1 ESDRAS CHAPTER 6 - 9

1 ESDRAS 6

1 In the second year of the reign
Of Darius, prophets in gain
Haggai and Zechariah
The son of Iddo spoke in awe
To the Jews who were in Judea
And in Jerusalem to see her,
They prophesied to them in name
Of YHWH Israel’s Ælohim.
2 Then Zerubbabel the son of
Shealtiel, Jeshua son of
Jozadak arose and began
To build the house of YHWH in scan
Which is in fair Jerusalem,
By YHWH’s prophets’ help there with them.
3 But at the same time Sisinnes
Ruler of Syria and with ease
Phoenicia, Sathrabuzanes
And their mates came and said to them,
4 "By whose command and stratagem
Are you building this house and crown,
To finish other things in town?
And who are the builders sent down?"
5 The Jewish elders fared them well,
Because YHWH’s providence in spell
Was over captive Israel.
6 And they were not stopped from their work
Till word was sent without a quirk
To Darius about them and
A report received in their hand.
7 A copy of the letter which
Sisinnes ruler of the pitch
Of Syria, Phoenicia,
And Sathrabuzanes, and a’
Their mates who ruled by hand and claw
Syria and Phoenicia,
Wrote and sent to Darius’ paw.

The rise of empires was a time when all
The kings in every place learned to hear call
Of the great central civil servant’s bawl.
A standard in both language and in style,
In goods and services in second mile,
An army to keep robbers in their lair,
A system of transport that all could share
Made safe the roads and crossroads from the bear.
So rulers of Phoenicia and the old
City of Damasque came, saw, and then told
The central office what was going on.
Beloved, I long for those days of the dawn,
When people minded their own business drawn,
And left the bureaucrats out in the cold.

8 “To King Darius, greeting. Let
It be fully known to our pet
The king that, when we went up to
The land of Judea in view
And came into Jerusalem,
We found the Jewish elders’ scum,
Who had been in captivity,
9 “Building Jerusalem’s city
With a big new temple for YHWH,
Of cut stone and fine lumber laid
In the new walls and on parade.
10 “The work is pushing forward and
Seems to be prospering in their hand,
Complete with splendour and well-planned.
11 “We asked these elders, ‘At whose word
Are you building this temple stirred,
And setting foundations unblurred?’
12 “So that we might tell you in letter
The name of leader and abettor,
We asked them for a list of names
Of those who are heads of their claims.
13 “They answered us, ‘We are the slaves
Of YHWH Creator of the waves,
Of heaven and earth. 14 “The temple built
Many years since by a king’s hilt
Of Israel, one great and strong,
Was finished for offerings and song.

The son of David, a king great and strong
In Israel, who did both right and gong,
Built to Your name a temple shining fair,
Above Jerusalem and Kidron there.
The son of David, caught in father’s dream,
Erected marble walls and cedar beam
And covered all with gold, covered with love,
To echo Psalms in sacrifice above.
Beloved, I too build daily on the house
Despite the nightly nibble of the mouse,
And see its spires arise in melody,
The self-same Psalms of David on the lee.
I too build as I sing with croaking voice
In sorrow, hope, and love, I too rejoice.

15 “And when our dads sinned against YHWH
Of Israel in the heavenly pew,
Provoking Him, He turned them over
To the hands of the royal rover
Nebuchadnezzar of the city
Of Babylon, who had no pity
As king of the Chaldeans witty.
16 “And they destroyed the temple and
They burned it, and the folk in land
They carried captive all away
To Babylon and there to stay.
17 “But in the first year Cyrus reigned
Over Babylon’s land unstained,
King Cyrus decreed that this house
Should be rebuilt for men and spouse.
18 “And holy golden pots and those
Of silver, which Nebuchadnezzar
Had taken from the temple rows
In Jerusalem as he says her
To keep them in his temple’s stows,
King Cyrus took these out again
From Babylonian temple den,
And handed over to the men
Zerubbabel and Sheshbazzar
The governor and popular
19 “With orders to take all those pots
Back and put them in temple lots
At Jerusalem, and to build
Again this temple to YHWH silled
On its site in its former plots.
20 “Then Sheshbazzar, when he got here,
Set the foundations and the gear
Of YHWH’s temple which is in fair
Jerusalem, and though they’ve been
Building it from that time to spin
Till now, it still has not got ready.’
21 “So therefore, if it’s wise and steady,
O king, let search be made throughout
The royal archives under clout
Of our lord king in Babylon;
22 And if it’s found the building done
On YHWH’s house in Jerusalem
Was with consent of stratagem
Of king Cyrus, and so approved
By our lord the king, be he moved
To send us orders for these things.”

