GENESIS CHAPTER 11 ~ 15

GENESIS 11

1 Now the whole earth was of one speech,
One language only within reach.
2 And as they journeyed from the east,
It happened they found unpoliced
A plain in Shinar's land and where
They settled down to living there.
3 Then they said to each other, "Come,
Let us make bricks and bake them some."
They had their bricks for stone, and they
Had asphalt for mortar and clay.
4 And they said "Come, let us build up
Ourselves a city, tower whose top
Is in the heavens, let us make
Ourselves a name and for our sake,
So that we're not scattered around
The surface of the whole earth's bound."

How many towers have I built around
The world! Quaint churches and retreats abound
Among the temples, synagogues and lodges,
Theologies syncretic and hodge-podges.
I make myself baked bricks instead of stone,
A thousand minute statutes that alone
Replace the sapphire glint of ten small words.
The worship of the creeping things and birds
Is more demanding than the Decalogue.
Although it keeps the worshipper in fog,
And mind caught up in myriads of things,
It lets me keep my human priests and kings.
Cast down my brick and asphalt palaces,
And give me humble houses where truth is.

5 But YHWH came down to see the city
And tower that men had built for pity.
6 And YHWH said "Now these are one people
Of one language and of one steeple.
And this is what they start to do,
And there is nothing to construe
An end to their hullabaloo.
7 "Come, let's go down there and confuse
Their language, and see what they choose
When they can't understand their neighbours'
Commands, complaints, comforts and labours."
8 So YHWH scattered them all abroad
Around the whole world for their fraud,
And they stopped building on the city.
9 Therefore its name, just to be witty,
Is called Babel, because there YHWH
Confused the whole world's language too,
And from there YHWH scattered them out
Over the whole world without doubt.

Was it in anger that You shattered speech
So that men could no longer talk to each
Man that he found on tower or bridge or street?
Speech once was like a crystal bright and sweet.
It gave such meanings that none now can know
So clearly and precisely that the slow
Could not mistake. Communication was
A perfect thing and worked as perfect does.
But then Your hand brushed from its pedestal
That splendoured, rainbowed, iridescent ball,
And left it splintered. It's no wonder that
All human speech is deaf and dumb and flat,
Chips shining in the sun and meaningless
Except to bring remembrance to Your dress.

10 This is the genealogy
Of Shem: Shem was a hundred. He
Sired Arphaxad two years after
The flood. 11 Then he did not defer
After Arphaxad, Shem lived still
Five hundred years, by Allah's will,
And had both daughters and more sons.
12 Aged thirty-five Arphaxad's guns
Produced Salah. 13 And after that
Arphaxad lived four hundred flat
And three years more and also bore
Daughters and sons in greater store.
14 And Salah lived for thirty years,
And sired Eber to dry his tears.
15 And after Eber, Salah stood
Four hundred and three years for good,
And more sons and more daughters too.
16 Well Eber lived to thirty-four
And sired Peleg, 17 And then lived more,
Four hundred thirty years, and yet
Sired sons and daughters rarely met.
18 Peleg lived thirty years, and then
Sired Reu. 19 Afterward again
Peleg lived two hundred and nine
Years more with daughters just as fine
As sons. 20 Reu lived thirty-two
Years, and sired Serug. 21 So Reu
Lived after that two hundred seven
With sons and daughters up to heaven.
22 Serug lived thirty years, and sired
Nahor. 23 And since he wasn't tired
Serug lived two hundred years more,
Produced daughters and sons therefore.
24 Aged twenty-nine years was Nahor
And sired Terah. 25 After were seen
Nahor's one hundred and nineteen
Years siring sons and daughters well.
26 Now Terah lived for seventy years,
And sired Abram, and truth to tell,
Nahor, and Haran without fears.
27 This is the genealogy
Of Terah: Terah lived to see
Abram, Nahor, and Haran, three.
And Haran produced Lot. 28 But he
Saw death before his father in
His native land, in Ur of the
Chaldeans, land of Terah's kin.
29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives:
The name of Abram's wife's Sarai,
And Nahor's wife, Milcah, contrives
To be daughter of Haran by
The father also of Milcah
And also father of Iscah.
30 But Sarai, barren, had no child.
31 And Terah took his son Abram
And grandson Lot, a little wild,
Who was the son of his Haran,
And Sarai, his daughter-in-law,
Son Abram's wife, and fled the law
Of Ur of the Chaldeans for
To go to Canaan, what is more,
They came to Haran and lived there.
32 So all the days of Terah were
Two hundred and five years, the span
Till Terah saw death in Haran.

