DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 14 ~ 19

DEUTERONOMY 14

1 "You're the children of YHWH your God,
You shall not cut yourselves with prod
Nor shave the front of your head for
The dead. 2 "For you're a holy store
Of people to YHWH your God, and
YHWH has chosen you out of hand
To be a people for Himself,
A special treasure over elf,
Above all peoples who are on
The face of the earth, dark and dawn.

The heathen practices to cut and shave
Expressed respect for godesses by slave.
Avoiding such made people loved and true,
Chosen by You for what they know and do.
There are still those who shave the head in fear
Of sun and moon upon the monkly bier,
And thus partake of Canaanite rejoicing
In her divinities with fairly voicing.
I flee from every grand establishment
That follows what the ancient cuttings sent
Of scientistic mouthings of great things
Before the thrones who set themselves as kings.
Beloved, You are my treasure though I see
None of the speculation's trinity.

3 "You shall not eat any foul thing.
4 "These are the beasts which you may bring
To eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
5 "The deer, gazelle, roe deer, wild goat,
The mountain goat, the antelope,
And mountain sheep upon the slope.
6 "You may eat every beast that sports
Cloven hooves, having in cohorts
The hoof split in two parts, that chews
The cud, among the beasts for stews.
7 "Nevertheless, of those that chew
The cud or have cloven hooves cue,
You shall not eat, such ones as these:
Camel, hare with or without fleas,
And the rock hyrax, for they chew
The cud but do not have the due
In cloven hooves, they are unclean
For you. 8 "Also the swine's unclean
For you, because it's hooves are cloven,
Yet does not chew the cud for roving,
You shall not eat their flesh or touch
Their dead carcasses for as much.
9 "These you may eat of all that are
In the waters: eat without bar
All that have both their fins and scales.
10 "And whatever does not have fins
And scales you shall not eat from pails,
It is unclean for you for sins.
11 "All clean birds you may eat. 12 "But these
You shall not even eat with cheese:
The eagle, vulture, buzzard, and
13 "The red kite, falcon over land,
And kites by their kinds, 14 "every raven
After its kind, 15 "the ostrich haven,
The short-eared owl, the seagull, and
The hawk after their kinds, wings spanned,
16 "The little owl, screech owl, white owl,
17 "The jackdaw, and the carrion fowl,
The fisher owl, 18 "the stork, the heron
After its kind since it's not barren,
And hoopoe and the bat. 19 "Also
All creeping things that fly and go
Are unclean for you, they shall not
Be eaten. 20 "Eat all clean birds got.
21 "You'll not eat what dies of itself,
You may give it to alien elf
Within your gates, that he may eat,
Or sell to foreigner for treat,
For you are holy folk to YHWH
Your Ælohim. And you shall not
Boil a young goat in the same pot
With its own mother's milk to chew.

Except for the reluctant grace to eat
The camel, the Qur'an performs the feat
Of making the same rules for human fare.
How to eat such without the killing there
That's forbidden in Decalogue for shame?
Conditions that allow it without blame
Are those after the Flood when Noah came
Out on an earth destroyed, and as we now
Look on an earth destroyed by water's plough,
When health and life require it, we may taste,
Beloved, what's in Your providence, no waste.
But life of pigs and dogs is sacred still
Unless a real famine hit the hill.
I'm satisfied with lentils on the bill.

22 "You shall truly tithe all increase
Of your grain that the fields release
Each year. 23 "And you shall eat before
YHWH your God, in the place and store
Where He chooses to make His name
Abide, the tithe of your grain's fame
And your new grape juice and your oil,
Of the firstborn of your herds' toil
And your flocks, that you'll learn to fear
YHWH your God who is always near.
24 "But if the journey is too long
For you to carry with a song,
If the place where YHWH your God chooses
To put His name's too far and loses,
When YHWH your God has blessed you, 25 "then
You'll exchange for money again,
Take the tithe money in your hand,
And go to the place and the stand
Which YHWH your God chooses. 26 "And you
Shall spend that money that is due
For whatever your heart desires:
For oxen or sheep, for grape juice
Or the like drink, as heart may choose,
You shall eat there beside the fires
Before YHWH your God, and rejoice,
You and your household in your choice.

