DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 25 ~ 30

WEEK 50 DEUTERONOMY 26

1 "And it shall be, when you come to
The land which YHWH your God gives you
As an inheritance, and you
Possess and live in it, 2 "that you
Shall take some of the first of all
The produce of the ground to fall,
Which you shall bring in from your land
YHWH your God's putting in your hand,
And put it in a basket and
Go to the place where YHWH your God
Chooses to put His name on sod.
3 "And you shall go to the one who
Is priest in those days, and say to
Him, 'I today tell YHWH your God
That I've come to the land which YHWH
Swore to our fathers to give us.'
4 "The priest shall take the basket out
Of your hand and without a fuss
Set it down in front of the altar
Of YHWH your God and not to falter.
5 "And you shall answer, you shall say
Before YHWH your God without shout
'My father was a Syrian,
About to perish, a lone man,
And he went down to Egypt and
Lived there, few in number at hand,
And there he became a great nation,
Mighty and populous in station.
6 'The Egyptians mistreated us,
Afflicted us, and laid on us
Hard bondage. 7 'Then we cried out to
YHWH Ælohim, our fathers' view,
And YHWH heard our voice and looked on
Our affliction and woebegone
Labour also our oppression.
8 'So YHWH brought us out of Egypt
With a mighty hand and not clipped
With an outstretched arm, and with great
Terror and with appropriate
Signs and wonders. 9 'He has brought us
To this place and has given us
This land, "a land flowing with milk
And honey sweet and soft as silk,"
10 'And now, indeed, I here have brought
The firstfruits of the land I sought
Which you, O YHWH, have given me.'
Then you shall set it before YHWH
Your God, and worship faithfully
Before YHWH your God as is due.
11 "So you'll rejoice in every good
Which YHWH your God's given or could
To you and your house, and to you
And the Levite and the strange few
Aliens who are among you.

Where the grandfathers have a village house
Not to be pillaged by the village mouse
The people bring in basket and in store
The firstfruits of the red-earthed land and more.
But I live here beneath the fir and pine,
And my firstfruits are but the slender wine
Of birch and aspen on a rocky shore.
My birchen basket holds hardly a score
Of berries as the summer turns to fall.
The firstfruits I bring You, Beloved, are small.
Yet I bring You the sacrifice of self
And what I've saved for You upon the shelf,
I bring them all into the temple vast
Of sun shining at midnight unsurpassed.

12 "When you have finished laying by
All the tithe of your increased rye
In the third year, the year of tithing,
And given it to the Levite writhing,
The stranger, fatherless, and widow,
So they may eat in your gates, kiddo,
Be satisfied, 13 "then you shall say
Before YHWH your God 'I've removed
The holy tithe as was approved
From my house, and also have given
Them to the Levite, stranger striven,
The fatherless, and widow, by
All Your commandments which You try
To lay upon me, I have not
Transgressed Your commandments a jot,
Nor have I forgotten them aught.
14 'I have not eaten any of
It when in mourning, nor like dove
Have I removed for an unclean
Use, nor given some for the dead.
I have obeyed the voice instead
Of YHWH my God, and have been seen
To do according to all that
You have commanded where I sat.
15 'Look down from Your holy abode,
From heaven, and bless Your people's load,
Israel and the land which You've given
Us, just as You swore for to live in
For our fathers, "a land flowing
With milk and honey in a string."'

Ah my Beloved, might I give true account
That I have kept Your law given on the mount
And spoken by my own tongue every week
And many evenings as my poor soul seek
The coming of the morning at Your breath.
Might I witness I've kept Your law till death.
As You look down from Your holy abode
And see the earth spread out and well-bestowed,
I pray You might see also that I keep
Your holy law both when I wake and sleep.
Turn out Your blessing on my lifted hand
And let the other confer where I stand
Upon the dergah and on those who weep
And on those joyful ones who dance and leap.

16 "This day YHWH your God commands you
To observe these statutes in view
And judgements, therefore you shall be
Careful to observe them freely
With all your heart and all your soul.
17 "Today you have proclaimed the goal
That YHWH's to be your Ælohim,
And that you'll walk His ways and deem
To keep His statutes, His commands,
And His judgements, and that in bands
You will obey His voice. 18 "Also
Today YHWH has proclaimed the mot
That you're to be His special folk,
Just as He promised you a poke,
That you should keep all His commands,
19 "And that He will set you high hands
Above all nations which He's made,
In praise, in name, in honour paid,
And that you may be holy folk
To YHWH your God, just as He spoke."

