1 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 13 - 18

1 CHRONICLES 13

1 David took council with the chiefs
Of thousands and hundreds’ reliefs,
And every leader in beliefs.
2 David told all the assembly
Of Israel, “If good it may be
Good to you and of YHWH our God,
Let’s send to our brothers abroad
And everywhere, those that are left
In all the land of Israel’s feoffed,
And the priests and Levites in their
Cities and villages to share
Together with us if they dare.
3 “And let us bring again the ark
Of our Ælohim to our park,
For we did not enquire of it
At all during Saul’s days of fit.”

My heart’s the heart of David and I send
To all the crowd of Yours if they will bend
To bring the ark of covenant into
The temple of the human heart to view
The tables of the law set out in dew
And written with Your finger on the crew.
My heart’s the heart of David and I run
To find Your Decalogue for song and fun,
To bring the cherubed ark of gold and fine
Acacia wood to glisten in its line,
To sparkle with the joy of sunly fire
And lustfully fill my heart with desire.
Beloved, my heart’s the heart of David while
Your ark is both my pleasure and my guile.

4 And all the congregation said
That they would do the thing instead,
For the affair was good and right
In the sight of the folk contrite.
5 Then David gathered in one place
All Israel from Shihor’s trace
In Egypt even to the gate
Of Hemath to bring and instate
The ark of Ælohim from where
It sat in Kirjathjearim’s share.
6 And David went up with the folk
All to Baalah, which is in stroke
Of Kirjathjearim in Judah
To bring from there Ælohim’s ark
And that of YHWH as held in awe
To stay within secluded park
Of cherubim, whose name’s in mark.
7 They carried up Ælohim’s ark
In a new cart out of the room
Of Abinadab, and for doom
Uzza and Ahio drove the cart.
8 And David and all Israel start
To dance before Ælohim in
All strength and with their singing’s din,
With harps and psalteries and more
With timbrels, cymbals and in store
With trumpets as never before.
9 And when they reached the threshingfloor
Of Chidon, Uzza shot forth hand
To hold the ark before the stand
Of stumbling oxen on the land.
10 The wrath of YHWH then flamed up right
Against Uzza, and smote with might,
Because he laid his hand upon
The ark, and there he died as drawn
Before Ælohim in His sight.
11 And David was displeased because
YHWH has struck Uzza for his paws,
Which is why to this very day
That place is called Perez-Uzza.
12 David feared Ælohim that day,
Saying “How shall I bring away
The ark of Ælohim to me?”
13 So David did not bring the ark
To himself and to his city,
But carried it aside to park
In the house of Obededom
The Gittite. 14 and so then in sum
Ælohim’s ark stayed with the folk
Of Obededom and to stoke
His house for three months. And so YHWH
Blessed house of Obededom’s crew.

The ark wherein Your Decalogue now rests
Within the chamber of my templed vests
Is three months begging blessing from Your room,
Twelve weeks of divine guidance without doom.
With Obed-Edom, servant of the red,
I fill my table with sweetmeats and fed
With nectar of the gods to hear Your word.
My swollen heart is humbled while it’s stirred.
Beloved, the king’s heart may be empty now,
The curtained tabernacle beneath plough,
But my house is blessed with the sounding note
Of Your voice that once gave the blessed rote
On Sinai to the waiting, hoping crowd.
I joy to hear commandments sung aloud.

1 CHRONICLES 14

1 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent to
David messengers and a crew
With timber of cedars, with men
As masons and carpenters then
To build him a house strong and true.
2 And David saw YHWH had confirmed
Him king over Israel affirmed,
For his kingdom was raised up high,
Because of his folk Israel’s try.
3 And David took more wives when he
Lived at Jerusalem, you see,
And David sired more sons and daughters.
4 And these are the names of the blotters,
His spawn that filled Jerusalem,
Shammua, Shobab, and the gem
Nathan, and at last Solomon,
5 And Ibhar, and Elishua,
And Elpalet, 6 and then Nogah,
Nepheg, and Japhia, when done,
7 And Elishama, Beeliada,
And Eliphalet, thirteen paw.

David did not need Hiram for his help
To build himself a house of common whelp,
But with new wives accrued in city span
He sired them more and more and man to man.
If Ishmael is a hero for the sum
Of twelve, and Jacob follows on his tum,
Then David scores one above all of them
As he relaxes in Jerusalem.
Beloved, is thirteen not a number chosen
For warning to the heated and the frozen?
I’d rather take the twelve, but then I find,
Messiah makes the thirteenth and resigned.
I’d rather take the twelve as Ishmael taught
And Jacob followed in the well-set plot.

8 And when the Philistines heard that
David was anointed king flat
Over all Israel, then went
All the Philistines to tent
Of David. David heard the news,
And went out against them to cruise.
9 The Philistines came and spread out
In the valley of Rephaim’s route.
10 And David asked Ælohim, saying,
“Shall I attack Philistine slaying?
And will You put them in my hand?”
And YHWH said to him, “Get and go,
For I’ll put them in your hand’s show.”
11 They came up to Baalperazim;
And David attacked there with vim.
Then David said, “Ælohim’s broken
Down my foes by my hand in token
Like gushing forth of streams awoken.”
That’s why they called that place by name
Of Baalperazim for its fame.

