repulsive to those who
Know me, and also all those who
See me outside flee from me too.
12 I am forgotten like the dead,
Out of mind, like a broken shred.
13 For I hear the slander of many,
Fear is on every side and any,
While they take counsel against me,
They scheme to take my life in fee.
14 But as for me, I trust in You,
O YHWH, I say, “My God is You”

The reason everyone around here schemes
To take my life is simply for the dreams
Illusive for reality. All think
The self within is the Almighty brink,
The very god of power and universe,
The one and only, so that self must curse
Every self that in competition comes
To multiply from one the divine sums.
Truth is there is no self existent but
The one Self of You, my Beloved, and what
Is its perfection and love thrown upon
The screen of néant and the shining dawn.
All selves are but reflections of the true,
And all reveal in truth nothing but You.

15 My times are in Your hand, and so
Deliver me from hand of foe,
And from those who persecute me.
16 Make Your face also shine on me
Your servant, for Your mercies’ sake
Save me. 17 And do not let me shake
Ashamed, O YHWH, for I have called
Upon You, let the wicked walled
Be ashamed, let them in the grave
Be silent. 18 And now let the glaive
Of lying lips in silence be,
Which speak insolent things proudly,
Against the righteous in contempt.
19 How great is Your goodness undreamt,
Which You have laid up for those who
Fear You, and which You have prepared
For all of those who trust in You
In presence of the sons of men!
20 You’ll hide them in the secret laired
Of Your presence from plots of men,
You’ll keep them secretly in tent
From the strife of tongues where they went.
21 Blessed be YHWH, for He has shown me
In a strong place marvellously
His kindness. 22 For I said in haste,
“I’m cut off from before Your eyes,”
Nevertheless You heard the paced
Voice of my supplications’ cries
When I cried out to You in faints.
23 Oh, love YHWH, all of you His saints!
For YHWH preserves the faithful, and
Fully repays the proud one’s hand.
24 Be of good courage, and He’ll make
Your heart strong for all your hopes’ sake,
All of you who hope in YHWH’s stake.

I see, Beloved, why You have so seen fit
To hide Your anointed one from the wit
And persecution of the milling crowd.
If he should walk the streets and talk aloud,
The very righteous would come out to strike
Him down. This generation is like shrike.
And yet his spirit is not one to take
Lightly, for he lacks all the give and take
Of sweetness in the competitive stake.
The judgement of his mere humility
Suffices to make blind those who now see.
If You Yourself in mercy hide that we
Might not be struck down with Your bright glory,
He hides a humble heart in his mercy.

PSALM 32

1 A Psalm of David and a contemplation.
Blessed is the one forgiven his transgression,
Whose sin is covered, 2 and blessèd is the man
To whom YHWH does not impute a wicked span,
And in whose soul there arises no deceit.
3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old, complete
Because of my sad groaning all the day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy and strong
On me, my life turned into the summer drought.
5 I acknowledged my sin to You, and my thought
Of wickedness I have not hidden. I said,
“I’ll confess my transgressions to YHWH as led,”
And You forgave the wickedness of my sin.
6 For this cause everyone who’s godly’ll begin
To pray to You in a time when You are found,
Surely in great floods they’ll not stand on His ground.

Beloved, in every way I turn I find
Your face, in every time and breath I mind
That You hear prayer. And yet I know the day
Is marked by Your commanded hours to pray.
There is a note when You are found in waiting,
Who know not time’s arising and abating,
But stand upon eternity. You show
Your face by day and night who do not go
Nor come, begin nor end. And yet there is
A moment when the sun sets on Cadiz
That You hear prayer. Who look for You in vain
Throughout a stumbling, dazzled world in pain,
Stop at the moment, look toward Your house
And find You worshipped by the gnat and grouse.

7 You my hiding place, You shall preserve me
From trouble, You surround me with minstrelsy
Of deliverance. 8 I’ll instruct you and teach
The way to go led as far as My eyes reach.

I questioned You, as did my neighbours too.
They heard Your voice, they saw the leading of
Your master plan, they felt Your grace and love:
You told them everything to think and do.
I questioned You the way that I should go
And waited in the fragrance of fresh dew
On lilies-of-the-valley where they grew
Beside my unpaved road. There was no show
Of thunder, miracle or sign, or even
The still small voice divine. I was bereft
In every way. I’d only silence left,
No vision as had Daniel or Stephen.
And yet I tread a heavenly threshold while
Your unseen eye turns on the rank and file.