The purpose of the heart and soul or nafs
Is stated here, quite simply without gaffs,
To observe these statutes and judgements that
You once spoke on Sinai where the folk sat.
The nafs is not a thing to struggle out,
The heart is not a place to feel about,
But both are fields among illusions' sway
To observe Your laws each and every way.
The thunder and the still small voice combine
To cantillate the pleasures of the wine
Of Torah and to sigh the words alone
In melancholy or unfeeling stone.
Beloved, I flee from nafs to You once more
And find nafs still filling the true heart's store.

DEUTERONOMY 27

1 Now Moses, with the elders of
Israel, commanded folk in love,
Saying "Keep all the commands I
Command to you today for aye.
2 "And it shall be, on the day when
You cross over the Jordan then
To the land which YHWH your God gives
You, that you shall set up like sieves
For yourselves large stones, and whitewash
Them with lime. 3 "You shall write in posh
Letters on them all this law's words,
When you've crossed over eating curds,
That you may enter in the land
Which YHWH your Ælohim in hand
Is giving you, 'a land flowing
With milk and honey like a spring,'
Just as YHWH the God of your fathers
Promised you. 4 "Therefore without bothers
It shall be, when you have crossed over
The Jordan after you've been rover,
That on Mount Ebal you shall set
Up these stones, which I command yet
This day to you, and you'll whitewash
Them with lime and so make them posh.

The stones set up on Ebal so I fear
Have been bones of contention many a year
Despite the fact, if fact it is, that they
Have disappeared from sight for many a day.
The whitewashed stones are gone, and yet the power
That made them in men's hearts forget the hour
Is still to be found where sectarian views
Rise up to make the wayward people choose.
The Jew is pitted once against the folk
Of Samaria, which was Persian cloak
Of divide them to rule them, so they chose
To differ about Eli and the rose.
Once Arius and Nestorius fell in plot,
The Chalcedonian fight raised up a clot.

The stones of Ebal still stand in men's hearts
Despite their passing from the mountain's parts.
The quarrel about Eli meets its goal
In prophetic fulfilment in the soul
Of Ali, who divides the Muslim camp
Into sectarian parties on the ramp.
Ah my Beloved, I love both Eli and
Ali who rose to fight and then to stand,
But I chose no sect in the flying field
To batter or to barter with my yield.
Instead I flee to You alone and take
The epithets of all and for Your sake
Live Jew, Samaritan and Christian too,
Both Sunni and Shi'ite in what I do.

5 "And there you'll build an altar to
YHWH your God, a stone altar, you
Shall not use an iron tool on them.
6 "You'll build with whole stones all the hem
Of the altar of YHWH your God,
And offer burnt offerings on sod
To YHWH your Ælohim. 7 "You'll offer
Peace offerings, and shall eat there coffer,
And rejoice before YHWH your God.
8 "And you shall very plainly write
On the stones all this law's words bright."
9 Then Moses and the priest, Levite,
Spoke to all Israel, saying "Take
Heed and listen for your own sake,
O Israel, this day you've become
The folk of YHWH your God in sum.
10 "Therefore you shall obey the voice
Of YHWH your Ælohim by choice,
And observe His commandments and
His statutes I this day command."

Perhaps because the bronze age was the best
In sight of the conservative to rest
Who looked back with nostalgia on the high
And great of civilisation gone by
That iron should not touch stone upon the altar
Or upon plaques where Your law did not falter.
Of course that may be why there are no words
To read on any stones set up for birds
To perch upon and tangle with their feet,
Touch with their beaks and with the treasure meet
Of their whitewash betray the whitewash You
Commanded to be brushed on in our view.
I set the words again on tongue and heart
And thereby become Yours for my own part.

11 And Moses commanded the folk
On the same day in which he spoke,
Saying 12 "These shall stand on the mount
Of Gerizim to bless the folk,
When you've crossed over Jordan's stream:
Simeon, Levi, Judah's cream,
Issachar, Joseph, Benjamin,
13 "And these shall stand yet without sin
On Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben,
Gad, Asher, Zebulon, Dan, and
Naphtali. 14 "At the Levites hand
They'll speak with a loud voice and say
To all Israel's folk in the way:
15 'Cursed is the one who makes a carved
Or moulded image to be starved,
Atrocious thing to YHWH, the work
Of craftsmen's hands that do not shirk,
And sets it up in secret.' And
All the people upon command
Shall answer and repeat 'Amen!'
16 'Cursed is the one who treats again
His father or mother with scorn.'
And all the folk shall say 'Amen!'
17 'Cursed is the one who moves the bourn
Of his neighbour.' And all the folk
Shall say 'Amen!' 18 'Cursed is the bloke
Who makes the blind to wander off
The road.' And all the folk shall scoff
'Amen!' 19 'Cursed is the one who twists
Justice due the stranger, insists
Against fatherless and widow.'
And all the people shall in show
Say 'Amen!' 20 'Cursed is the one who
Lies with his father's wife, to do
Uncovering his father's bed.'
And amen all the people said.