I sit in Haran's mosque with its green dome
And make it, with my recitation, home.
What words in Arabic sound on my tongue
As I take in Your name to heart and lung.
Who knows where Terah lies, his great grandson
Already with his father's work long done
Lies buried there behind the grill and stone.
The prophets' children are not here alone.
What holy feet have pressed this ruined earth!
Now windy rain's mere spatter on its dearth.
The women gather at the running well.
A cripple hobbles past, and who can tell
Who else may whisper in this ancient place
Your names, Beloved, then pass without a trace.

WEEK 3 GENESIS 12

1 Now YHWH had said to Abram "Get
You out of your own country, set
Yourself apart from family
And from your father's house go free,
To that place I will show you. 2 I
Will make of you a nation by
And by, one great, and bless you and
Make your name great, and where you stand
You shall become a blessing. 3 I
Will bless those who bless you, and I
Will curse the one who curses you,
Blessed all earth's families in you."

You give command, Beloved, and I obey.
There's nothing else of prayer or plaint to say.
I bless Your name and then do not forget
Another name to bless remaining yet.
How few bless Abraham, how few, how few!
Some bless in word, but few in what they do.
You did not say to wash and wash again
In river Jordan or some stream in vain.
You did not give a task that some could not
For lack of strength pursue. We've only got
To say a blessing brief and to the point
On Abraham. His grandsons will anoint
New kings and priests and prophets in good time.
Beloved, I bless both You and him in rhyme.

4 So Abram left as YHWH had told
Him to, and Lot went with him. So
Abram was seventy-five years old
When he left Haran Lot in tow.
5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife
And Lot his brother's son, and rife
With great possessions they had got
And all the people they had taught,
Acquired in Haran, and they went
To Canaan where they had been sent.

Possessions every man can understand,
Such things acquired are found on every hand.
But what I fail to fathom is the show
Of acquisition in the here below
Of people. Does it mean that Abraham,
Your blessed one, brought with cattle, sheep and ram,
A crowd of slaves and servants for his use?
Or does it mean that wanderers had excuse
For brigands and for robbers' threat to stay
Close to protecting leaders in the way?
A family or factory or church,
It does not matter, Abrahamic perch
Is where, Beloved, Your guidance could be found:
An Abrahamic tent-pin in the ground.

6 Abram passed through the land to where
Shechem was seen where the lands bear
The terebinth of revelation,
Called Moreh. At that time the nation
Of Canaanites was in the land.
7 Then YHWH appeared to Abram and
Said "To your descendants I'll give
This land, a place for them to live."
And there he built an altar to
The one who appeared to him, YHWH.

It is Your habit, my Beloved, it seems,
To show Yourself not only in men's dreams,
But in the unconsuming burning bush,
Or terebinth or oak from shove to push.
The tree of revelation is as old
As tree of knowledge of the good and bold,
It is as new as tree of life to come
In future revelation's glorious sum.
And as with Abraham it is of now
And is the tree before me anyhow,
The terebinth or birch or fir or pine,
The desert drought of water or the wine,
In all I find You, my Beloved, and fair,
The root in earth, the head and hair in air.

8 He moved to the mountain from there
That's east of Bethel, and that's where
He pitched his tent, Bethel behind
Or on the west, Ai you'll find
Before or on the east, he built
A place of sacrifice to YHWH
That he might worship without guilt
And cantillate the name of YHWH.
9 Then Abram journeyed, going still
Toward the south through vale and hill.