Mid-level management makes all the fuss,
And yet I see the problem’s not a truss
Of my own day alone, but since the time
That such were invented to ignore rhyme
And bite the prose for bread, the little mind
Has added to the deaf ear and the blind.
The interference of the fatal march
Of civil servants is enough to parch
The soul and wither all creation’s fire.
Let all such people rot in their own mire.
Beloved, I see the problem of small kings,
Who go to war with robber gangs on wings,
But central government compounds the gore
And keeps the middle soul upon its shore.

23 Darius then commanded search
In every royal archive’s perch
On file in Babylon. And in
Ecbatana, the fortress bin
Which is in Median land, a scroll
Appeared with writing on the roll:
24 "In the first year of Cyrus’ reign,
King Cyrus ordered for his gain
The building of the house of YHWH
In Jerusalem for the due
Repeated offerings made by fire,
25 Its height to be as in a spire
Sixty arm-lengths, so many wide,
Sixty arm-lengths, all set in course
Of cut stone three and then perforce
One of wood new and local grown,
The cost to be paid by the throne
Of Cyrus the king, 26 and the pots
Of holiness of YHWH’s house plots,
Both gold and silver once waylaid
By Nebuchadnezzar’s parade
Out of Jerusalem’s house and
Taken to Babylon’s far land,
Should be brought back to temple fair
And in Jerusalem to share
Where they had been once kept with care.”
27 Darius then ordered Sinsinnes,
Syrian and Phoenician chief means,
And Sathrabuzanes, and their
Mates, and those appointed to share
As local rulers in Syria
And Phoenicia, to withhold claw
From the place, and to let the man
Zerubbabel, servant in scan
Of YHWH, Judea’s governor,
And the elders of the Jews’ shore
To build there YHWH’s house and its door.

The founding of the Jewish faith is here,
Not in the early times of Moses’ cheer
Or Abraham’s or even David’s throne.
Darius is responsible alone.
He sets his spies in Zion to look out
Upon the local civil servants’ rout
And tell him what the governors would do.
That’s why the governors take interest due.
Beloved, is there a faith on earth at all
That has a standing spire and granite wall
But is the dupe of royal power and scope?
Is there a faith at all without a pope?
I do believe that none is to be found,
Yet I flee to Your name on earthly ground.

28 “And I command it to be done,
And full cooperation won
To help the men who have returned
From the captivity they earned
To Judea, until the house
Of YHWH is finished for a douse,
29 “And that out of the taxes turned
From Coelesyria and learned
From Phoenicia one part be
Carefully provided in fee
To these men, to Zerubbabel
The governor, for offerings’ spell
To YHWH, for bulls and rams and lambs,
30 And wheat and salt, but never clams,
And grape juice and oil, in their round
Each year, without arguing sound,
For daily provision in use
As the priests order, no excuse,
In Jerusalem, 31 that there may
Be offerings made before the sway
Of Ælohim Most High for king
And his family and prayers to bring
On behalf of their life and spring.”
32 And he ordered if any should
Transgress or abrogate for good
Any of the things written here,
A truss should be removed with cheer
From his house and he hanged thereon,
And his goods forfeit to king drawn.
33 "So may YHWH, whose name’s lifted there,
Destroy every king and the share
Of people who would lay a hand
To hurt the house of YHWH and land
Of Jerusalem. 34 "I, the king
Darius, have decreed the thing
To be done with all diligence
As written here without offence.”