I curse indeed the hand and heart that make
An image to You and for worship's sake.
I curse that hand and heart if it be mine,
I curse it still in enemy or fine
Friend or in kith or kin, I curse them all
Who find another god and follow call.
Beloved, let me not even think the name
Of any other to eternal shame,
But let me ever seek and find the true
God who is one and only, who is You.
Then every other thing shall fall in place,
Respect to parents, to the land and race
Of blind and orphan, widow and the stranger,
Avoiding every impure kind of danger.

21 'Cursed is the one who lies with any
Kind of beast even for a penny.'
And all the folk shall say 'Amen!'
22 'Cursed is the one who lies again
With his sister, his father's daughter
Or even with his mother's daughter.'
And all the folk shall say 'Amen!'
23 'Cursed is the one who lies again
With his mother-in-law.' And all
The folk shall say 'Amen!' in call.
24 'Cursed is everyone who attacked
His neighbour secretly in fact.'
And all the folk shall say 'Amen!'
25 'Cursed is the one who takes a bribe
To slay innocent in the tribe.'
And all the folk shall say 'Amen!'
26 'Cursed is one who does not confirm
All this law's words and not to squirm.'
And all the folk shall say 'Amen!'

I heartily confirm, I do concur,
All this law's words and raise myself and stir
To keep them with my tongue and heart and hand.
I draw down on myself no curse of band
On Ebal, but joy in the solemn sound
Of Your words cantillated on the ground.
Beloved, as I look on the mountain peak
And see the purple sun's horizon streak,
And lean against the stirring of the air
To find the sparrow twittering on the stair,
I mind me of the time of long ago
When silence was well broken with the show,
And confirm now too that Your word is best
As I look out upon the rising west.

DEUTERONOMY 28

1 "Now it shall come to pass, if you
Faithfully obey voice of YHWH
Your God, to observe carefully
All His commandments which you see
I command you today, that YHWH
Your God will set you high to do
Above all nations of the earth.
2 "And all of these blessings of worth
Shall come upon you, overtake
You, because you obey for sake
Of voice of YHWH your Ælohim:
3 "Blessed shall you be in city stream,
And blessed you in the countryside.
4 "Blessed shall be the fruit of your bride,
The produce of your ground, increase
Of your herds, your cattle's increase
And all the offspring of your flocks.
5 "Blessed shall be your basket and box
And your kneading bowl. 6 "Blessed shall you
Be when you come in, and when you
Go out. 7 "YHWH will cause your foes who
Rise against you to be defeated
Before your face, at once depleted,
They'll come out against you one way
And flee before you seven ways.
8 "YHWH will command blessing this day
On you in your storehouses' phase
And in all to which you set hand,
And He will bless you in the land
Which YHWH your God gives to your band.

Truly I am blessed and indeed each day
I seek to walk according to the way
That You command. Yet I look out upon
The peaceful red of the arising dawn
And know it falls upon the righteous head
That is bowed down with sorrows having bled
Because of the oppression of the folk
Who being wicked still stand by the stroke.
The basket and the store do not reveal
The content of the soul for woe or weal.
I join the prayers of those who sorrow and
Those who rejoice for blessing on the land.
Beloved, I pray that blessing may increase
Upon a land where righteousness not cease.

9 "YHWH will establish you as folk
Holy to Himself, as He spoke
Swearing to you, if you will keep
YHWH your God's commandments and steep
And walk in His ways. 10 "Then all folk
Of the earth shall see at a stroke
That you are called by name of YHWH,
And they shall be afraid of you.
11 "And YHWH will grant you goods in plenty,
In the fruit of your body benty,
In the increase of your livestock,
And in the produce of your rock,
In the land of which YHWH once swore
To your fathers to give you shore.
12 "YHWH will open to you His good
Treasure, the heavens, to give as should
The rain to your land in its season,
And to bless all your hand's work feasen.
You'll lend to many nations, but
You shall not borrow which or what.
13 "And YHWH will make you head, not tail,
You'll be only above, not fail
Nor be beneath, if you will heed
YHWH your God's commandments indeed,
Which I command to you today,
And are careful to keep their way.
14 "So you shall not turn aside from
Any of the words which in sum
I command you this day, to right
Or to the left, to go in sight
After other gods to serve slight.

Your Christ once said that rain comes down on all,
Both just and unjust to Your beck and call.
By the same broken, dearth strikes all the land
Where stay both righteous and the contraband.
Beloved, in cloud and thunder and stand still
To hear and do Your word and righteous will,
And under clear skies, when I look in vain
For pattering like goats' feet gentle rain,
I bend my will and hand to obey You
In everything I think and say and do.
For judgement You have set a time and place
When all alike shall come before Your face,
But I, Beloved, rush to You here and now
Whether in fruited fields or broken plough.