I turn from east to west and call Your name,
Beloved, and whirl again and then take aim
Toward Your house, the house of God, and bow
And then raise hand from heart to show men how
The sun and moon whirl on and pray to You
Who made them all and made all that they do.
I journey in the desert and the sun
And follow star to southward as I run,
In every place I go around the earth
I find Your name is far above all worth.
And as I cantillate from east to west,
My back to north while searching out the best,
I find my journey's goal each place I go
Is at my lip and heart for what I know.

10 Now there was famine in the land,
So Abram went to Egypt and
Lived there, for famine was severe.
11 It happened, when he had come near
To Egypt that he told his wife,
Sarai, "I do fear for my life
Since you are such a pretty one
When everything is said and done.
12 "That's why when the Egyptians see
You they will say 'This is his wife',
And then kill me, but save your life.
13 "Please say you are my sister, so
I might survive here where we go,
For what's between both you and me."

Beloved, I thank You that You keep Your way
A secret from the masses that might slay
Me for the gold You lay upon my heart.
They'd fight me truly for the treasured part
That I have on my tongue to sound Your name.
But now they only see old man for shame
That mutters on the road, they do not hear
The jewels that I utter, I've no fear.
If they knew how sweet is Your name to me
And what fine nectars are its melody,
They'd surely kill to have its treasures theirs.
But now the murmur passes unawares.
I thank You that You are a hidden treasure
Poured out on me in secret without measure.

14 And so it was, when Abram came
To Egypt, people asked her name
When they saw how pretty she was,
Though pretty is as pretty does.
15 The princes of Pharaoh also
Saw her and praised her to Pharaoh,
And she was taken to the court.
16 He treated, because of consort,
With Abram well. He had both sheep
And oxen, male donkeys to keep,
Servants and maids, she-donkeys too,
And camels for what camels do.

The Book of Jubilees does not make mention
That Abram got rich off his wife's attention
To Pharaoh's court. That smacks of prostitution
Of wife and hearth, but then, the best solution
To every problem has its fame and hour.
The expectation that the good is dour
Is founded on no sense nor on Your word.
If sense nor word do not leave undeterred
The lust of kings, then common men take wings.
The prohibition not to kill comes first,
So that adultery is not the worst.
Wherever roses bloom and bulbul sings
The steps to righteousness are ordered right,
And day to day give precedence to night.

17 But YHWH plagued Pharaoh and his house
With great plagues, perhaps mouse or louse,
Because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
18 And Pharaoh called Abram with strife
And said "What have you done to me?
Why did you not tell me that she
Was your wife? 19 "And why did you say,
'She is my sister'? I might lay
With such a one, take her away,
Your wife and go." 20 So then Pharaoh
Commanded men to have him go,
They sent him off, both him and her,
And all he had from where they were.

The master of the age gives me no right
To violent recourse here in my plight.
I bow to thievery but, silent, pray
That You, Beloved, will come to save the day.
A plague on every man that takes the sword,
That graduates to pistol when he's bored,
And bomb to take the widow's precious hoard.
The congress of warlords goes on apace
With talk of war and peace met face to face
In strategies to get the gold and oil,
Commodities one never wraps in foil
Nor puts upon a plate. Beloved, remark
Illusion tempts both owner and the clerk
As well as those of us who sleep and toil.

GENESIS 13

1 Then Abram went up from Egypt,
He and his wife and all his script
And all he had, and Lot with him,
Up to the south, ship-shape and trim,
2 For Abram was most rich in stock,
In cattle, silver, gold and flock.
3 And he went on his journey from
The south so far until he'd come
To Bethel, to the place where he
Had pitched his tent at first, you see,
Between Ai and Bethel 4 where
He'd made the place to worship there
At first, and there he just the same,
Abram did so, call on YHWH's name.