Lord of the breach indeed. Let my faith stand
Like David’s on the gushing brink of land
To see the living water spill about
Myself unwilling for the march and rout.
Beloved, break down my foes in self and other
And make all born my sister or my brother,
So gushing streams may wash away the guilt
Of ground up golden calves and desert silt.
When David spoke to You in questioning,
You gave response in clarity to king.
Though I am not a king upon my throne
Of fir-beams and of lilac bushes grown,
I still speak in the morning silence asking
Which foe to send You breaking while I’m basking.

12 They abandoned their idols there
And David commanded their share
Be burned with fire and burned with care.
13 The Philistines once more spread out
In the valley. 14 So without doubt
David once more asked the advice
Of Ælohim, and in a trice
Ælohim told him, “Do not go
Up after them, but turn the show
Away from them and then attack
By mulberry trees and at their back.
15 “And it shall be then when you hear
A noise in the mulberry trees’ gear,
Then you shall go out to the fight,
For Ælohim’s gone there to smite
Before you the whole of the host
Of men the Philistines can boast.
16 So David did what Ælohim
Told him to do, and like a dream
They slaughtered Philistine army
From Gibeon to Gazer to flee.
17 And David’s fame filled the country,
And YHWH caused all lands to fear him,
Although he was not very grim.

Ah, there is where the voice divine appears!
A rushing in the mulberry trees for fears!
I thought that You spoke Hebrew to the lad
And ringing in his ears it was not sad.
Instead I find Your syllables awake
With wind in ambiguity to take
As any human heart will in the musk.
My disappointment hides beneath the dusk.
Beloved, speak clearly in this land for shame
And at You clear word I shall take the blame,
Or whisper in the aspens what You will,
And I shall find Your voice though I am still.
Wherever Your voice is not heard aloud
I turn my face away from praying crowd.

1 CHRONICLES 15

1 He built houses in David’s city
And readied a place without pity
For Ælohim’s ark and there pitched
For it a tent and one well-stitched.
2 And David said “Nobody ought
To lift up Ælohim’s ark wrought
But the Levites: for YHWH has chosen
Them to carry God’s ark unfrozen
And serve before Him all their lot.
3 And David gathered all the folk
Of Israel together in poke
Unto Jerusalem, to bring
Up the ark of YHWH under wing
Where he’d made ready everything.
4 And David gathered Aaron’s folk
And the Levites all at a stroke.
5 Of Kohath’s sons Uriel chief,
And his brothers for his relief
A hundred and twenty in brief.
6 Of the sons of Merari yet
Asaiah the chief, and his set
Brothers two hundred twenty met.
7 Of the sons of Gershom Joel
The chief, and his brothers set well
A hundred and thirty for spell.

Beloved, I think that I should like to see
The day when David, master of the free,
Brought up the sacred ark from resting place
To make Jerusalem Your throne of grace.
And yet I know the thing was foreign to
My heart and eye, the language, although true,
Despite my knowledge of the square Hebrew,
Accustomed in no way to mind and ear.
And I imagine and as well I fear
The slaughter of the sacrifices there
Would have betrayed my wholesomeness of air.
But still, Beloved, Your tables of commands
Lay hidden under all the strange ribands,
And these speak to my heart directly now
Despite the centuries that hide my brow.
Beloved, You and Your law are always fair.

8 Of the sons of Elizaphan
Shemaiah the chief, and his span
Of brothers two hundred in clan.
9 Of the sons of Hebron Eliel
The chief, his brothers without guile
Eighty in all with none to spoil.
10 Of the sons of Uzziel too,
Amminadab the chief of crew,
And his brothers, one hundred twelve,
All active men and none to shelve.
11 And David called for Zadok and
Abiathar the priests on hand,
And for the Levites, for Uriel,
Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel,
Amminadab, and with a smile
12 He said to them, “You are the chief
Of the fathers of Levites’ leaf,
Make yourselves holy, you and your
Brothers to bring up to the door
The ark of YHWH Ælohim of
Israel up to the place above
That I’ve prepared for it to shove.
13 “Because you did not do so then
At the first time as faithful men,
YHWH our Ælohim struck us down
For our not seeking Him with frown
Appropriate to His renown.”
14 The priests and Levites sanctified
Themselves to bring up on the tide
The ark of YHWH the Ælohim
Of Israel in wake and dream.

Unless the Cohens are a holy crowd
I doubt there are any longer allowed
Holy men on the street of Jericho
Or in Jerusalem for sacred show.
The waving banner of the vast elite
That once trod on the cobbles of the street
Is gone, long gone, and even Jesus sweet
Has disappeared in clouds of heaven’s way.
I only see today the day to day.
All things disintegrate while opulent
Theories suggest each year a better tent.
I know the truth for living and for spent
That golden ages are the hope of men,
And eschatologies come back again.