15 "But it shall come to pass, if you
Do not obey the voice of YHWH
Your God, to observe carefully
All His commandments and truly
His statutes which I command you
This day, all these curses on you
Will come and overtake you too:
16 "Cursed shall you be when in the town,
And cursed shall you be in the brown
Countryside. 17 "Cursed shall be your basket
And your kneading bowl if you ask it.
18 "Cursed shall be the fruit of your body
And the produce of your land soddy,
The increase of your cattle and
The offspring of your flocks that stand.
19 "Cursed shall you be when you come in,
And cursed shall you be in your sin
When you go out. 20 "And YHWH will send
On you cursing, confusion's blend,
And rebuke in all that you set
Your hand to do, until you've met
Destruction and until you quickly
Perish, because of all the sickly
Wickedness of your doings in
Which you've forsaken Me for sin.

Curse not, Beloved, the innocent of cattle
Who have no portion in the moral battle!
The gentle cow, the newborn calf do spare
From the requitement of the pestful air.
Think only how she licks the little calf
In joy that fresh earth sprouts a greening laugh.
She knows nothing of master's fainting ways
Rebellious on the lazy summer days.
Spare, O Beloved, the running, tinkling goats
That try their new feet telling anecdotes
To rocks precarious on pastures scant.
Curse not, Beloved, every inhabitant
Of stall and field no matter what men do.
The flocks and kine never fail to praise You.

21 "YHWH will make the plague cling to you
Until He has eaten up you
From the land which you're going to
Possess. 22 "YHWH'll strike you with tb,
With fever, inflammation, see,
With severe burning fever, and
With the sword, with scorching the land,
And with mildew, they shall pursue
You until you perish in few.
23 "And your heavens over your head
Shall be brass, and the earth instead
Which is under you shall be ferric.
24 "For leading astray by the cleric
YHWH will change the rain of your land
To powder and dust, from the hand
Of heaven it shall come down on you
Until you are destroyed and few.
25 "YHWH will cause you to be defeated
Before your enemies depleted,
You'll go out one way against them
And flee seven ways before them,
And you shall become troublesome
Upon the earth to each kingdom.
26 "Your carcasses shall be food for
All the birds of the air and more
The beasts of the earth, and no one
Shall frighten them away and run.
27 "And YHWH will strike you with the boils
Of Egypt, and with tumours' coils,
With scab, and with the itch, from which
You cannot be healed though you're rich.

My good health is no proof that I am true
To You, Beloved, Gabriol was true too
And yet was plagued. The sky of burning brass
And earth of iron instead of sprouting grass
Is the fate of all men who live on earth
And see the scorching and the craving dearth
Brought on by Rome whose pax is but a pox
On centuries of empires in its locks.
The kingdom of the earth is Yours alone,
While the usurper sits upon the throne
Of human institutions made for ill
Despite the human hopes to fill the bill.
Beloved, the ten commandments still reign here
Despite the flaming fashions that appear.

28 "YHWH will strike you with madness and
Blindness and confusion of heart.
29 "And you shall grope at noonday stand,
As blind men gropes in dark apart,
You shall not prosper in your ways,
You'll be only oppressed and crazed
With constant plunder, and no one
Shall save you. 30 "You shall get engaged
To a woman, but when you're paged
Another man shall lie with her,
You'll build a house, but in the blur
You shall not live in it, you'll plant
A vineyard, but not gather scant
Even of its grapes. 31 "Your ox shall
Be slaughtered by your eyes' canal,
But you shall not eat of it, your
Donkey shall be taken away
With violence and from before
You, and they will never restore
It to you, your sheep on the stray
Shall be given to enemies,
And you shall have no one to please
Rescue them. 32 "Your sons and your daughters
Shall be given up to the slaughters
Of another folk, and your eyes
Shall look and fail with longing sighs
For them all day long without strength
Of God in your hand and at length.
33 "A nation whom you have not known
Shall eat the fruit without a groan
Of your land and the produce of
Your labour, and you shall above
Be only oppressed, always crushed.
34 "So you shall be driven and rushed
To madness because of the sight
Which your eyes see by day and night.

No doubt I'm mad, since I have seen the sight
Of the oppression that with secret might
Lays low the human spirit to obey
With eagerness the earthly crowns that slay.
The bestial, ruthless, joyous swords that took
The lives of people in the old days look
Like toys beside the sleek and prideful things
That blind men now to do without their kings
And give more to shopkeepers than they did
To kings when empire showed and deceit hid.
I must be mad for seeing what I've seen,
For surely madness is the mark and mean
Of all consumer wealth and business shine
That spreads out awfully by shore of mine.