As Abram called, Beloved, upon Your Name
When he left Egypt with his wealth and came
To Bethel, so may I seek resting place
Upon Your altar and turned toward Your face
Call on Your lovely names. Between the city
Of Ai and of Bethel, without pity
Then marching northward Abraham and Lot
There found a place to pitch their tents and got
A haven where to keep their livestock, gold
And silver. There too they found made of old
An altar consecrated to Your name,
There waiting silently until they came.
I seek my old forsaken altars where
I once repeated Your name to the air.

5 Lot too, who went with Abram, had
Flocks, herds and tents. 6 Now it was bad,
The land could not support them both,
That they might live together, growth
Of their possessions was so great
They could not both accommodate.
7 So there was clash between the men
That herded Abram's flock again
And those that herded Lot's livestock.
What made things worse of a dead-lock
Was Canaanite and Perizzite
Both in the land, put up a fight.
8 So Abram said to Lot, "Please let
There be no strife between as yet
Yourself and me, and those who herd
My flocks and yours, it is preferred
Since you and I are relatives.
9 "Is not the whole land that God gives
Before you? Let us separate,
If you go left, I'll hesitate
Not one minute to take the right.
Or if that way is in your sight
Then I'll go left." 10 And Lot lifted
His eyes and saw how well gifted
Lay all the plain of Jordan there,
It was well watered everywhere
(Before YHWH picked off Sodom and
Gomorrah) like YHWH's plot, like land
Of Egypt out toward Zoar's command.

How many eyes, Beloved, mistake the towers
Of Sodom and Gomorrah for the flowers
Of Paradise. I lift my eyes to seek
The blessing voice of Eden where You speak,
And see the rushing traffic, hear the din
Of market and of worship from within
The temples filled with peace and love and still
More idols than could in the desert fill
The Kaaba when the Prophet came to find
Its true heart to bestow on humankind.
The place most often sought to know You best
Is far more often where the idols rest.
Turn me, Beloved, away from Paradise
And watered plain, let desert ways suffice.

11 Then Lot chose for himself the plain
Of Jordan, all its luscious gain,
And journeyed east. And there they parted.
12 And Abram lived in Canaan, charted
Its land, and Lot lived on the plain,
In cities drenched in northern rain,
As far as Sodom pitched his tent.
13 But men of Sodom, as men went
Were wicked and exceedingly
Sinful against YHWH shamelessly.

The land I choose makes hardly difference now,
And Sodom would seem heaven anyhow
Compared with wealth of wickedness now told.
Take London, for example, where the bold
And insensate find every ruse of art
And beauty to cover their hidden part
In the destruction of the world and those
Who try to live and die on pea and rose.
Do not succumb, I tell myself and You,
But seek out dwelling in the treed and true,
And since all human institutions fare
No better than Gomorrah, I look where
The water is the best, since water's rare,
Yet still is found in Sodom's sun and glare.

14 Then YHWH spoke after Lot had gone
To Abram, said "Lift your eyes on
The place where you are, north and south,
Toward east and west, despite the drouth,
15 "For all the land you see I give
To you and yours, a place to live
Forever. 16 "And I'll make your seed
More than the dust of earth indeed,
If one could count it then they might
Count your descendants in their sight.

Though I may not be child of Abraham,
(My family history's opaque as a clam),
I ought to count it glory that I must
Be treated in this world like common dust.
The promise that You made to Abram then
Was not the common one made to sweet men,
But most astonishing and it's no wonder
That Abram had to second-guess and blunder.
Though to be frank Your word was clear enough.
It's just that clarity is such strange stuff
To us who live our lives in this illusion
That even useless gold seems an effusion.
But Abram knew the truth that children are
The only wealth one has on barren star.

17 "Get up and walk the land, its length
And width, to you I give its strength."
18 Then Abram moved his tent, and went
And lived beneath the terebinth,
The trees of Mamre, which are in
Hebron, and built an altar in
That place to worship YHWH therein.