15 The children of the Levites bore
The ark of God upon the core
Of their shoulders with staves set in
As Moses commanded by din
Of the word of YHWH without sin.
16 And David spoke to Levites’ chief
To set up their brothers in brief
As singers with instrument of
Music, and psalteries and love
Of harps and cymbals sounding by
The lifting up of voice with joy.
17 The Levites set up Heman son
Of Jel and his brothers in run,
Asaph the son of Berechiah,
Sons of Merari, brothers won,
And Ethan the son of Kushaiah.
18 Their brothers too of second row,
Zechariah, Ben on the go,
And Jaaziel, Shemiramoth,
And Jehiel and Unni both,
Eliab and Benaiah and
Maaseiah and Mattithiah,
Elipheleh and Mikneiah,
Obededom, Jeiel and those
Who carried things in rows and rows.
19 The singers Heman, Asaph and
Ethan to sound brass cymbals grand.
20 And Zechariah, Aziel,
And Shemiramoth, Jehiel,
And Unni and Eliab and
Maaseiah and Benaiah’s hand
With psalteries on Alamoth
To praise and promise higher growth.
21 And Mattithiah, Elipheleh,
And Mikneiah, another fellow
Obededom, and Jeiel and
Azaziah with harps to stand
With excellence on Sheminith.

I bear the table of Your law in part
Upon my fleshly shoulders and my heart,
And like the Levites of that ancient time
Lift up my soul in melody and rhyme.
I sing the Hebrew songs that cast Your word
Upon the air to vie with beast and bird
In voices lifted up to praise Your name
Along the rime of wood and lake in flame.
Beloved, I bear the stony share until
I hear the echo of Your law on hill
And granite crystalline and quartzite rill.
Beloved I speak the cantillated sound
Of ark-bound commandments above the ground
Rejoicing in the faith that I have found.

22 And Chenaniah, Levites’ chief
Was for song, he instructed brief
About the singing because he
Was skilful in such harmony.
23 And Berechiah, Elkanah
Guarded the ark with tooth and claw.
24 Shebaniah, Jehoshaphat,
Nethaneel, Amasai fat,
And Zechariah and Benaiah,
And Eliezer, the priests nigh her,
Blew on trumpets before the ark
Of Ælohim, and the wight stark
Obededom and Jehiah
Guarded the ark with tooth and claw.
25 So David and the elders of
Israel along with captains of
Thousands went to bring up the ark
Of YHWH’s covenant out of park
Of Obededom with great joy.
26 It happened when Ælohim came
To help the Levites without blame
Carry the ark of covenant
Of YHWH, that they came to present
Seven bullocks and seven rams.
27 And David was clothed with a stole
Of fine linen, the Levites’ whole
Gang that carried the ark and those
Who sang wore one too as they chose
And Chenaniah chief of song
With the singers. It wasn’t long
But David also had on him
Another ephod of linen.
28 So Israel all brought up the ark
Of YHWH’s covenant with the mark
Of shouting and the cornet’s voice,
And with trumpets and cymbals’ choice,
Making a sound with psalteries
And harps upon the hills and breeze.
29 It happened when the ark of YHWH’s
Covenant came into the views
Of David’s city, Michal who’s
The daughter of Saul looked out of
A window and saw her own love
King David dancing for his part,
And she despised him in her heart.

The trumpets sound within my heart and mind
Despite the lack of trumpets I could find
Upon the street to fill my waiting ear.
The cornet’s voice, the cymbals that I hear
Are only those within, the harps that range
With psalteries my neighbours would find strange.
And yet the sound You cantillate in me
Is one that echoes on eternity,
And one that shuts out every failing voice
And every tinkle that would call my choice
Away from rejoicing in Your command
And promise to the blooming desert land.
Beloved, I dance with David from the heart
And despise all the watchers where they start.

1 CHRONICLES 16

1 So they brought up Ælohim’s ark
Into the tent for place to park
That David set, and offered burned
Sacrifices and peace gifts earned
Before Ælohim for a lark.
2 When David finished offering
Each burnt offering and peace offering,
He blessed the folk in name of YHWH.
3 He gave to each of Israel’s crew,
Both man and woman, to each one
A loaf of bread and for good fun,
A fine piece of meat and carafe
Of grape juice to have a good laugh.
4 And he appointed the Levites
To minister before the lights
Of YHWH’s ark, to record, to thank
And praise YHWH Ælohim in rank
The God of Israel by rights.
5 Asaph the chief and next to him
Zechariah, Jeiel grim,
And Shemiramath, and Jehiel,
And Mattithaiah without guile,
And Eliab, and Benaiah,
And Obededom with his claw,
And Jeiel with psalteries and harp,
While Asaph made the cymbals carp.
6 Benaiah also among priests
With Jahaziel on the feasts
Of sounding trumpets stayed before
The ark of Ælohim’s pact sore.
7 On that day David handed out
This first psalm to thank YHWH devout
By the hand of Asaph and crew.

David creates new psalms for those in store
To eat their gifted bread by all the more
And drink each man his sweet fruit juice in cup
And sing aloud Your praises and look up.
I tremble with excitement now that I
Am about to sing that psalm to the sky,
And take part with the crowd upon the day
When each had his own basket and to sway
His own carafe of grape juice to Your praise.
I tremble at the threshold of the maze
And trip out in the sun to joy beneath
Jerusalem’s clear sky and lay a wreath
Of love upon the place the ark once stood,
At least within my heart if there I could.

8 Give thanks to YHWH, call on His name,
Show to the folk His deeds of fame.

The very core of faith and worship’s here
To give thanks to You and call without fear
Upon Your name, and praise before all men
The works that You have done and done again.
Salvation from the enemy of old
Was often the theme of the song and bold.
Today the gas fires of the holocaust
Have barely been extinguished, barely tossed
Out of the heart and mind. I face a shore
Of tanks and calling on Your name once more
In hope of deeds to come, in silence or
In trumpetings of justice in a world
Where once again salvation’s flag’s unfurled.
I wait a moment looking from my door.