The purpose of the Jewish faith once made
Was simply in the thing for which they prayed.
Darius wanted priests and men to make
Prayers for himself and for his family’s sake.
The matter is so simple as that sum.
No more of history’s needed on the hum.
All else is rests and remnants living still
After the purpose of the thing to fill
Was long gone. Rabbis search the Word in vain
To find a scrap of hope, but since the reign
Of Persian king has failed, there is not sense
In keeping up the Sanhedrin’s pretence.
The Decalogue alone is fast and true,
All else is mist and shadows on the view.

1 ESDRAS 7

1 Now Sisinnes the governor
Of Coelesyria and the shore
Of Phoenicia, Sathrabuzanes,
And their mates set out for their gains,
Followed the orders of the king
Darius, 2 watching everything
With care, the holy task to bring
Help to the elders of the Jews
And the chief officers in crews
In the temple. 3 The holy task
Prospered, while prophets without mask
Haggai and Zechariah spoke
In prophecy, 4 and at a stroke
They finished it by the command
Of YHWH Ælohim of the band
Of Israel. So with consent
Of Cyrus and Darius meant
And Artaxerxes, Persian kings,
5 The holy house and furnishings
Was done by the twenty-third day
Of month of Adar, in the way
Of King Darius’s sixth year.
6 And the folk of Israel appear,
The priests, the Levites, and the rest
Of those from captivity’s zest
Who joined them, did according to
The writ in book of Moses due.

Beloved, see how the civil servants scramble
To obey orders of the earthly bramble!
But let Your Word go forth in purity
Without the hand of king to set it free
And they will turn against it in a spree.
The human heart is darkened by the choice
Made to turn from commandments to rejoice
In wicked ways and wicked lays of din,
All grovelling in prodigies of sin.
Beloved, see how the civil servants now
Turn from Your truth to set the evil plough
Upon the backs of poor and needy where
The greed of merchants struggles for its share.
I turn from every church and synagogue,
From every mosque and perch caught in the fog.

7 They offered at the dedication
Of the temple of YHWH’s elation
One hundred bulls, two hundred rams,
And finally four hundred lambs,
8 And twelve he-goats for Israel’s sin
According to the number in
The twelve leaders of Israel’s tribes;
9 And the priests without diatribes
And the Levites stood decked out in
Their clothing according to kin,
For service to YHWH Ælohim
Of Israel as by the trim
Book of Moses, and the gatekeepers
Were at each gate to watch the sweepers.
10 The people of Israel who came
From the captivity in flame
Kept the Passover on the day
Number fourteen of first month’s way,
After the priests and Levites were
Purified together on spur.
11 Not all of the returned captives
Were purified, but in the sieves
The Levites were all cleansed together,
12 And they sacrificed at the tether
Passover lamb for all returned
Captives and for brothers unspurned
The priests and for themselves all earned.
13 And Israel’s folk who came back from
Captivity ate it, in sum
All those who had departed from
The country’s folk’s abominations
And sought YHWH for their own in rations.
14 They kept feast of unleavened bread
For seven days, and joyed instead
Before YHWH, 15 because He had turned
The Assyrians’ king’s will that churned
Against them to strengthen their hand
To stand before and serve in band
YHWH Ælohim of Israel’s land.

The word abomination is a thing
Spoken as euphemism for the ring
Of idols that swept down upon the land
Of Israel from the Amorite to stand
In awful witness of the human heart
Desiring evil instead of the smart.
Who turn from the idol to You alone
To worship only You upon Your throne
Stand to receive the great reward at last
To see Your face invisible in cast.
I eat the yeastless crust and wait the day
When judgement shall fall on the world to stay
And help and hope no longer seem to go
Unbidden and unsavoured in the show.