The like drink that You mention here is clearly
Intoxicant, and so I ask sincerely
If you give some permission here to drink
What I am hoping is not what I think.
The worshipful use of liquor I see
Among the faithful Turkish Alevi
Who in their rites in reverence lay them down
From whirling and from drinking without frown
To dream of You and of Your loving grace
And rise up in their turning to Your face.
Bless them, Beloved, and they are in their place,
And bless me also, where I take no sip
Beyond the very words that pass Your lip.
They lie, but I whirl on with hand on hip.

27 "You shall not forsake the Levite
Who's in your gates, for he's no right
Nor inheritance with your might.
28 "At the end of every third year
You shall bring out the tithe of gear
Produced that year and store it up
Within your gates. 29 "And the Levite,
Because he has no part nor cup
With you, and the stranger though slight,
And the fatherless and the widow
Who are within your gates, or kiddo,
May come and eat, be satisfied,
That YHWH your God has well supplied
To bless you in all your hand's work
Which you do without fail or shirk.

Fathers and grandfathers today have right
To lands and cattle here beneath Your sight,
And no more in the temple does Levite
Stand to eat shewbread or kindle the light.
Today the portion still goes to the just
And living sons of one father of dust,
Who quietly restore Your laws and state
Before both the humble and civil great.
In praise of such who come here in Your name
I raise a song with the twelve honoured claim,
And lay in their account the portion now
To fatherless and widow where I bow.
Beloved, take from my hand what is Your own
And eat and drink with me upon the stone.

DEUTERONOMY 15

1 "At the end of each seven years
You shall grant a release arrears
Of debts. 2 "And this is release form:
Every creditor who in swarm
Has lent something to his neighbour
Shall release it, he shall not order
It from of his neighbour or his brother,
Because it's called by one and other
YHWH's release. 3 "Of a foreigner
You may require it, but you shall
Give up your claim to the banal
Owed by your brother, 4 "except when
There may be no poor among men,
For YHWH will greatly bless you in
The land which YHWH your God for win
Is giving you to possess as
Inheritance, and so He has.
5 "Only if you straitly obey
The voice of YHWH Ælohim's way,
Observe with care all these commands
Which I command you here today.
6 "For YHWH your Ælohim takes stands
To bless you as He promised you,
You'll lend to many nations, true,
But you shall not borrow a cent,
You'll reign over many a tent,
But they shall not reign over you.

I do reign over kings and presidents,
Not by a sword or power, but by the sense
I have that they lack to submit to all
The words You once on Sinai at the call
Gave to the world and humankind to preach.
I live and reign in every word You teach.
I borrow from the heathen neither tent
Nor silver for the way my fathers went.
Instead I turn to You, Beloved, and go
According to the love that You bestow.
I follow You past all the tattered vines
Of pride and popery and the designs
That turn to Babylon and Egypt's gods.
I graze contentedly on lentil pods.

7 "If there's among you a poor man
Of your brothers, within your land
And gates which YHWH your God gives you,
You shall not harden your heart nor
Shut your hand from your brother poor,
8 "But you shall open your hand wide
To him and willingly decide
To lend him enough for his need,
Whatever he might need indeed.
9 "Beware lest there be wicked thought
In your heart, saying in a plot,
'The seventh year, year of release,
Is soon,' and your eye without peace
Be evil against your poor brother
And you give him nothing, but smother,
And he cry out to YHWH 'gainst you,
And it become sin among you.
10 "You'll surely give to him, your heart
Should not be grieved because of part
You give to him, because for this
Thing YHWH your Ælohim will bless
You in all your works and in all
To which you put your hand in call.
11 "The poor are always in the land,
That's why I say this word's command,
'You'll open your hand to your brother,
To your poor and your needy other,
Who are abiding in your land.'