9 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him, talk
Of all His wondrous works and walk.

I sing to You, Beloved, the melodies
I find struck on the Hebrew words to please
In little dots and lines, in circles wrought
To show the rise and fall of voice in plot.
I sing to You, Beloved, I sing and find
The voice that seemed dark, singularly blind,
Awakens with the hope of harmony
To contemplate throughout eternity.
I sing to You, Beloved, sings psalms at last
Heard in their faith original and blast
Of trumpet and the tinkle of the harp
To call the sparrow and the bear and carp.
I sing to You, Beloved, and of Your deeds
Of wonder to provide for all my needs.

10 And glory in His holy name,
Let their heart rejoice without shame
Who seek YHWH without sin or blame.

The law of Sinai gave command to show
Your name the honour due it in the glow
Of Your creatorship and sovereignty.
The glory of that statute comes to me
In daily sips as I seek to lift up
Your name in sincere seeking of the cup
Of grace from You to make my heart rejoice.
I lift Your name with my unworthy voice,
And yet trust that its glory will abide
To hold me guiltless by Your sceptre’s side.
A name alone is power and glory when
It can refer to You above the den
Of hopeful tryings to set up a reign
On earth, let Your rule guide instead my fain.

11 Seek YHWH and His strength, seek His face
Continually in every place.

I seek Your face, Beloved, in all my days
In every place I turn, I find the rays
Of glory shining on the dust and mote,
And yet I do not see Your face afloat.
Who see You and Your power and then to see
Your face seek like the moth eternally
The flame to unmake body and set soul
At once before the final hope and goal.
As all return to You, I turn again
And seek Your face, Beloved among all men,
And find in each Your face, but not Your power,
Reflection of eternity an hour,
And then the bright engulfed that turns back time
And mixes splinters with metre and rhyme.

12 Remember His great works He’s done,
His miracles beneath the sun,
The judgements that His mouth has won.

The miracles of light and flight in air,
The coming of all things and everywhere
With buzz of bug and sleight of wing and song
Of coyote and yapping of the strong,
The shape of stone, the fire of life, the feel
Of firm earth at the heart and by the heel,
Show power of Your creation at the sight.
And yet I falter at the coming night.
The miracle of word, the cantillation
Of Hebrew text, the statute, the elation,
These are the miracles above the scent
Of perfumed night and hovered desert tent.
The shape and shadow of Your sign alight
To find my soul waiting and my heart right.

13 Descendants of Israel, His slave,
You children of Jacob in wave,
His chosen ones, the good, the brave.

I do not doubt the choice of Israel,
Nor even of the wilder Ishmael,
I do not doubt the heritage in lot
Of Ammon and of Moab in their plot,
But still I joy in my own ethnic creed,
The mix of every race on earth and seed.
I may not be among the chosen folk,
But I am of all peoples at a stroke,
The bearer and the sharer of Your all
That lies upon the screen of creatures’ hall.
Beloved, I hail the chosen tribes and give
Them all the credit for the way they live,
And yet I join the party not invited
And keep the rendez-vous of the requited.

14 He’s YHWH our Ælohim, His ways
Of judgement are to all earth’s praise.

See, did I not speak right, when I availed
Myself of choice to join the holy veiled?
Your judgements are to all the earth and so
They are for me also among the slow.
Though I am neither Israelite nor yet
The Arab prophet’s progeny, I’m kept
By love and judgement at Your harvest gate.
You are my God as well, though I am late.
Beloved, all earth sings of Your blessed day
And flings its melodies in every way
That locust hops and swallow darts to find
A hollow in the stony, harkened mind.
I too dart in the hope and joy to know
That You are God of all the earthly glow.

15 Always remember His promise,
The word He commanded for bliss
To a thousand generations.
16 What he made to the benisons
Of Abraham and His oath to
Isaac son of Abraham true.

I see and hear, Beloved, the golden ring
Of the commandments in their glorying,
And know indeed that what may seem command
Is also promise in the things that stand.
The Hebrew words are in a form that can
Be understood as promise as I scan
As well as some imperative to naught.
The ten words are a fruitful field for thought.
A thousand generations feel the power
Of that one promise given in an hour,
That You will multiply effects of good
Beyond the limits that normally would.
Beloved, I thank You for the promise spoken
And for the command given out in token.

17 He has confirmed it for a law
To Jacob, and to Israel’s maw
For everlasting covenant.
18 Saying “To you I shall present
The land of Canaan for your lot
Inherited in glorious plot,
19 When you were only few, a few
And strangers in the land and pew.”

The promises were given when the just
Were few and single rather than like dust
Of earth or like the shining stars of heaven.
Promises were given when twelve lacked eleven.
The seed of Abraham throughout the globe
Spreads out beyond ken of the astrolabe,
And fills the world with fear and gracious deeds
As well as evil on some noxious weeds.
I too turn to the promises, though I
Am not of Abraham’s seed on the sly,
But am of heathen stock despite the worth
Of circumcision on the barren earth.
I too turn to the promises as one
Like Abraham did on the day he’d done.