1 ESDRAS 8

1 After these things, when Artaxerxes,
King of the Persians and such jerksies
Was ruling, then came Ezra son
Of Seraiah, one who was son
Of Azariah, of Hilkiah,
Son of Shallum and not to fry her,
2 Son of Zadok, Ahitub’s son,
Son of Amariah, the son
Of Uzzi, son of Bukki, son
Of Abishua, Phineas’ gun,
Son of Eleazar, son of
Aaron the chief priest, man of love.
3 This Ezra came from Babylon
As a scribe skilled in Moses drawn,
The law given by Ælohim
Of Israel, and not a dream.
4 The king honoured him and gave ear
To all of his requests in fear.
5 There came with him up to the town
Jerusalem some of the gown
Of Israel, some of the priests
And Levites and singers in feasts
And gatekeepers and temple slaves,
6 In the seventh year of the reign
Of Artaxerxes, in the gain
Of the fifth month which was the king’s
Seventh year; for they left the springs
Of Babylon on the first day
Of the first month and made their way
To Jerusalem on first day
Of the fifth month, by the success
Of the trip YHWH gave their address.
7 For Ezra had great knowledge, so
He left out nothing from the glow
Of YHWH’s law or his commandments,
But taught all Israel with good sense
All ordinances and judgments.

The more I read Your law, Beloved, the more
My ignorance is multiplied on shore,
And yet I must admit the faithless crowd
That stumbles at my side is so unploughed
That even ignorance of mine makes it
Seem that the human fodder is unfit.
Beloved, I read again and simplify,
I struggle with the sharp words and comply,
And pray that I leave nothing undone yet
That You require of the created set.
Why should I worry so, when preachers say
That salvation is free and without pay?
The reason is that breath still comes to stray
In nostrils with or without cross in sway.

8 What follows is a copy of
The written orders given in love
By Artaxerxes who was king,
Which was delivered to the wing
Of Ezra the priest and the scribe
Of YHWH’s law not to take a bribe.
9 "King Artaxerxes to Ezra
The priest and the scribe of YHWH’s law,
Greeting. 10 “By my gracious decision,
I have given orders and provision
That those of Jewish nation and
Of the priests and Levites and band
Of others in our kingdom’s stand,
Who freely choose to do so, may
Join you in Jerusalem’s way.
11 “Let as many as are inclined
Set off with you as have designed
I and my seven counsellors
12 “To examine the issue’s stores
In Judea, Jerusalem,
In the light of YHWH’s law and gem,
13 “And carry to Jerusalem
The offerings for Israel’s YHWH which
I and my mates have promised switch
To gather for YHWH in the town
Jerusalem the gold in crown
And silver in Babylon’s land,
14 “Along with what the nation brought
For temple of their Lord they sought
In Jerusalem, both the gold
And silver for bulls and rams cold,
And lambs and all that goes with them,
15 “So as to offer as in gem
Offerings upon their Lord’s altar
In Jerusalem’s land afar.

Artaxerxes sees You, Beloved, as YHWH,
The God of Israel and the Hebrew crew,
And stationed in a place and time in view,
Jerusalem, the seat of Your power due.
I doubt not Artaxerxes sees the gods
Of every land under his sway of clods
As worthy of an offering and a prayer
In favour of the king who bears sway there.
I wonder what accommodation met
Is found in mind of Ezra and his set,
To have a king who helps and yet who is
Swayed by his own faint superstitious fizz.
Beloved, clear my heart and my cornered mind
Of thoughts that make my own time deaf and blind.

16 “And whatever you and your frères
Have in mind using golden wares
And silver, do it all the way
Your Ælohim decides to say.
17 “And bring the holy pots of YHWH
Given for the temple use to you
For your Ælohim who is set
In Jerusalem for a bet.
18 “Whatever else occurs to you
As necessary for the due
Temple of your Ælohim true,
You may take from the royal brew.
19 "And I, Artaxerxes the king,
Have ordered the treasurers that spring
In Syria and Phoenicia bring
Whatever Ezra the priest and
Scribe of the law come from the hand
Of the Most High Ælohim asks,
They’ll take care of him and his tasks,
20 “Up to a hundred talents weight
Of silver, and likewise on plate
Up to a hundred cors of wheat,
A hundred baths of grape juice treat,
And salt as much as can in rate.
21 “Let all things ordered by the law
Of Ælohim by faithful paw
Be done for Most High Ælohim,
So wrath may not fall on the reign
Of the king and his sons in pain.