Samaritan may know when seventh year’s come.
From Israel's time we've lost the certain sum,
And Jesus and Muhammad when they spoke
To reveal secrets underneath the oak,
Did not breathe word of when to seal the chest
And when to brighten hearts with free request.
They spoke of jubilee, but that I fear
Has been lost from the present day and year,
At least since Abu Bekr changed the dates.
I turn to You, Beloved, from where one waits
On creditor to open hand and gates,
And from the usury of banks and states.
Indeed the poor and needy still abound
And long for seven years upon the ground.

12 "If your brother, a Hebrew man,
Or a Hebrew woman as can,
Is sold to you and serves six years,
Then when the seventh year appears
You shall let him go free from you.
13 "And when you send him out from you,
You'll not let him go empty-handed,
14 "You'll give him freely from your flock,
And from your threshing floor remanded,
And from your winepress and your stock.
From what YHWH's blessed you, you shall give
To him. 15 "You shall where you may live
Remember that you were a slave
In Egypt's land to make your grave,
And YHWH your Ælohim redeemed
You, therefore I as it has seemed
Command you this thing on this day.
16 "And if it happens he will say
To you, 'I will not go away
From you,' because he loves you and
Your house, since he prospers at hand
With you, 17 "then you shall take an awl
And thrust it through his ear withal
Into the door, and he shall be
Your servant and eternally.
Also to your female servant
You shall do likewise or repent.
18 "It shall not seem hard to you when
You send him away free again,
For he's been worth a double hired
Worker working six years untired.
Then YHWH your Ælohim will bless
You in all you do and address.

The celibate in Balim Sultan's pool
Who pierced his ear for love was not a fool,
But read Your word and then took him the awl
And nailed him to the doorpost of the hall
Beside the kitchen where Hajji Bektash
Dipped up with sacred dipper the gulash.
Though I remain in wedlock and take none
Of silver in my ear when I have done,
I still recall the hymns in silence now
As I stand by the alabaster how
Remembering the many who whirled here
Before Your face and singing their songs clear.
Beloved, I do in a symbolic way
Pierce my ear with Your words to keep today.

19 "All the firstborn males that come from
Your herd and your flock you in sum
Shall sanctify to YHWH your God,
You shall do no work on the sod
With any firstborn of your herd,
Nor shear your flock's firstborn occurred.
20 "You and all your household shall eat
Before YHWH your God as a treat
Year by year in the place which YHWH
Chooses. 21 "But if there is a true
Defect in it, as lame or blind
Or has serious defect combined,
You shall not sacrifice it to
YHWH your God, whatever you do.
22 "You may eat it within your gates,
The unclean and the clean of mates
Alike, as a gazelle or deer.
23 "Only you shall not eat its mere
Blood, you shall pour it on the ground
Like water where it may be found.

The people where I live claim that they pour
The blood upon the ground and leave the gore.
It's vain excuse for slaughtering in sin
And eating like a cannibal with grin.
All things are pure if only we give thanks
Says every archbishop among the tanks.
But killing what You did not give command
To kill or slaughtering without the band
Of legislation shows there's no remorse
For the great and illegal soul's divorce
From Your law and Your word of love to men
That none shall kill and live to kill again.
I pour my soul and blood upon the floor
Of dergah in a sacrifice in store.

DEUTERONOMY 16

1 "Observe the month of green ears, keep
Passover to YHWH your God steep,
For in the month of green ears YHWH
Your God brought you from Egypt's crew
By night. 2 "Therefore you shall give due
Sacrifice of Passover to
YHWH your God, from the flock and herd,
In the place where YHWH says the word
To put His name. 3 "You shall eat no
Leavened bread with it on the go,
For seven days you shall eat your bread
Without yeast, affliction's retread
For you came in haste from the land
Of Egypt, that you may in hand
Recall the day when you came out
Of Egypt's land your life throughout.

The new year of the spring begins the round
Of yearly festivals upon the ground.
The third week that begins after the spring
Equinox starts the Passover on wing.
I set aside the leavening of bread
That is contained in what the people said
About Your law, all the traditions fed,
And lay hand on the pure manna of led
And set leaders whose power, authority
Comes from Your own appointment for a fee.
From Abraham and Moses I take song,
From David, Jesus, Muhammad know wrong
From right and so a taste of crusty slice
Of yeastless bread, Your own words will suffice.