20 They went from nation, land to land,
From kingdom to another band,
21 He let no one do any wrong
To them, even the kings and strong
He reproved for their sakes along.

The seed of Abraham wandered out wide
As far as tortured Gobi and the side
Of the Yang-tse to find a place to hide
Beneath a brazen sky and on iron earth
To bow in prayer and seek Your name of worth.
Kings even You reproved to let them live,
And everywhere they spread they have to give
The blessings of the civilized and true
To every folk they have to come in view.
Beloved, I benefit from that throng set
Among the nations with a message met,
And grasp the noble teaching and the song
And hear it echo in my soul along
Until I find returning night from wrong.

22 “Touch not my anointed and do
My prophets no harm or pursue.”

King David himself knew the gross temptation
To touch with evil for the sake of nation
Anointed of Your land, and yet forbore
On every chance he had upon the shore.
King David so established by his hand
And deed untouchable as by command
Every anointed of the Lord to stand.
I hear and obey where I count the score.
Beloved, I peer out from the open door
And see invisibly that You have set
Again anoint ones though rarely met
And hidden from the sight of king and court.
You jest perhaps in secret, jostling sport,
Protecting divine guides from what they’d get.

23 Sing to YHWH, all the earth and show
His salvation in each day’s glow.

Your chosen folk may be an elite class
And separated from the crazy mass,
But still the whole earth sings to You Your praise
And raises up Your name on nights and days,
On silver walks along the frozen shore,
On golden steps above the jewelled door,
In hidden pathways where the little mite
Of squirrel or chipmunk trades the acorn’s right.
Beloved, I too join in the faithful song
Of nature that can never know the wrong,
And add my timid voice in Psalm and prayer
Upon the dry and dusty desert air.
And thus my pilgrimage from clime to clime
Is seasoned with Your praise in prose and rhyme.

24 Declare His glory among men
Of heathen provenance and then
His marvellous works among all
Nations on earth to rise and fall.

If glory must be declared among men
Of heathen provenance, then I again
Am one of those, and give thanks that I find
Both promise and command among the blind.
You choose a nation no doubt for the best,
But all Your marvels speak that You invest
In every nation, heathen and the rest,
To give the opportunity to know
The dawn to share in work and life and show
Obedience is possible to go
For even heathens like myself who choose
To live in love and walking in the shoes
Of Your commandments in the right and good,
In living life as every person should.

25 For YHWH’s great, greatly to be praised
And feared above all others raised.

Is it the greatness that is You that makes
You to be feared instead of all the stakes
Of neighbour and henchmen that offer all
Their services in church and city-hall?
I fear You not for hell or tide or flood,
Nor for the falling on the sword for blood,
I fear You only for the blinding rent
In universe that tells me I am sent
To fill the empty spaces of divine.
I fear that what You offer is the wine.
I fear to fail to praise where praise is due,
I fear to acknowledge the You of You.
And in my fear I rise to praise again
That You are and are not among all men.

26 For all the elevated ones
Among the people’s benisons
Are idols, but YHWH made the skies.
27 Glory, honour before His eyes,
Might with joy before His place lies.

The one who sits in power in every place
Is but an idol come before Your face,
And yet it is an idol that reflects
The one true soul, the self the world neglects.
Idolatry is to fail to see You
In every face, instead of human rue.
There may be one who claims he’s made the skies,
But even in the smaller claim he lies.
There is no self at all but You alone,
Glory, honour and might before Your throne.
Beloved, I set aside the idol set
In my own heart, and turn out all men met
Except as they reveal Your holy part
And raise Your law and love within the heart.

28 Give to YHWH, families of the folk,
Give to YHWH glory, power like oak.
29 Give to YHWH glory to His name,
Bring gift and come before His claim
To bow down to YHWH in the beauty
Of holiness, it is your duty.

I have no beauty here in what I do,
Nor in the face I show to all men’s view.
I have no beauty on the strength of mind
Or in the strength of hand to bend and bind.
I have no beauty here in what I see,
I have no grace in being and to be,
Nor do I show the skill of right and will
Beneath the beauty of the nearest hill.
The only beauty I bring as my gift
Before Your claim is that I come to lift
What You Yourself give in setting apart
Myself in holiness within Your heart.
My beauty is that You stretch out a hand
To touch me in the hope of Your command.

30 Fear before him, all in the earth,
The world shall stand unmoved in girth.

The proof that I should fear You only stands
That earth will not be moved on seas or lands.
But the fact is not long ago there came
A tidal wave that slaughtered men and game.
Beyond that with dull regularity
The earth convulses in some tragedy,
And You still give as evidence that I
Should fear You only, that the world must lie
At rest beneath a leaden or clear sky.
Beloved, I join with all the graven earth
To fear You only and for just Your worth,
Creator and my Sovereign till I die,
The maker of all things in earth and sea,
The gauge of faith and love eternally.

31 Let the skies be glad, earth rejoice,
And say among the nations’ choice,
“YHWH reigns.” 32 Let the sea roar and all
That fills the ocean’s beck and call,
Let fields rejoice, all in their stall.