Man fears the thunder of the gods, I trow,
Often before he promises a rate
Strung out in taxes for his family fate.
That’s the beginning of the hymn somehow.
Humble the man may seem as lowly cow
Ingratiating cattle-lot and grate,
Granting the offering of the cleric’s state.
Hypocrisy is nothing he’d allow.
Along the meadows of my contemplation,
Laughing for unbrooked benefits in brief,
Only too well I realize my station
Hugely amounted, yet without my grief.
I bring my gold and silver with my hand
Making retraction of the hopeful band.

22 You are also informed that no
Tribute or any other stow
Should be set to priest or Levite
Or temple singer or the wight
That keeps the gates of temple slave
Or any hired as worker brave
In this temple, and that no one
Has right to impose on their bun
Taxes of any kind of right.
23 "And you, Ezra, according to
The wisdom of Ælohim due,
Appoint judges and justices
To judge all those who know the biz
Of your God’s law, and throughout all
Syria and Phoenicia install;
And those who do not know the thing
You shall teach them to keep and sing.
24 And all who transgress law of God
Or the law of the kingdom’s prod
Shall be punished with a harsh hand,
Whether by death or rod or band,
Fine or imprisonment to stand."
25 Blessed be YHWH only, who put this
Into the heart of the king’s bliss,
To glorify His house which is
In Jerusalem for a quiz,
26 And who honoured me in the sight
Of the king and his counsel wight
And all his friends and nobles might.
27 I was encouraged by the aid
Of YHWH my Ælohim who stayed,
And I gathered together men
From Israel to join me again.
28 These are the principal men, by
Their ancestral houses and sty
And their associations, who
Went with me from Babylon’s pew
In reign of Artaxerxes king
Back to Jerusalem on wing.

I look to golden days of long ago
And wait for virtue and the vertigo
Of vague Jerusalem above the brook
Kidron and pine for flowers that once then shook
Beneath the glance of Ezra and the flames.
And yet I hear that clerics without blames
In those days were exempt from any taxes.
There are no days when none deserve no axes.
Instead of fainting for the old delights
Of sweetness of Jerusalem’s fair nights,
I joy in what I have of freedom here,
Despite the fact that there are those with gear
Whose wealth is stolen from the widow’s mite
And shorn from public weal with all their might.

29 One of the sons of Phineas,
Gershom. And of the sons alas
Of Ithamar, Gamael. Of sons
Of David, Hattush in his runs
The offspring of one Shecaniah.
30 Sons of Parosh, one Zechariah,
And with him one hundred and fifty
Men inscribed and enrolled as nifty.
31 Of the sons of Pahathmoab,
Eliehoenai the son to grab
Of Zerahiah, and with him
Two hundred men, all of them grim.
32 Of the sons of Zattu set well,
Shecaniah of Jahaziel
The son, and with him three hundred.
Of the sons of Adin, Obed
The son of Jonathan, along
With him two hundred fifty strong.
33 Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah
The offspring of one Gotholiah,
And with him seventy men well fed.
34 And of the sons of Shephatiah,
The son of Michael named Zeraiah,
And with him seventy men led.
35 Of sons of Joab, Obadiah
The son of Jehiel and crier,
And with him two hundred twelve bred.

How many men come to the house of God,
Beloved, to pay their homage on the sod?
I see the warriors in their glowing dress
Come from all lands to You and to confess
The Kaaba and the one who once was born
Within its shelter from falsehood and scorn.
I see three hundred gather at the gate
And tread the place of Abraham for fate
And join with thirteen more and rise to see
The coming of Your justice and mercy.
Beloved, I see the help and hope spread wide
Before my vision and before my pride,
And hasten with an old man’s weeping eye
The great salvation under grieving sky.