In Mamre's revelation, in the shade
Of terebinth or oak and one grass blade
I pitch my tent and raise a slender psalm
Above the scent of frankincense and balm.
I rise and walk and pitch my tent again
Till my life seems a whirling in the fen,
A whirling and a march across the floor
Of earth beneath a sky without a door.
Since I cannot climb to the gate of heaven
I joy to find You here on earth at seven
Days in the forty-nine, and breath to breath
Each day I walk the altar without death.
Beloved, I rise and walk the land You give,
And pitch my tent and prostrate while I live.

GENESIS 14

1 When Amraphel was king of Shinar,
And Arioch king of Ellasar,
And Chedorlaomer enshriner
Of Elam, and Tidal so far
The king of the Goyim, 2 they made
War with Bera king of Sodom,
Birsha king in Gomorrah strayed,
Shinab of Admah, Shemeber
King of Zeboiim, and the fer
King of Bela, that is, Zoar.
3 All these joined battle in the Vale
Of Siddim where now salts prevail.
4 Twelve years they served and in the year
Thirteen they shed Chedorlaomer.
5 The next year Chedorlaomer came
And the kings with him just the same
Attacking the Rephaim there
In Ashtoreth Karnaim, where
The Zuzim had gathered in Ham,
The Emim too and without sham
In Shaveh Kiriathaim, 6 and
The Horites in their mountain stand
Of Seir, down to El Paran
Beside the wilderness, 7 began
Their way back there by En Mishpat,
That is, Kadesh, and then fell flat
On all the land of Amelek
And then subdued the stubborn neck
Of all the Amorites whose fire
Was lit in Hazezon Tamar.

The kings who seek a tribute and their taxes
Form coalitions, allied powers, and axis
And go to war to help democracy,
They cross the deserts and the rolling sea
To ferret out of mountain wilderness
The people whose wealth they truly confess
Should be their own. I stand on Seir and gaze
Across miles of uninhabited maze
Of oak and maple and think what will come
Of this campaign or that for centuries
The same. The generations die, life flees
To dandelion holes to reappear
As soon as danger's past, and without fear,
Beloved, to raise a golden head and hum.

8 And kings of Sodom and Gomorrah,
The king of Admah without Torah,
The kings of Zeboiim and Bela,
That is, Zoar, to the last fellow
Went out and gathered for the battle
In Vale of Siddim, like drawn cattle,
9 Against Chedorlaomer king
Of Elam, Tidal also king
Of the Goyim, Amraphel king
Of Shinar, and Arioch the king
Of Ellasar, four kings to five.
10 Now the Valley of Siddim's drive
Was full of asphalt pits, and so
When Sodom and Gomorrah fled,
Some fell there, others had to go
Into the mountains. 11Then they took
The goods of Sodom and Gomorrah,
All their provisions, then they shook
Their heels as though off to Andorra.
12 And they took Abram's brother's son,
Lot, who lived in Sodom for fun,
And his goods, and left on the run.

There are but two great sources of what men
Desire, Beloved, and these are labour and
The goods the labourer produces. Then
As now I see the presidents command
War to procure the wealth of those who make
And what they make for earth and heaven's sake.
And so they took the people and the goods
From Sodom and Gomorrah, left the woods
And valleys well-provided. The best way
Avoiding such attack is not to stay
To make or have, but sink in poverty,
And live on water and on acorns, free
To all as long as no pollutions sink
The world from where it stands upon the brink.

13 Then one who had escaped came by
And told Abram the Hebrew why,
For he lived by the terebinth
Trees of Mamre the Amorite,
Brother of Eshcol and the right
Brother of Aner, colocynthe
They were to each other, allies
With Abram. 14 Now with such good ties
When Abram heard his relative
Was taken captive, as I live,
He armed three hundred and eighteen
Trained men born in his own demesne,
And went pursuing up to Dan,
With every faithful partisan.