9 Do not be like the horse, don’t be like the mule,
Without discernment, which must be set to rule
Of bit and bridle, else they’ll not come near you.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked crew,
But he who trusts in YHWH, mercy shall surround.
Be glad in YHWH and rejoice, you righteous found,
And shout for joy, all upright in heart and sound!

Beloved, the horse is beautiful and fine,
Although he’s more obedient in line
Than clever. Yet his beauty is enough
To bring forgiveness since he has no scruff.
A mule is even better in the way
It turns the field of clover into hay.
Do You imagine people of my sort
Are better than these animals in sport?
Indeed, without a bridle I resort
To Your remembrance daily, yet my mind
Finds You for only the brief second blind
And then goes on through breath to death resigned.
I see the divine spark flash by and I
Return into the dark beneath the sky.

PSALM 33

1 Rejoice in YHWH, O you righteous!
Praise from the upright’s beauteous.
2 Praise YHWH with the harp, melody
Make to Him with an instrument
Of ten strings. 3 Sing to Him newly
With song, play with dexterity
And with a shout of joy augment.
4 Because the word of YHWH is right,
And all His work is in truth’s light.
5 He loves righteousness and justice,
The earth is full of YHWH’s goodness.
6 By the word of YHWH skies were made,
And all the host of them were stayed
By the breath of His mouth relayed.
7 He gathers waters of the sea
Together as a heap, and He
Lays up the deep in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear YHWH and His,
Let all the world’s inhabitants
Stand in awe of Him at His glance.
9 For He spoke, and it was done, He
Commanded, and it stood firmly.
10 YHWH brings the counsel of the nations
To nothing, He makes plans and stations
Of the peoples of no effect.
11 The counsel of YHWH stands select
Forever, the plans of His heart
To all generations apart.

You speak, Beloved, and every thing is done.
You do not need nine months to sire a son,
But word’s enough, and Your anointed is.
If anything, You are creation’s whiz.
I step out on the leafy ground and rain
Where autumn sings its songs as though in pain,
And see the thousand greys the sky is made
Below the places where Your hand has stayed.
I join the round of all creation’s sound
In their remembrance on the bursting ground,
And set my ten strings to recite the note
That once drew light and air, and on sky wrote
The suns and moons that linger with their torch.
Before I sleep I step out on the porch.

12 Blessed the nation whose God is YHWH,
The people He has chosen true
As His own inheritance due.
13 YHWH looks from heaven, He sees all
The sons of men, 14 and from the hall
Of His dwelling He looks on all
The earth’s inhabitants as small,
15 He fashions their hearts one by one,
He considers all their works done.
16 No king is saved by multitude
Of arms, a mighty man renewed
To salvation by his great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope at length
For safety, neither shall it save
By being powerful and brave.

I think that David must despise the horse.
He keeps on speaking against it in course
Of prophecy and praise, eternal song.
I quite agree, as a vehicle strong
For movement or for military wrong.
A horse cannot save, no, not from a throng
Of wicked ones invading all along
The city walls and gates. But still the beast
Is bright-eyed, running like wind when released.
Though neither horse nor arm of man can save
Despite the rush to rage among the brave,
The both reflect the beauty that I crave
From Your heart and Your throne above the mass
Of tinsel and of sparkle of the crass.

18 Behold, the eye of YHWH is on
Those who fear Him, and on their spawn
Who hope in His mercy and grace,
19 To save their soul from death’s embrace,
And to keep them alive in want.
20 Our soul waits for YHWH, and will vaunt
In Him our help and our snug shield.
21 For our heart shall rejoicing yield
To Him, because we’ve trusted in
His holy name to keep from sin.
22 Let Your mercy, YHWH, be on us,
As we hope in Your radius.

Indeed You see all living things on high,
Because it is Your sight that makes them try
To be and become in the universe.
Without Your seeing they would all be worse,
The mere flight of a failing breath of sky.
Indeed You see all men and women here,
None can escape from Your eye and appear
In hidden places to think, act, and speak.
Without Your seeing all men are but weak
Reflections of the rippling waters’ bound
Away to disappear in ocean’s sound.
Beloved, You see and I become at last,
You hide Your face and my being is past,
You are eternal in the lightning’s blast.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

To purchase the books, please go to:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-genesis-to-maccabees/paperback/product-20136835.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-job-to-revelation/paperback/product-20050862.html