36 Of sons of Bani, Shelomith
Son of Josiphiah, and with
Him one hundred and sixty men.
37 Of sons of Bebai, Zechariah
The son of Bebai, and on fire
With him all of twenty-eight men.
38 Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan
The son of Hakkatan like cannon,
And with him one hundred ten men.
39 Of the sons of Adonikam,
The last ones, their names without scam
Were Eliphelet, Jeuel, and
Shemaiah, and with them in band
Seventy men. 40 Of the sons of
Bigvai and Uthai the son of
Istalcurus, and with him stalled
Seventy men. 41 At river called
Theras I gathered them and we
Encamped there three days, and in fee
I checked them out. 42 When I found there
No children the priests or share
Of the Levites, 43 I sent then word
To Eliezar, and as spurred
To Iduel, Maasmas, 44 Elnathan,
Shemaiah and Jarib and Nathan,
Elnathan, Zechariah, and
Meshullam, who came to command
As men of wisdom, 45 and I told
Them to go to Iddo as bold,
Who was the chief at treasury,
46 And told them to tell Iddo free
And his brothers and treasurers
At that place to send us the fers
To serve as priests in the palace
Of our Lord. 47 And by mighty grace
Of our Lord they brought us good men
Of Mahli children, son again
Of Levi, son of Israel,
Sherebiah the truth to tell
With his sons and kinfolk, eighteen;
48 Also Hashabiah to preen
And Annunus, also Jeshaiah
His brother, sons of Hananiah,
And their sons, twenty men on fire;
49 And of the temple servants, whom
David and the leaders gave room
To serve the Levites, two hundred
And twenty temple servants bred;
The list of all their names as said.

When David Your Beloved gave out a job
To anyone who needed in the mob,
It looks like it was for eternity,
And every son had work and busily
For generations untold in the spree.
Descendants of the temple servants sit
With Ezra and all them are still found fit.
Today if any church signs a contract
For servants, it’s a temporary pact,
And they are like to be unemployed stacked.
Beloved, a homeless unemployed soul I
Enroll in David’s class and start to spy
On faintly whispered woods and subtle vine
To find if there is any place that’s mine.

50 So I proclaimed a fast for such
Young men before our Lord as much,
To beg of Him successful trip
For ourselves and our children hip
And cattle with us not to skip.
51 I was ashamed to ask the king
For infantry and horse on wing
In escort to protect us from
The enemies if they should come,
52 For we had told the king, "The hand
Of our Lord will be to command
Those who seek Him, and will maintain
Them in all they do on the plain.”
53 We prayed to our Lord and again
About these matters, and so then
We found Him very merciful.
54 I set apart twelve chiefs to pull
The priests, Sherebiah as well
As Hashabiah, and a swell
Ten of their kinfolk among men.
55 I measured out to them in hand
The silver and the gold in span
And holy vessels of the house
Of our Lord, which the king of mouse
And his advisers and the royal
Ones and all Israel gave in spoil.
56 I weighed and gave them six hundred
And fifty talents silver spread,
And silver pots to the amount
Of a hundred talents in count,
And a hundred talents of gold,
57 And twenty golden bowls, and twelve
Bronze vessels of fine bronze to shelve
And shine and shimmer just like gold.

Is the choice now between the golden pots
And brazen vessels in their chosen lots?
If there were twenty golden bowls I bet
The bronze ones were much larger where they set.
The golden ones were small no doubt and stayed
Within the shadow that the twelve pots made.
The brazen vessels stole regard and eye
Of every lover and each passer-by.
But only those who stayed to watch the crown
Could see the little golden bowls in town.
Beloved, I see how many follow glitter,
And how the golden soul might feel the bitter
To be neglected while the laurels fall
Upon the hollow champions at the wall.