4 "And no yeast shall be seen among
You in your territory hung
For seven days, nor shall the meat
You sacrifice first day's retreat
Remain the night till morning come.
5 "You may not sacrifice the sum
Of the Passover within any
Of your gates even for a penny
Which YHWH your God gives you, 6 "but at
The place where YHWH your God has sat
Choosing to make His name abide,
There you shall sacrifice the tide
Of Passover between nightfalls,
At the going down of the sun,
At the very time it recalls
You came out of Egypt and won.

Yeastless, Beloved, You sit in secret places
To make Your name known to all human faces.
The Kaaba of the threshold and the heart
Redeems the decadence of Mecca's part
And old Jerusalem's rebellious ire.
You sit, Beloved, upon throne of desire
And see before You altars where the pyre
Ascends in song and sacrifice to You
From those who whirl about Your hand to do
According to Your holy, expressed will.
I lend my heart and soul and self and still
Find caverns of new sacrifice to fill
Your treasure house with living stones to seat
Your name again and once again repeat.

7 "And you shall roast and eat it in
The place YHWH your God would begin
To choose, and in the morning you
Shall turn, go to your tents anew.
8 "Six days you'll eat unleavened bread,
And on the seventh to be fed
A sacred assembly to YHWH
Your Ælohim, and you shall do
No work. 9 "You shall count seven weeks
For yourself, start to count the weeks
In seven from the time you start
To put the sickle to the grain.
10 "Then you shall keep the feast apart
Of weeks to YHWH your God with gain
Of freewill offering from your hand,
Which you shall give by His command
Just as YHWH your God blesses you.
11 "You shall rejoice then before YHWH
Your God, you and your son and your
Daughter, your male servant and your
Female servant, the Levite who
Is within your gates, strangers too
And the orphan and widow who
Are among you, at the place where
YHWH your God chooses to make there
His name abide. 12 "And you'll recall
That you were slave in Egypt's thrall,
And you shall be careful to keep
These statutes here without a peep.

I have no grain nor sickle for the reaping
Of barley by command of the sun's keeping.
I've never been a slave in Egypt's land
And yet at the summer's threshold I stand
To praise You, my Beloved, for earth's produce
In grain and mushroom and in apple juice,
And hope my standing constitutes a truce.
My land bears more the sweet concocted weed
Whose leaf and stem are eaten more than seed,
The horseradish and its forbidden root,
Sweet peas, nasturtiums and nettle to boot
To eat with my potatoes, and the smile
Of lady's mantel and the bitter bile
Of dandelion, satisfied the while.

13 "You shall observe the feast of booths
For seven days, because it smoothes
When you have gathered from your floor
Of threshing, from your winepress' door.
14 "And you shall rejoice in your feast,
You, your son and daughter, at least,
Your male servant and maid, Levite,
The stranger who may be in sight,
And orphan and the widow, who
Are in your gates for what they do.

The tabernacles have always been set
For the maturing of the boys to get
A hold on their adulthood, though in vain,
The forest is a hiding place of pain.
But resurrections from that childly death
Meet every generation with new breath.
Though desert has long since replaced the wood,
The feasting still goes on as ever should.
Forgotten are the reconciling fates
That once met boys along with boyhood mates
To steal a march on time. Long since the law
Has made the feast a time of solemn awe
Beneath the sound of joying in the song
Of Your word, my Beloved, to keep from wrong.

15 "For seven days you'll keep a feast
Sacredly to YHWH your God leased
In the place which YHWH chooses, for
YHWH your God will bless you and store
In all your produce and in all
The work that in your hands may fall,
So that you surely shall rejoice.
16 "Three times a year to lift their voice
All your males shall appear before
YHWH your God in the place which He
Chooses: at the feast of the store
Of yeastless bread, at the feast of
Weeks, and also at the feast of
Booths, and they shall not come to see
Before YHWH empty-handedly.
17 "Every man shall give as he can,
According to the blessèd plan
Of YHWH your Ælohim which He
Has given you abundantly.