The art of war was forged in secret by
Your faithful Abraham, who with the cry
Of three hundred and eighteen warriors could
Without bloodshed rout armies that withstood
Five kings and more. Beloved, let me take up
The battle for the king of Salem's cup.
Whether there be three hundred here or more
I join in arms, the sword of tongue in store,
Throat swelling with the cantillation of
Your exquisite names spoken here in love.
The martial art You taught to David finds
Its roots in Abraham, as all that binds.
Its vast engagements meet from breath to breath
And fearlessly go onward into death.

15 At night he separated all
His forces and then gave the call
To attack and pursue them to
Hobah, north of Damascus' view.
16 So he brought back both all the goods,
His brother Lot, also his goods,
The women and the people too.
17 The king of Sodom went straight out
To meet him at the Valley of
Shaveh, King's Valley, without doubt,
When he came back from defeat of
Chedorlaomer and the kings who
Were with him. 18 King of Salem too,
Melchizedek, and with both bread
And grape juice, let it thus be said,
No proof of alcohol is nigh,
And he was priest of God Most High.
19 And he blessed him and said "Blessed be
Abram of God Most High, and He
Possesses heaven and earth, 20 And blessed
Be God Most High, who gave you rest
And victory from enemy."
So he gave him a portion's hest.

A funny thing it seems to be that Your
Command that every man should bless the store
Of Abraham went round the world and sank
Into the consciousness and habits rank
And file. At least Melchizedek came out
And first of all blessed Abraham, no doubt
He knew his own worth and survival meant
That he acknowledge the one man You sent.
Beloved, I too bless Abraham today,
Though I live here millennia away.
The eye upon the past is not mere folly,
Inertia, but the second sight, by golly,
And second eye that gives depth to my seeing
Beyond the flat and clutter of world's being.

21 Now king of Sodom said to him,
To Abram since the times were grim,
"Give me the persons, take the goods
For yourself, I'm out of the woods."
22 But Abram said to king of Sodom,
"I've raised my hand to YHWH, don't prod 'em,
To God Most High the One who holds
Both heaven and earth, and who beholds
23 "That I will take nothing from you,
Not thread nor strap nor sandal shoe,
Lest you should say, 'Abram got rich
When I and mine fell in the ditch,"
24 "Except just what the men have eaten,
And those who went with me unbeaten,
Eshcol and Mamre and Aner,
Let those three men take all their share."

The booty of the war is in the hand,
At the discretion, by the Lord's command,
Of Your appointed to do as he will.
Your Abraham had right to all, and still
He gave the wicked Sodom all his own,
And to his allies just shares not in loan.
Your friend relinquished all rights to the store
Of wealth, that no one might find grief or door
To criticise or gloat. There is but One
Of true wealth when the longer battle's done:
Beloved, You are possessor of both earth
And heaven, the mighty God, no thing of worth
Escapes Your hand or knowing, who created
All worlds here, and for You all things were fated.

GENESIS 15

1 After these things the word of YHWH
Came to Abram in vision, "Do
Not fear, Abram. I am your shield,
Your very great reward revealed."

Beloved, I covet Abraham's reward!
I need no wealth nor honour nor the sword.
The shield You are is sword enough and more,
And You Yourself are wealth more than the store.
"Exceeding great" You say, exceeding what?
Exceeding all that's sought and loved, the butt
Of every joke, the touch of art and rhyme,
The taste of wise confection in the time
Of hunger, finest wine before the thirst,
Security of oil, bombs at their worst
That save the world for bright democracy:
Exceeding all of these, and great to see
Is that reward You are. Beloved, I covet
Reward of Abraham, desire and love it.

2 But Abram said "Lord YHWH, what will
You give me, seeing I go still
Without a child, and this the heir
Of my house is Eliezer
Of Damascus?" 3 Then Abram said
"Look, You've given me no child, instead
One born in my house is my heir!"
4 And then the word of YHWH was there,
"This one shall not be your heir, but
One from yourself shall claim the pot."