58 And I said to them, "You are holy
To YHWH, and the vessels are holy,
And the silver and gold are promised
To YHWH of our dads and our Psalmist.
59 Be watchful and on guard till you
Deliver them to the chiefs due
Of the priests and the Levites, and
To the heads of the fathers' band
Of families in Israel,
In Jerusalem, in the well
Of the house of our Lord to tell."
60 So the priests and the Levites who
Took the silver and the gold too
And the vessels which had been in
Jerusalem and brought in bin
To the temple of YHWH to spin.
61 We left the river Theras on
The twelfth day of the first month’s dawn;
And we came to Jerusalem
By our Lord’s mighty stratagem
Which was on us, and He saved us
From every foe upon the bus,
Till we came to Jerusalem.
62 When we had been there for three days,
The silver and the gold in praise
Were weighed and delivered at least
To our Lord’s house, Meremoth priest,
Son of Uriah and increased.
63 And with him was Eleazar
The son of Phinehas and star,
And with them were Jozabad son
Of Jeshua and Moeth son
Of Binnui, who were Levites.
64 Everything was then put to rights
By count and weight and written down
As soon as it came into town.
65 And those who’d come back from the trip
Of captives offered YHWH the sip
Of sacrifice, to Elohim
Of Israel, twelve bulls in seam
For all Israel, ninety-six rams,
66 As well as seventy-two lambs,
As a thank offering twelve he-goats,
All sacrifice to YHWH in floats.

What’s holy, my Beloved? The present gas
Thinks holy is the moral kind of brass.
The gold was holy too, and so the sum
Of all the silver and the brass to come.
The pot and seam, the ram and billy-goat,
All these were holy by appointment’s vote.
The Levite and his servant, holy too,
Enter the bin and complement the view.
Beloved, You too are holy at last count,
At least when You appeared upon the Mount.
The holy is the thing that’s set apart
To be Your own, though just a donkey cart.
Let me be holy too, not by my ploy,
But by the fact that I become Your joy.

67 And they delivered the king's orders
To royal servants and to hoarders
Of governors of Coelesyria
And of Phoenicia not to weary you,
And these officials honoured folk
And the temple of YHWH in yoke.
68 After these things, the chief men came
To me and said as if in blame,
69 “The people of Israel and chiefs
And the priests and Levites in feoffs
Have not kept themselves from the strange
Peoples of the land and the range
Of their pollutions, Canaanites,
The Hittites, and the Perizzites,
The Jebusites, the Moabites,
The Egyptians, and Edomites.
70 For they and their sons have married
The daughters of these people freed,
The holy race has been mixed with
The strange peoples of land of myth,
And from the start of this the chiefs
And nobles have shared in their feoffs
In this iniquity of griefs.”
71 As soon as I heard these things I
Tore my clothing and holy my
Cloak and pulled hair from head and beard,
And sat in grief and troubled geared.
72 And all who were moved at the word
Of YHWH of Israel round me stirred,
As I mourned this iniquity,
And I sat grief-stricken to see
Till evening sacrifice occurred.

To be tri-racial is a thing deplored,
But worse than anger of the sovereign lord
Is that the kinky hairs join with the straight
And stick out wildly from unholy pate.
To pull them from the scalp does little good,
It only diminishes hair that should
Become grey in its time. The thinning hair
Does nothing to charm any anywhere.
Beloved, since you are of no race and time,
I wonder that You worry at the climb
To find a social niche where no one blights
The tri-racial soul in his days and nights.
I might have saved my hair, and so had he
Who was named Esdras on the blackened sea.

73 Then I rose from my fast, my clothes
And holy cloak torn as I chose,
And kneeling stretching forth my hands
To YHWH, 74 I said "O Lord, I’m blessed
If I’m ashamed in sorrow dressed
Before Your face. 75 Because our sins
Have risen higher than our bins,
Our errors flown to the sky’s wins
76 From the times of our ancestors,
And we’re in great sin to these shores.
77 And because of our sins and the sins
Of our ancestors with our kins
And our kings and our priests we were
Delivered to earth’s kings to stir
The sword, captivity, and spoil,
In shame until this day of toil.
78 And now in some measure mercy
Has come to us from You to be,
O YHWH, to leave to us a root
And name in Your holy place boot,
79 And to show a light for us in
The house of YHWH our Ælohim
To give us nourishment in din
And time of servitude in dream.

I’ve seen some people in the eastern way
Upon their knees sit back on heels and sway
With hands outstretched in supplication to
You for the benefits they hope are due.
So Esdras takes the time of hopeful day
To make a supplication come to pray.
It’s rare today to hear a man confess
His sins and those of fathers in address.
Apologies are so rare that I think
It worth the game to go into the clink
Of Anglican evensong to hear what
The collects claim of human wayward rut.
I doubt I’ll hear it elsewhere in the word
Of Anglo-Saxon speech and undeterred.