Ah my Beloved, I do come here with hand
Empty despite Your glorious command.
For all is Yours and nothing can be given
As gift to You even after I've striven
To earn my lot and bread upon the sod.
At last there's nothing left me here but God.
And yet I come before Your throne of state
Invited to a filled cup and full plate.
In sacred thought and joy I sit me down
To eat and drink in the celestial town,
A-quiver with the eager plot to find
A greater spot and nourishment of mind.
I find that You provide all things upon
The table and the temple I sit on.

WEEK 48

18 "Judges and officers you'll set
In all your gates they can be met,
Which YHWH your Ælohim gives you,
According to your tribes and crew,
To judge with justice all the folk.
19 "Then you shall not pervert the yoke
Of justice, and you shall not show
Partiality, nor take a bribe,
For a bribe blinds the eyes to know
Of the wise and twists righteous words.
20 "You'll follow what for all the birds
Is altogether just, that you
May live and hold the land which YHWH
Your God this day is giving you.
21 "You shall not plant you any tree,
As a wooden image to be
Near the altar you build yourself
To YHWH your Ælohim, not elf.
22 "You shall not set up sacred pillar,
Which YHWH your God hates more than killer.

I live in a land where idolatry
Is established by the state and gentry.
It is a place where every jinn and elf
Has become god before Your Godly Self.
And yet, Beloved, there is but rarely tree
Set up at May Day or upon the lea
Of summer solstice to turn to in prayer.
The growing forests spread out everywhere,
And raise their own anthems of praise to You
While waiting for the lumber razing crew.
For now it's not the living tree we've bred
To worship when all things are done and said,
It's rather trees cut up to make a sale
Entices folk to worship at the grail.

DEUTERONOMY 17

1 "You shall not sacrifice to YHWH
Your God a bull or sheep or two
Which has a blemish or defect,
For that's detestable reflect
On YHWH your God. 2 "If there is found
Among you, within any bound
Of your gates which YHWH your God gives,
A man or a woman who lives
Wickedly in the sight of YHWH
Your God, in transgressing the due
Covenant, 3 "who has gone and served
Other gods and worshipped them, swerved
Either the sun or moon or any
Of the host of heaven for penny,
Which I have not commanded you,
4 "And it is told to you, and you
Hear of it, then you shall inquire
Diligently. If there is fire
Where the smoke's seen and it is true,
And certain that such evil grew
In Israel, 5 "then you shall bring
Out to your gates that wicked thing,
Man or woman who has committed
That wicked thing, and unremitted
Shall stone to death that man or wife
With stones, and you shall take their life.
6 "Whoever is deserving death
Shall be put to death on the breath
Of witness from couple or three,
He shall not on testimony
Of one witness be put to death.
7 "The hands of witnesses shall be
The first against him in their fee
To put him to death, afterward
The hands of all the people stirred.
So you shall put away the bad
From among you that makes you sad.

The bull of self I sacrifice to You,
But may there be no blemish in the cru.
Who ask before Your law why this or that,
And what is wrong with something where I sat,
Know not that rules are there not only for
The good they may do humankind but more
To tell the pure and make the body fresh
And without blemish in the soul and flesh
So that the sacrifice to You when made
Is not just hopes and honours in the trade
But blemishless a praise to Your sweet name
And nothing in the way of blot or blame.
Beloved, the sheep I bring to You is my
Own self, the blemish is the thing to cry.

8 "If a thing comes up that's too hard
For you to judge as is ill-starred,
Between degrees of guilt for blood,
Between one judgement in the bud
Or another, or between one
Punishment or another done,
Matters of controversy in
Your gates, then you shall take a spin
To the place which YHWH your God chooses.
9 "And you'll come to the priest who loses,
The Levites, also to the judge
There in those days, and not to fudge
Inquire of them, they shall pronounce
Upon you the sentence to pounce.
10 "You'll do according to the sentence
Which they pronounce and their commentence
Upon you in that place which YHWH
Chooses. You'll be careful to do
By all of what they order you.
11 "According to the sentence of
The law in which they teach you of,
According to the judgement which
They tell you, you'll do at the pitch,
You shall not turn aside to right
Hand or to the left from the bright
Verdict which they pronounce on you.
12 "Now the man who acts on his cue
And will not heed the priest who stands
To minister there before YHWH
Your God, or the judge by commands,
That man shall die. So you shall put
Away evil from Israel's foot.
13 "And all the folk shall hear and fear,
And no longer play by the ear.