The gates of wonder fill my faith and eye
As I reveal my whirling to the sky.
Let the first gate be air and so be glad
That the last gate is earth not to be sad.
The nations in their gross idolatry
Still must admit You reign eternally.
The third gate, gate of water meets the sea
With roar and ocean’s pounding, cleansing shore.
All turn to the third gate in secret store,
The fields rejoicing in the burning life
That secretly smoulders beneath the knife
Of joy and hope beneath the hopeful sound
Of gourd and grain both springing from the ground.
Beloved, I touch the barley and leave strife.

33 Then shall the forest trees sing out
At YHWH’s presence as with a shout
He comes to judge the earth in rout.

Beloved, the heart of man is focused on
His own words and his song at summit’s dawn,
And yet the song of forest tree springs higher
And even katydid drowns out the crier.
All nature and creation have a voice
In Your presence and all things here rejoice
To see that You come down to judge the earth,
Mayhap it still contains something of worth,
Though something may not be of human call
Or made of human flesh and blood at all.
Beloved, I lift a lone voice among men
To signal that I too would once again
Join with the trees in their disparagement
Of human skills as they sing in Your tent.

34 Give thanks to YHWH, for He is good,
His mercy’s for all time withstood.

Your mercy, my Beloved, fails not, it’s sure,
For if it did, long since earth would be pure
Of wickedness by human hand and gate.
You had mercy on humankind to rate
Of the ark’s number, even up to eight.
Yes, You Beloved, are merciful and good,
If not wise and destructive as You should.
I think I could quickly find out sin’s cure.
Beloved, though You are good and merciful,
Look on Your servant this day at the pull,
And destroy from my heart the false desire,
And from my mind the false light and false fire,
And from my hand the sword and gold and oil,
And from my feet the outward, downward toil.

35 And say “Save us, O Ælohim
Of our salvation, and redeem
Together and save from the scheme
Of the heathen, so we may give
Thanks to Your holy name and live
To glory in Your praise active.

There is a scheme about me in the way
Set up by wicked men in selfish pay,
So save me, my Beloved, from every task
That they set out to trap and trip and ask.
There is an evil crunch about the dew
As soon as I meet with the common few,
And there’s a plan to destroy all in view
That is pure, good, and noble, bright and gay.
But turn, Beloved, and find that scheme and plan
That lurks in my own heart and hand and span,
And break it before dust creeps out to choke
The breath beneath Your light and easy yoke.
Then I shall give thanks to Your holy name
And live to glory in Your praise and fame.

36 Blessed be YHWH Israel’s Ælohim
For ever and ever supreme.
And all the people said “Amen”
And praised YHWH again and again.

If all the people could once more repeat
The amen from the heart and hand and feet
In doing and in following the treat
Of Your bright Decalogue before the seat
Of judgement and of glory here replete,
I should find You blessed truly by all those
Who now in dire hypocrisy arose
To pretend to justice while making do
With business interests and of those not few.
Beloved, I bow and say amen among
A crowd of people who Your name have sung,
And yet I doubt the cunning and the right
That still appear on left as well as fight.
Five thousand knees have not bent, yes I know,
And so I bend too at Medina’s glow.

37 So he left there before the ark
Of YHWH’s covenant the wight stark
Asaph and his brothers to work
Before the ark and not to shirk
As required every day to park.
38 And Obededom with their kin
To sixty-eight numbered in bin,
Obededom also the son
Of Jeduthun and Hosah won
To be porters and carry in.
39 And Zadok the priest and his kin
The priests before YHWH’s tent go in
The high place there at Gibeon,
40 To offer burnt sacrifice to
YHWH on the altar of burnt crew
Always morning and evening, do
According to all that is writ
In the law of YHWH which He fit
Commanded Israel to commit.

Leave me here, my Beloved, before the ark
In whose bosom of gold there shines the stark
And wondered letters of the Decalogue
Enough to lead and call a dervish dog.
Leave me here, my Beloved, to sing the song
With Asaph and his brothers in the throng
Of fair musician who no nothing wrong,
A member of the choir, if but a cog.
Leave me here, my Beloved, a priest to bring
The sacrifice of living and whirling
Before the holy ark, and so to keep
The step in Decalogue’s fast dance or weep.
Leave me here on the altar to arise
A burning spark to You upon the skies.

41 And with them Heman, Jeduthun,
And the rest chosen on the run,
Marked down by name to give thanks to
YHWH, since His mercy’s always due.
42 Along with Heman Jeduthun
With trumpets and cymbals’ bassoon
For those to make a sound with God’s
Musical instruments and rods.
Jeduthun’s sons carried the lot.
43 And all the people left and got
Each to his own house, and David
Came back to bless his house and lid.

Some go back to their own houses to live,
Some go to take and some go back to give,
But one soul turns with David to enquire
In David’s house after the blessed fire.
Some go to mill and some to market street,
Some go in chariot, some on their feet,
But one soul whirls above the blood and mire
To find in David’s house the heart’s desire.
I raise a trumpet to call a sweet tune,
I raise the crashing cymbals and bassoon,
I raise the harp of David and I sing
A slighter note than ever heard on wing
To find in David’s house the way to You,
Beloved, the way to what at last is true.

1 CHRONICLES 17

1 It happened as David sat in
His house, that David with chagrin
Said to Nathan the prophet, “See,
I live in house of cedar tree,
But YHWH’s ark of covenant stands
Under tent-flaps upon the sands.
2 So Nathan told David, “Just do
All you intend, Ælohim’s true
To bless it and to be with you.”