35 "YHWH will strike you upon the knees
And on the legs' extemities
With severe boils which cannot be
Healed, and from the sole of your foot
To the top of your head I'll put.
36 "YHWH will bring you and the king, see,
Whom you set up to lord it over
You to a nation and a drover
Which neither you have known nor your
Fathers, and there for you in store
You'll serve other gods, wood and stone.
37 "And you'll be an astonishment,
A proverb, and a byword thrown
Among all nations where YHWH sent
You. 38 "And you'll carry much seed out
To the field but gather about
But little in, for the locust
Shall devour it. 39 "and you shall trust
To plant vineyards and tend them, but
You'll neither drink the grape juice glut
Nor gather, for the worms shall eat.
40 "You shall have olive trees set neat
Throughout your country, but you'll not
Anoint yourself with the oil got,
For your olives shall drop off green.
41 "You shall beget sons on the scene
And daughters, but they'll not be yours,
For they'll go to captivity.
42 "Locusts shall consume all your stores
Of trees and the produce you see
Of your land. 43 "And the stranger who
Is among you shall rise and do
Higher and higher above you,
And you shall come down lower and lower.
44 "He shall lend to you, sower and grower,
But you shall not lend to him, he
Shall be the head, and you shall be
The tail in everything you do.

Beloved, to worship other gods but You
Is said to be a punishment. The cue
Is that the whole world it seems at this date
Is punished with the vengeance of Your hate.
For everywhere I turn I find the gods
Are worshipped among all the lords and sods.
Great punishment indeed You have set out
Upon the populace to dance and shout
In lustful rage and call it solemn joy.
The world is punished well in its employ.
The narrow trickle of my forest spring
Gives drink beyond compare, despite the ring
Of city water that goes on to stir
The neighbour with a lesser drought and bur.

45 "Indeed all these curses shall come
Upon you and pursue in sum
And overtake you, until you
Are destroyed, because you did not
Bow to obey the voice of YHWH
Your Ælohim, to keep the plot
Of His commandments and His clear
Statutes which He commanded you.
46 "And they shall be upon your fear
For sign and wonder, and on your
Descendants always on that score.
47 "Because you did not obey YHWH
Your God with joy and gladness too
Of heart, for the abundance of
These things, 48 "therefore you without love
Shall serve your enemies, whom YHWH
Sends against you, in hunger, thirst,
In nakedness, and what is worst
In need of everything, and He
Will put a yoke of iron to be
On your neck till He's destroyed you.
49 "YHWH brings a nation against you
From afar, from the ends of earth,
As eagle flies for all its worth,
A nation whose language you'll not
Understand, 50 "a nation begot
Of fierce features, and which does not
Respect the old nor favour young.
51 "And they shall take upon their tongue
The increase of your livestock and
The produce coming from your land,
Until you are destroyed, they'll not
Leave you corn or new grape juice wrought
Or oil, or increase of your cattle
Or offspring of your flocks for battle,
Until they have destroyed your plot.

The yoke of iron surrounds the earth indeed
As Daniel saw it once revealed in seed,
In image where the legs of iron decreed
That Rome would master orient and west.
The feet of iron and clay feel hardness best,
Where metal squeezes out the clay with pinch
Of craven greed to make the poor clay squeak
And weep for pain and hunger at the leak.
You are no fool, Beloved, and though Your hand
Seem not to interfere with cunning band,
Still poverty cannot compel the mind
Nor dazzlement of products always blind.
Who take You not into account take not
Into account the divine human lot.

52 "They shall besiege you at your gates
Everywhere until your high states
And fortified walls that you trust
In all your land come down to dust,
And they shall besiege you at all
Your gates and under every wall
Throughout your land which YHWH your God
Has given you upon the sod.
53 "You'll eat the fruit of your own loins,
The flesh of your sons daughters joins,
Whom YHWH your God has given you,
In the siege and the horrors you
Find enemy distressing you.
54 "The sensitive and refined man
Among you will have hostile plan
Against his brother, toward the wife
Of his bosom, and toward the rest
Of his children whom in the strife
He leaves behind him in the test,
55 "So that he'll not give any of
Them the flesh of his children's love
Whom he will eat, because he has
Nothing left in the siege and as
The horrors of your enemy
Distress you at all your gates free.
56 "The tender woman, delicate
Among you, who would not instate
The sole of her foot on the ground
Because of her daintiness round,
Will refuse to the husband of
Her bosom, and to her son's love
And to her daughter, 57 "afterbirth
That runs between her legs and worth
Of children that she bears, for she
Will eat them for lack secretly,
In the siege and the horrors which
Your enemy's distressings pitch
Upon you at all of your gates.
58 "If you do not in careful rates
Observe all the words of this law
Written in this book and with awe,
That you may fear this glorious name
And awesome, YHWH your Ælohim,
59 "Then YHWH will bring upon your shame
And your descendants it will seem
Phenomenal plagues, great and long,
Awful diseases at a gong.