These words were spoken on the blessèd brink
Of Jordan's river, there before the sink
Of people into the idolatry
That prophets later railed against freely.
These words were truly optimistic things,
For rarely have there been both priests and kings
As well as elders who supported well
The words You spoke on Sinai for a spell.
It's every man for himself, You know that,
Because You see the wealthy and the fat
Take more of everything than is their share
And protect it with law and the hot air
Of politicians elected to bear
The interests of such lobbies everywhere.

14 "When you come to the land which YHWH
Your Ælohim is giving you,
And possess it and live in it,
And say 'I will set a king fit
Over me like all the folk that
Around me in their livings sat,'
15 "You shall surely set a king over
You YHWH your God chooses for drover,
One from among your brothers you
Shall set as a king over you,
You may not set a foreigner
Over you, who's not your brother.
16 "But he shall not multiply for
Himself horses and by the score,
Nor cause the folk to go back to
Egypt to multiply horse crew,
For YHWH your God has said to you,
'You'll not return that way again.'
17 "Neither shall he multiply yen
For wives for himself, lest his heart
Turn away, nor take for his part
Great loads of silver and of gold.
18 "Also it shall be, when he's bold
To sit on the throne of his realm,
That he shall write himself at helm
A copy of this law in book,
From where the priests and Levites look.
19 "And it shall be with him, and he
Shall read it all the days' decree
Of his life, that he may learn fear
Of YHWH his Ælohim, not veer
But be careful to observe all
The words that this law may recall
And these statutes, 20 "that his heart may
Not rise above his brothers' sway,
That he may never turn aside
From the commandment to abide
On the right hand or on the left,
And that he may not be bereft
But prolong his days in his realm,
He and his sons at Israel's helm.

The limitation that You put on kings
Is something they ignore for golden rings.
They must not have wealth, must not multiply
Treaties with foreigners, that's what imply
The marriages that treaties ratify.
They must not have horses, that is, they must
Not build up military means and trust.
They must be chosen by You and to be
No foreigner to those they royally
Rule, and what's more important finally,
They must rule by this law alone and free.
Such a man is no king at all, I see,
But servant of a people proclaimed free.
I bow, Beloved, to You and in the dust.

DEUTERONOMY 18

1 "The priests, the Levites, all the tribe
Of Levi, and all they describe,
Shall have no land inheritance
With Israel to give offence,
They'll eat the offerings of YHWH
Made by fire, and His portion due.
2 "So they'll have no inheritance
Among their brothers where they prance,
For YHWH is their inheritance,
As He said to them. 3 "And this shall
Be the priest's due from the people,
From those who offer sacrifice,
Whether bull or sheep, something nice:
They'll give the shoulder to the priest,
The cheeks, and the stomach for feast.
4 "The firstfruits of your grain and your
New grape juice and your oil before,
And the first fleece of your sheep, you
Shall give to him. 5 "Because that YHWH
Your Ælohim's chosen him out
Of all your tribes to stand and shout
The name of YHWH, him and his sons
Forever. 6 "If a Levite comes
From any of your gates, from where
He dwells among all Israel,
And comes there with all the desire
Of his mind to the place to tell
Which YHWH chooses, 7 "then he may serve
In the name of YHWH his God's verve,
As all his brother Levites do,
Who stand there serving before YHWH.
8 "They shall have equal parts to eat,
Besides what comes from sale of meat.