I am a servant born indeed upon
The gallows floor of Your house before dawn.
I am no heir, though Abraham would take
Me for his son and in the taking make
Me heir of all the earth. In pilgrimage
I walk a stranger in the land. No cage
Nor palace guards my steps. My life is free
From such encumbrances as property.
My mothers wandered Africa and more,
From India to the most northern shore
Of Europe, Asia, and America.
There is no land with name of home and awe.
You give, Beloved, a servant no place here
But living in Your heart and being dear.

5 Then He brought him outside the bars,
"Look now toward heaven, and count the stars
If you can count them all." And He
Said to him, "So shall your seed be."
6 And he believed in YHWH, and He
Accounted it to him freely
For righteousness. 7 And then He said
To him, "I'm YHWH, who when you fled
Out of Ur of the Chaldees, brought
You to this land to give to ought."
8 And he said "Lord YHWH, how shall I
Know that I shall inherit it?"
9 So He said to him, "Bring Me by
A three-year heifer that is fit,
A three-year female goat and ram,
A turtledove, and pigeon's dam."
10 Then he brought all of these to Him
And cut them each in two, and trim,
And placed each piece against the other,
But did not cut the birds or smother.
11 And when the vultures came to feed,
Abram drove them away indeed.

Some birds are sweet, both in their song and meat.
Some birds appearing here appear a treat.
But not the vulture. Even Abram drives
Away the vulture. Yet the vulture thrives.
When You, Beloved, set out a table decked
With sweetmeats and sweet wine for the elect,
Do not drive out, like Abraham Your prophet,
The vulture who would choose a morsel off it.
Though I may be an ugly bird and truly
A filthy one, do not treat me unduly
With harshness. I too join the rushing throng
That hears the siren calling of Your song.
I am content, Beloved, to taste what's left
When sweeter birds have fed. Leave none bereft.

12 Now when the sun was going down,
A deep trance fell on Abram's crown.
13 And then He said to Abram, "Know
That certainly your descendants
Will be but strangers where they go,
A land not theirs, make acquaintance
With harsh service and bitter tears,
Afflicted for four hundred years.
14 "Also the nation whom they serve
I will judge, then they shall not swerve,
But come out with possessions great.
15 "Now as for you, you'll not be late
To go to your ancestors' peace,
But shall be buried at great age.
16 "Four generations set the stage
For their return. Iniquity
Of Amorite come before Me
Has not yet filled allotted page."

Three generations, or if sin takes more,
The generations might be stretched to four.
You limit, my Beloved, the stakes of sin
To three or four and then pull the nets in.
The Amorites' iniquity has ceased
Long since, but Abram's progeny's increased.
Let me, too, my Beloved, go down in peace
Like Abraham to some grave and release
My wandering in the world in pilgrimage
From strangers' hearths. At every doorstep here
I find the Kaaba and my heart takes cheer.
The thousand generations of my stage
And line look not to see, how fine my grave
But if its future tenant is a knave.

17 It happened, when the sun went down
And it was dark on field and town,
A smoking oven there appeared,
A burning torch between the seared.
18 On the same day YHWH made a pledge
With Abram, saying "From the edge
Of Egypt's river to the great
One of Euphrates I instate
All this land for inheritance,
19 "The Kenites, and all the expanse
Of Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,
20 "The Hittites, and the Perizzites,
The Rephaim, 21 "the Amorites,
The Canaanites, the Girgashites,
And all the land of Jebusites."

I understand, Beloved, You gave the land
To Abraham's descendants, understand
That they should live between the flowing Nile
And the Euphrates. So it has been while
The Kenite is no more and no one knows
The Kenezzite and Kadmonites in rows
Have disappeared. The Hittites are a find
For archeologists, there is no kind
Of Perizzite or Rephaim, and when
Did Amorite last walk the earth with men?
The Canaanite is gone, the Girgashite
Lies in the grave beside the Jebusite.
You promised land, Beloved, and land's release.
Why did You never promise them world peace?

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.

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It seems to me that the multiplication of languages has been a blessing.