Who keep no Sabbath as You did command
You turn to pigs and monkeys on the land,
So it is punishment again from You
That people eat the pigs as though their due,
And thus show they are cannibals for good.
Let no impure flesh cross my lips to be
The punishment that I have been set free
Of divine law and Your command to share
The swill of ape and pig as all men dare.
The archbishop once told me at a meal
Where I sat by his side, that if you feel
A morsel is good to eat and you give
Thanks for it then it's good to eat and live.
I let the bishop eat beneath his hood.

60 "Moreover He'll bring back on you
All the sickness of Egypt's crew,
Of which you were afraid, and they
Shall cling to you both night and day.
61 "Also every sickness and plague,
Which is not written set down vague
In this Book of the Law, will YHWH
Bring upon you until your crew
Are all destroyed. 62 "You shall be left
Few in number, alas bereft,
Whereas you were as heaven's stars
In multitude, because your tars
Would not obey the voice of YHWH
Your God. 63 "And it shall be, that just
As YHWH rejoiced at you and must
Do you good and multiply you,
So YHWH will rejoice over you
To destroy you and bring to naught,
And you shall be plucked from your plot
To which you go to have and hold.
64 "Then YHWH will scatter in the cold
Among all peoples, from one end
Of earth as far as may extend,
And there you shall serve other gods,
Which neither you nor fathers' prods
Have known, gods of both wood and stone.
65 "And among those nations alone
You shall find no rest, nor the sole
Of your foot have a resting hole,
But YHWH will give you trembling heart,
Failing eyes, soul anguish in part.
66 "Your life shall hang in doubt before you,
Misgivings day and night abhor you,
And fears for life always implore you.
67 "At morning you shall say 'Oh, that
It were the evening!' And then at
The evening you shall say 'Oh, that
It were the morning!' for the fear
Which terrifies your heart and ear,
And because of the cruel sight
Which your eyes see both day and night.
68 "And YHWH will take you back in ships
To Egypt, by the way of slips
Of which I said to you, 'You'll not
See it again.' There as a lot
You'll be put on sale to be bought
By enemies as slave and maid,
But none will buy you in the raid."

Though Israel of men have gathered round
Jerusalem again to find their ground,
And are no longer scattered at the sound
Of the invader, they are scattered still
Who are righteous to do Your sacred will.
There is no church or synagogue that's found
Where all who gather are among the just.
The ones who know and do Your will now must
Be scattered on the wind like flying dust
And lie invisible upon the world
Like salt that's only known by tongue uncurled.
Beloved, I am Your slave of love though I
Remain unbought beneath an iron sky.

DEUTERONOMY 29

1 These are the words of covenant
Which YHWH commanded Moses spent
To make with Israel's folk in land
Of Moab, besides the command
Of covenant which He had made
With them in Horeb where they stayed.
2 Now Moses called all Israel
And said to them as in farewell:
"You have seen all that YHWH had done
Before your eyes in the land spun
In Egypt, to Pharaoh and all
His servants and to all his land,
3 "The great trials which like contraband
Your eyes have seen, the signs, and those
Great wonders. 4 "Yet YHWH in the close
Has not given you heart to fear
And eyes to see and ears to hear,
To this very day bold and clear.
5 "And I have led you forty year
In wilderness. Your clothes have not
Worn out on you, your sandals wrought
Have not worn out upon your feet.
6 "You have not eaten bread for treat,
Nor have you drunk grape juice or such,
That you may know that I as much
Am YHWH your God. 7 "And when you came
To this place, Sihon who by name
Was king of Heshbon and Og king
Of Bashan came out for the sting
Of battle against us to bring,
And we conquered them at the spring.
8 "We took their land and gave it to
The Reubenites, the Gadites' crew,
And half the tribe of Manasseh
As a possession in their way.

My daily walk does not see great deeds done
By Your power and strength in the battles won,
But rather smaller things as it would seem,
The quiet things that go by as in dream,
Forgetful of the time of forty years,
In rare moments of bliss and rare of tears,
But mostly in the quiet calm of park
Where digging in the soil's the greater spark.
And yet I think the sprouting in the spring
Of all the things that make my mealtime ring
From meadowsweet to goutweed is a greater
Act on Your part than overcoming satyr
Of Egypt, Bashon, Heshbon on the wing.
It's praised at least by chirping ones that sing.