The Levite came to be the priestly caste
For many reasons, but none of which last.
Simeon and Levi were dispersed among
The tribes for a foul deed of which was sung.
The punishment for one was turned to blessing
Because of good deeds and the right confessing.
But Abraham's faith made the basic rule
The father of the family was the school
To transmit Your words in the children's way.
In practice it seems mothers hold the sway.
One can't depend on Levites in this day
And cage. Beloved, be my Levite and share
My meat and drink upon the silver stair
That goes between the earth and varied air.

9 "When you come into the land which
YHWH your God gives you to be rich,
You'll not follow abominations
Acquired from any of those nations.
10 "There shall not be found among you
Any who makes his son or daughter
Pass through the fire of heathen slaughter,
Or practices witchcraft and brew,
Or a soothsayer, or one who
Interprets omens, or a warlock,
11 "Or one who conjures spells by forelock,
Or medium, or spiritist,
Or one who calls the dead uprist.
12 "For all who do these things untrue
Are abomination to YHWH,
And because of abominations
Like these YHWH your God takes their rations
And drives them out from before you.
13 "You shall be blameless before YHWH
Your Ælohim in what you do.
14 "For these nations you'll dispossess
Listened to soothsayers confess
And diviners, but as for you,
YHWH your God's not set such for you.

Desire to know the future is a game
That's played by anyone at all for blame.
The very breath of life that You give me
Teaches that I depend inerranttly
For breath to breath on that sweet kiss of life
That comes from Your lips in the midst of strife
Or in the quiet calm or storm of sleep.
The future is a thing you alone keep.
The oracle of God that all men fear,
The universal secret all hold dear,
Is not the revelation of the day
To come or whether harvest's in the way,
But that great oracle that You pronounced
On Sinai on a day and hour announced.

15 "YHWH your God will raise up for you
A prophet like me from among
Your brothers, Joshua unsung.
Him you shall hear, 16 "according to
All that you have desired of YHWH
Your God in Horeb in the day
Of the assembly, come to say,
'Let me not hear again the voice
Of YHWH my Ælohim by choice,
Nor let me see this great fire more,
Lest I die fallen on the shore.'
17 "And YHWH said to me 'What they've spoken
Is good. 18 'I will raise them a token
Of prophet like you from among
Their brothers, Joshua unsung,
And will put My words in His mouth,
And he'll speak to them, north and south,
All that I shall command him to.
19 'And it shall be that who will not
Hear My words, which he speaks as taught
In My name, of him I'll require.
20 'But the prophet who would desire
To speak a word in My name, which
I have not commanded in stitch
For him to speak, or who speaks in
The name of other gods for sin,
That prophet shall die in the din.'
21 "And if you say in your heart 'How
Shall we know the word which YHWH's brow
Has not spoken?' 22 "when prophets speak
In the name of YHWH, if they're weak
And the thing does not come to pass
Or happen, but turns out as crass,
That is the thing that YHWH's not spoken,
The prophet's own heart has awoken
To speak the thing presumptuously,
You'll not fear his ability.

This word was spoken to reveal the time
When Joshua should come in Moses' stead.
The people now wish to find room for crime
And quarrel by seeking to have it read
For Christ or for Muhammad to exclusion
Of any other and so cause confusion.
Beloved, I read the words of them all three
And find Your revelation faithfully
Expressed to the folk to whom they revealed
The glories of Your grace and famous shield.
I seek no quarrel with the faithful who
Desire to see the prophets now that You
Sent after Moses to be in the queue
Of those who speak the truth, for such are few.

DEUTERONOMY 19

1 "When YHWH your God's cut off the nations
Whose land YHWH your God gives you rations
And you drive them away and live
In their cities, hard to forgive,
And in their houses, 2 "you shall set
Apart three cities that you'll get
In the land which YHWH your God's giving
You to possess and have your living.
3 "You shall prepare for yourself roads,
And divide your land in three loads
Which YHWH your God is giving you
To inherit, that any crew
Of manslayers may flee thereto.
4 "And this is the case of the one,
A manslayer, who flees with gun
There, that he may live: One who kills
His neighbour without guile or ills,
Not having hated him in past
5 "As when one goes out in the woods
With his neighbour to cut and cast
Timber, and his hand filled with goods
Swings a stroke with the axe to cut
Down the tree, and the head unshut
Slips from the handle, flies and strikes
His neighbour so he dies for spikes,
He shall flee to one of these towns
And live, 6 "lest the avenger frowns
For blood, while his anger is hot,
Pursue the manslayer in plot
And overtake him, since the way
Is long, and kill him the same day,
Though he was not deserving death,
Since he had not hated the breath
Of the victim in the time past.
7 "Therefore I command you at last,
Saying 'You shall set three towns off
For yourself, a place not to scoff.'