Beloved, it is not as in olden time
That You have no house to bear up the grime.
There is Your house in Makkah and one where
The golden dome crowns Quds with sweet and fair.
There is one at Madinah’s plain below
The mountains that still smell of perfumed glow.
A fourth one, my Beloved, though humble true
Is my heart waiting to be filled by You.
Your prophet comes to hear my heart’s desire,
Your prophet speaks in words of honeyed fire,
And yet I wait before the golden throne
And bow to You and bow to You alone.
Your ark is set beneath the sand-strewn flaps
Of my tattered temple, seen through its gaps.

3 It came to pass that very night
That Ælohim’s word came in sight
To Nathan, 4 “Tell David My slave,
‘So says YHWH, “You shall not lift glaive
To build a house where I may dwell.
5 “For I’ve not stayed in house the spell
Since I carried up Israel
To this day, but have gone from tent
To tent, from hut to hut I went.
6 “Wherever I’ve gone with all those
Folk of Israel, I never chose
To say a word to any judge
In Israel commanding fudge
To feed My folk and say to him
‘Where is My house with cedar trim?’””
7 “So now you shall say to David,
My servant, ‘So says YHWH for bid,
“I took you from pasturing sheep,
And standing where the cattle creep,
To rule over Israel my folk,
8 “And I’ve been with you to a stroke
Wherever you walked, and I’ve cut
Off all your enemies that strut
Before you, and have made a name
For you like that of men of fame
Upon the earth here where you came.
9 “And I will set a place for my
Folk Israel, and plant them by,
And they’ll always live in their place,
And never be moved out of trace,
Neither shall sons of wickedness
Destroy them longer with duress,
As at the start of their address,
10 “And since the time I set up men
To judge over my folk again
In Israel. I shall subdue
All your enemies come in view,
And I declare to you that YHWH
Will come to build a house for you.

Let me, Beloved, build in my wayward way
A temple of false works for You today.
Let me not take the time of brick and stone,
Let me not set up here another throne.
The ways of means by men are never slow,
They are fleet in the crooked paths they go
To built them temples to the hallowed sky
Or knock them down again and wonder why.
I wait, Beloved, for that tent You redress
In hushed halls of the forest where You bless
My soul with song of tree and bird and guess
Of fox behind the boulder and the mess
Of bushes caught in speckled sun’s relief.
Build me Your temple of grace in my grief.

11 “And it shall happen when your days
Are over and you come to praise
Of your ancestors, I will raise
Up your descendants after you,
One of your sons, and I will set
His kingdom up and not forget.
12 “That one shall build a house for me,
I’ll set his throne eternally.
13 “I’ll be his father counsellor,
And he’ll be My son in his store
Of faithfully obeying Me:
And I’ll not remove My mercy
From him as I took from the one
Who was before you on the gun.
14 “But I’ll establish him in My
House and My kingdom and for aye,
And his throne shall be set and sure,
For ever and ever endure.”’”
15 By all these words and by this view
Did Nathan speak to David’s pew.

The promise of a gloried son to be
Is given many times to king and free,
The promise of a son to keep Your will
And build a temple on the earth to fill
Its continents and islands with the sound
Of heaven and glory come upon the ground,
Is promise true. And yet my history
Shows that such temples fall and fail decree.
The temple falls indeed, and yet three days
Suffice to grant return into Your praise.
The temple lies in broken mass of death,
But in three days You give Your temple breath.
Beloved, I whirl beneath the gallows here
And rise up in Your temple without fear.

16 And David the king came and sat
Before YHWH and declared out flat,
“Who am I, YHWH Ælohim, that
You’ve brought me to this place and power
And what is my house for an hour?
17 “But this was a small thing in Your
Eyes, Ælohim, for You restore
Your servant’s house for age to come,
Regarding me as high in sum,
O YHWH Ælohim, and not bum.
18 “So what can David do for You
In thanks for the honour in view
Of Your servant? Indeed You know
Your servant well from head to toe.
19 “YHWH, for Your servant’s sake, and by
Your own heart You came to comply
With all this greatness to the sky.
20 “YHWH, there is none like You to be
Ælohim, a God high and free,
Beside You, by all we have heard
With our ears of what things occurred.
21 “What single nation on the earth
Is like Your folk Israel in worth,
Whom Ælohim went to redeem
As His own people in the scheme,
To make You great and fearful fame,
By driving out nations in claim
Before Your people, whom You’ve taken
Out of Egypt and Egypt shaken.
22 “For Your folk Israel You once made
Your own folk always on parade,
You, YHWH, became their Ælohim.

The modesty of David is the way
His followers go out upon the May,
Not circling heathen pole or padding round
To honours decked out on the clean-swept ground,
But recognizing that the heart must bow
Beneath the heart of David and somehow
Reclaim the share of modesty even now
That desert sand covers the temple sound.
The dervish way of David does not claim
The rising columns of the wealth and game
That hold out to chance on earth for its fame.
The dervish way of David bows beneath
A humble flower instead of laurel wreath,
And rises to find David all the same.