WEEK 51

9 "So keep the words of this promise,
And do them, that you may find bliss
In all that you do. 10 "All of you
Stand today before your God YHWH:
Your leaders and your tribes and your
Elders and your officers score,
All men of Israel before,
11 "Your little ones and your wives too,
Also the stranger in your camp,
From the one who cuts your wood damp
To the one who draws your water,
12 "That into pact you may enter
With YHWH your God, and in His oath,
Which YHWH your God makes, and not loath,
With you today, 13 "that He may set
You firmly this day as a folk
For Himself, and that He may get
To be Ælohim to you folk,
Just as He promised you and spoke,
And just as He's sworn to your fathers,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Who are now sleeping, don't wake up,
14 "I make this covenant, no bothers,
And this oath, not with you alone,
15 "But with him who stands on the stone
Here with us this day before YHWH
Our God, as well as with him who
Is not here with us on this day,
16 For you know that we lived away
In Egypt's land and that we came
Through nations which you passed in blame,
17 And you saw their abominations
And their idols among those nations,
Of wood and stone, silver and gold,
18 "So among you let not be told
A man or woman, kin or tribe,
Whose heart turns away at the bribe
This day from YHWH our God, to go
And serve the gods these nations grow,
And that there may not be among
You a bitter root or one strung
With wormwood, 19 "and so it may not
Happen, when he hears the words taught
Of this curse, that he bless himself
In his heart, saying like an elf,
'I shall have peace, even though I
Follow my heart cunning and sly,'
As though the drunkard could be counted
Among the sober ones amounted.

I am one of those ones who on that day
Were not there to make covenant to stay
Upon the pathway of Your word, and yet
You still set up the covenant to get.
I lay hold on the ten commandments still
And turn my eyes away from busky hill
Where Baal and Ashtoreth still have their groves
And priests and ministers pass out the loaves
Of human flesh well paid for in their droves
By those who deal in traffic with proud Rome
And fetch the air and seaways back to home.
Beloved, I cling to You though I was not
Present upon that Moabitic spot
To engage in the divine call and plot.

20 "YHWH would not spare him, for the wrath
Of YHWH upon His jealous path
Would burn against that man, and all
The curses writ in this book fall
On him, and YHWH would blot his name
Out from under heaven and its claim.
21 "And YHWH would separate him from
All the tribes of Israel to come
For trouble, according to all
The curses of the promised call
That are written within this book
Of the law if you take a look,
22 "So that the coming generation
Of your children who in elation
Rise up after you, and the stranger
Who comes from a far land and danger,
Would say, when they see all the plagues
Of that land and the sickness' dregs
Which YHWH has laid on it: 23 'The whole
Land is brimstone, salt, and a hole
Burning, it's not sown, nor does bear,
Nor does there any grass grow there,
Like the fall of Sodom, Gomorrah,
Admah, and Zeboim in sorrow,
Which YHWH overthrew in His wrath
And anger.' 24 "And in aftermath
All nations would say 'Why has YHWH
Done so to this land? And what do
These burnings of great anger mean?'
25 "Then people would say 'To be seen
They've forsaken the covenant
Of YHWH God of their fathers meant,
Which He made with them when He brought
Them out of land of Egypt sought,
26 'For they went and served other gods
And worshipped them, the empty pods
That they did not know and that He
Had not given to them to see.
27 'Then the anger of YHWH was roused
Against this land and those it housed,
To bring on it each curse that's writ
In this book. 28 'And YHWH in a fit
Uprooted them out from their land
In anger, in wrath, and in grand
And great indignation, and cast
Them into another land fast,
As it is to this day.' 29 "The hidden
And secret things belong to YHWH
Our God, but those things which are bidden
Belong to us and to our crew
Of children forever, to do
All the words of this law in view.

Blot out, Beloved, the name of all who care
To deny Your law and refuse to share
Equally with all men the conscious I
Who is the speaking of Your heart though shy
In every man born, though without the claim
Of baptism in the tri-holy name
Or circumcision on Babylon's plain
Where the image is set up once again.
Blot out, Beloved, the image and each one
That bows beneath that symbol of the sun
To eat and drink the golden flood begun.
Blot out, Beloved, in me the residue
Of serving any gods at all but You.
Let me keep this law's words always in view.

DEUTERONOMY 30

1 "Now it shall come to pass, when all
These things come on you, blessings fall,
And the curse which I've set before you,
And you call them to mind to floor you
Among all the nations where YHWH
Your Ælohim will drive you to,
2 "And you return to YHWH your God
And obey His voice at the prod,
According to all I command
You today, you and all your band
Of children, and with all your heart
And with all your soul for a start,
3 "That YHWH your Ælohim will bring
You back from captivity's spring,
And have compassion on you, and
Gather you again from the hand
Of all the nations where YHWH your
God has scattered you there before.
4 "If any of you're driven out
To the farthest parts under heaven,
From there YHWH your God without leaven,
Will gather you, and from there He
Will bring you back and faithfully.