It's clear some laws were made for Palestine
And not for all the world enjoying fine.
For some are limited to those conditions
That set off Palestine by its partitions.
And yet I find the temporary law
A comfort for the needy in the claw
Of the avenger that comes out today
In every kind of country in the way.
There's no place set aside for safety here,
And all are at the mercy of the peer.
Beloved, I flee to You from every fear
Since I know there's no trusting the mandate
Of those who sit for preying at the gate.
In Your compassion I don't go astray.

8 "Now if YHWH your Ælohim grants
Enlargements to your farms' advance,
As He swore to your fathers, and
Gives you the land promised in hand
To give to your fathers, 9 "and if
You keep all these commandments stiff
And do them, which I command you
Today and always, to love YHWH
Your Ælohim and always walk
In His ways, then you shall add stock
Of three more cities for yourself
Besides these three, 10 "lest not for elf
Innocent blood be shed amid
Your land which YHWH your God will bid
To give you as inheritance,
And so the guilt of bloodshed prance
On you. 11 "But if anyone hates
His neighbour, lies in wait in gates,
Rises against him and strikes down,
So that he dies, flees to one town
Of these cities, 12 "the elders of
His city shall send hand in glove
And bring him from there, and deliver
Him over to the hand of giver
Of blood vengeance, that he may die.
13 "Your eye shall not pity him sly,
But you shall put away the guilt
Of innocent blood from the silt
Of Israel, that it may go
Well with you and with all your show.

How many people here hold it is right
To kill and kill again for vengeance' sight,
Or for any reason that fits the bill
As long as no one knows who came to kill.
Beloved, look on a world that's soaked in blood
And covered with the guilt running like flood,
And give another vision to the folk
That price of oil is not worth life of bloke.
Who now take in hand to cut at a stroke
The guilty make a difference and clear
Between the rich and those poor who appear
Before the courts of justice and to hear
Their sentence bought with ever less regard
For what is true and right, and what is barred.

14 "You'll not remove neighbour's landmark,
Which men of old have set in park,
In your inheritance which you
Will inherit in the land due
That YHWH your God is giving you.
15 "One witness shall not rise to speak
Against a man concerning cheek
Of any iniquity or
Any sin that he sets to chore,
By mouth of two at least or three
Witnesses the thing shall decree.
16 "If a false witness rises up
Against any man at his cup
To testify against him wrong,
17 "Then both men in the struggle long
Shall stand before YHWH, before those
Priests and judges who on their toes
Serve in those days. 18 "And they shall make
Careful inquiry for the sake,
And indeed, if the witness turn
Out to be in false witness' route,
Who's testified falsely about
His brother, 19 "then you'll do to him
As he thought to have done as grim
To his brother, so you shall put
Away the evil from your foot.
20 "And those remaining shall hear and
Fear, and hereafter not lift hand
Again for such evil on land.
21 "Your eye shall not pity, but life
Shall be for a life in the strife,
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and hand
For hand, foot for foot in the land.

My first reaction to the word of pity
Was that such is not found in any city.
But surely that is how the people sway
Their sense of justice upon any day.
Without the truth investigated some
Are demonized and condemned with the scum,
And others, who are guilty, are whitewashed
To be acclaimed by every crowd that joshed.
The sentiments and worked upon are what
Become criteria for judgement shut.
Acquittal belongs to the innocent
Who are also hated by sight and scent.
Beloved, acquit me for my faith in You,
And I'll acquit You for the things You do.


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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