23 “So now, YHWH, let the thing You say
About Your servant then bear sway,
And concerning his house be set
For ever, say, do not forget.
24 “So let it be established that
Your name may be made great thereat
Forever, saying “YHWH of hosts
Is Israel’s Ælohim for boasts,
A God to Israel, and so let
The house of David Your slave get
Established before You and set.
25 “For You, my Ælohim, have told
Your servant You will build him bold
A house, and that’s why Your slave finds
Courage to pray before Your blinds.
26 “And now, YHWH, You are Ælohim,
This good promised Your slave in dream.
27 “So therefore let it please You bless
The house of Your servant’s address,
So it may stand always before
You, for You bless, YHWH, and that store
You bless is blessed for evermore.”

Beloved, You are Ælohim and my best
Encounter does not change that for the rest.
I may join in David’s resounding call
To give Your name the honour at the wall,
Or turn in darkness where my way in dust
Will disappear as every phantom must.
The choice to be or not to be is mine,
I may eat nothing or come here to dine
Where all the universe displayed reveals
Your name of grace that destroys and that heals.
Beloved, as I follow David’s fair tent
I find the path and office where You went.

1 CHRONICLES 18

1 It happened after this that David
Attacked the Philistines, enslavèd
Them and took Gath and suburbs out
Of the hand of Philistine rout.
2 And he attacked Moab so that
The Moabites came in and sat
As David’s servants and brought gifts.
3 And David contrived in his shifts
To strike down Hadarezer king
Of Zobah up to Hamath’s ring,
As he went to set up his rule
By the river Euphrates’ pool.
4 And David took from him in all
A thousand chariots and the gall
Of seven thousand cavalry,
And twenty thousand infantry;
And David hamstrung every one
Except a hundred chariots done.

I raise my bitter soul against the loss
Of nine hundred equestrians by toss,
As though a horse could not feel pain or weight
When hamstrung by a king out with his state.
I raise my bitter voice against the heel
Of those in power like David to appeal
To You, Beloved, and if Your heart is theirs,
I mutely send the stars complaint for cares.
Come off Your throne, Beloved, and see the fright
Glint in the eye of horse that fateful night,
And prove the divine unimpassioned right.
Without eternity, omniscient power,
I tremble with the steed a crying hour
Before I meet the grave, the kiln, or tower.

5 When Syrians of Damascus came
To help Hadarezer of name
As king of Zobah, David slew
The Syrian men twenty and two
Thousand. 6 Then David built a fort
In Syria’s Damascus for sport,
The Syrians became David’s slaves
And brought gifts of the things he craves.
So YHWH saved David everywhere
He went and gave him double share.
7 And David took the shields of gold
That were on Hadarezer’s bold
Warriors, brought to Jerusalem.
8 The same from Tibhath and from Chun,
Hadarezer’s cities for fun,
He brought their brass in lot from which
Solomon made the brazen ditch
And pillars and pot, every gem.

So many times I’ve grieved to know the glitter
Of gold from Solomon’s temple was bitter
To be bourn off to Babylon one day
When Nebuchadnezzer came out to play.
The pots and sherds of silver and the dross
Were all taken to temples set for loss
In honour of the idols on the shore
Of the Euphrates behind iron door.
Now I know that gold too was stolen once,
And I have been shedding the tears of dunce.
You own all things, and what reaches the hand
Of man is merely lent in contraband.
Beloved, I joy to know my empty plate
Is filled with wealth without stealing in wait.

9 So when Tou king of Hamath heard
How David attacked all the herd
Of Hadarezer Zobah’s king,
10 He sent Hadoram his son to
King David to enguire his due,
Congratulating him, because
He’d battled Hadarezer’s paws,
And overcome him, since the wight
Had war with Tou and constant fight,
And gained all kinds of pots of gold,
Silver and brass and things untold.
11 Those things too King David gave to
YHWH in dedication as due,
The silver and gold that he brought
From all the nations that he fought,
From Edom, Moab and the sons
Of Ammon and Philistine buns,
And from Amalek in their tons.
12 Moreover Abishai the son
Of Zeruiah killed a ton
Of Edomites in Vale of Salt,
Eighteen thousand at one assault.
13 He built some forts in Edom too,
And all the Edomites in crew
Became David’s slave servants too.
So YHWH saved David everywhere
He went and kept him in His care.
14 David reigned over all the folk
Of Israel, and judged them with yoke
Of justice among all his folk.
15 Joab the son of Zeruiah
Ws over the army pariah,
Jehoshaphat Ahilud’s son
Recorded everything then done.
16 Zadok the son of Ahitub,
And Abimelech for a rub
The son of Abiathar, were priests,
And Shavsha was scribe of their feasts.
17 Benaiah Jehoiada’s son
Was over the Cherethites’ run
And Pelethites, and David’s sons
Where chief around the king as shuns.

Not only cruelty to animals rises
In David’s court, but nepotism’s prises.
I’m thoroughly disgusted with the ways
Of my best hero, author of my praise.
Beloved, if David’s heart is like Your own,
I do not crave the shelter of Your throne.
What wars and bloodshed creep about his head
And what oppressions soften David’s bed!
And yet, Beloved, I have no doubt that I
As king on any throne would never sigh
To see my foes reduced to dust and cry.
My heart is Yours and Yours is mine, and yet
I doubt my mercy is as great to set
As David’s. My Beloved, we’ve barely met.

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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