Each day I step out in captivity
To many nations where I rush to be,
I walk a world of marvels and of pest,
I see the wonders, pleasures, and the rest.
I worship many gods, speak many tongues,
And treasure what I find in heart and lungs.
The colours, scents, rejoinders, songs and plays
Record the travels of each of my days.
And after all the labour and the chill,
The heat, the fever, meat and useless frill,
I enter once again my chamber close,
Awaking from dream-studded comatose,
And find as at the first and last that You
Are One, the lovely, and in all the true.

5 "Then YHWH your God will bring you out
To the land which your fathers held,
And you'll possess it all about.
He'll prosper you unparalleled
And multiply beyond your fathers.
6 "And YHWH your God, beyond your bothers,
Will circumcise your heart and heart
Of your descendants for their part,
To love YHWH your God with all your
Heart and with all your soul in store,
That you may live. 7 "And also YHWH
Your God will put these curses too
On all your enemies and on
Those who hate you, the paragon
Who persecuted you. 8 "And you
Will obey again voice of YHWH
And do all His commandments too
Which I command to you today.
9 "YHWH your God will make you abound
In all the work to which you lay
Your hand, and in your body's sound
Fruit, in the increase of your stock,
And in the produce of your rock
For good. For YHWH'll again rejoice
Over you for good as with voice
He rejoiced once over your fathers,
10 "If you obey, and without bothers,
The voice of YHWH your God, to keep
His commandments also His deep
Statutes which are written in this
Book of the law, and if in bliss
You turn to YHWH your God with all
Your heart and with all your soul's call.

The circumcision of the heart is needed
By every man, both heeded and unheeded.
Some say the circumcision of the flesh
Is useless in the covenant that's fresh.
I trow that's true, and just as much for bread.
The heavenly loaf with which each one is fed
Is what is necessary on life's way.
The filthy, fleshly bread be thrown away.
The spirit only meets the triumph call
Of those who mount the airy, fiery hall.
Who in the covenant of Christ repose
Need not eat corny bread, drink wine, wear clothes
Of linen or of wool, for they are clad
In light, eat words, and keep their penis glad.

11 "For this commandment which I give
You this day's not too deep to live,
Nor is it far off. 12 "It is not
In heaven, that you should say 'Who's sought
To ascend into heaven for us
And bring it to us without fuss,
That we may hear it and do it?'
13 "Nor is it beyond the sea's writ,
That you should say 'Who will go over
The sea for us and bring it, rover,
To us, that we may hear and do?'
14 "But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.

Ah, do You mean, Beloved, that Your word spoken
On Sinai for a covenant and token,
Which is near to the heart and on the tongue,
And graven on the tablets and is sung
To melodies both simple and ornate,
Do You mean that word has not come too late?
Do You mean that it's easy to observe,
A light yoke and from which one need not swerve?
That is good news, and yet the good news heard
From every pulpit seems to be a turd,
That Your commandment's too hard and too high
For humans to believe, act and live by.
Instead we need a human sacrifice,
And crucifying someone makes things nice.

15 "Behold, this day I've set before
You life and good, and death in store
And evil, 16 "in that I command
You today to love YHWH and stand
Before your God, to walk His ways,
And keep His commandments in lays,
His statutes, and His judgements set,
That you may live and multiply,
And YHWH your Ælohim in sky
Will bless you in the land which you
Go to possess. 17 "But if your heart
Turns away so that you don't start
To hear, and drawn away to view
And worship other gods and serve
Them, 18 "I announce to you with verve
Today that you shall surely perish,
You shall not prolong your days, cherish
Them in the land which you cross over
The Jordan to go in as rover
And possess. 19 "I call heaven and earth
To witness this day on your worth,
That I have set before you life
And death, blessing and cursing strife,
Therefore choose life, that both you and
Your descendants may live on land,
20 "That you may love YHWH and your God,
And obey His voice and His rod,
And that you may cling to Him, for
He is your life and the length more
Of your days, and that you may live
In the land which YHWH swore to give
To your fathers, to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."

One sage took note that daily choice is given
To take the good and set the evil striven
Aside, and yet the tragedy of man
Is that he chooses evil though he can
Choose good. Beloved, this day let me choose good
And walk upon the pathway as I should.
Let me choose life, a living sacrifice,
Where my will is annulled and Yours suffice.
Let me in love to You, Beloved arise
And view the morning and the evening skies
From summits I have crossed to make the mark
That You set before each man in the park
To choose life and give You alone the sight
To determine what's wrong and what is right.


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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