80 “Captive even we did not find
Ourselves forsaken by our kind
Lord, but He brought us up to grace
With Persian kings, who fed our face
81 “And they glorified our Lord’s house,
And raised Zion from trampled grouse,
To grant a tower in Judea
Around Jerusalem in awe.
82 "And now, O YHWH, what shall we say,
When we’ve these things? For in our way
We’ve broken Your law that You gave
By Your servant prophets to pave
Saying, 83 “’The land to which you come
To possess is a land in sum
Polluted with pollution of
The strangers of the land who shove
It full of their uncleanness’ sum.
84 “Therefore do not give your daughters
In marriage to their sons and fers,
And do not take their daughters for
Your sons; 85 “and do not seek once more
Ever to have peace with their store,
So you may be strong and eat good
Things of the land and leave its wood
An heirloom for your children’s hood.’
86 “And all that’s happened to us came
About because our evil blame
And our great sins. For You, O YHWH,
Lifted our sins’ burden and true
87 “To give us such a root as this.
But we turned back again to miss
Your law by mixing with unclean
Peoples of the land on their bean.
88 “Were You not angry enough then
With us to destroy us and ben
Without leaving a root or seed
Or name? 89 “O YHWH of Israel’s creed,
You are true, for we have been left
Like a root to this day bereft.
90 “Indeed, we are now before You
In our iniquities in crew,
For we can no longer stand in
Your presence because of our sin.”

Sometimes I feel that I am captive too
And sent into a country beyond view,
And yet what is my country since my veins
Contain the blood of every land in grains?
Does this text mean to say that any folk
Who mix their blood with foreigners to stoke
Pollute the land and spoil it at a stroke?
I hope not, my Beloved, because I see
My own would then be lost as family,
Because the ropes of dreams of many lands
And cultures are poured into my home sands.
And yet I turn to Israel’s God alone,
And meet You without altar made of stone,
And without temple but birch and fir stands.

91 While Ezra prayed, while he confessed,
And while he cried and lay compressed
Upon the ground before the site
Of the great temple, there came right
To him a very great crowd from
Jerusalem, men all in sum
And women and young people too,
With lamentation all in crew.
92 Shecaniah Jehiel’s son,
One of Israel’s men on the run,
Called out, and said to Ezra done,
“We’ve sinned against YHWH when we took
Strange women from the folk and brook,
But even now let Israel hope.
93 “Let’s take an oath to YHWH in scope
To divorce all our foreign wives,
With their children, 94 “as it contrives
To seem good to you and to all
Who obey YHWH by law and call.
95 “Get up and do, for it’s your job,
And we are with you in a mob.”
96 So Ezra got up, had the chiefs
Of priests and Levites in their griefs
Of all of Israel take oath
That they would do this, one and both.
And so they rose and took the oath.

Beloved, when all the men got up to throw
Out every wife made in the land to grow
And replace all with those brought in the show
From Babylon, I look and want to know.
There’s hardly help and hope for women where
Men prance and decide what they ought to wear.
There’s no chance for the turning of their hair
When You decide divorce is their best share.
Beloved, I see the line of tearful girls
Turned out of town and hearth by righteous churls,
And wonder where they went, and if they found
A shelter from the cold and heat on ground
Of stone and shard upon the road that wound
Jerusalem away. I hear the sound.

1 ESDRAS 9

1 Then Ezra rose and went out from
The court of the temple like bum
To the room of Jehohanan
The son of Eliashib man,
2 And spent the night there; and he did
Not eat food or drink water bid,
For he was mourning for the great
Iniquities of the crowd’s rate.
3 A proclamation was sent through
Judea and Jerusalem
To everyone returned in view
From the captivity in crew
To gather at Jerusalem.
4 And if any did not meet there
Within two or three days to share,
By the decision of the chiefs,
Their cattle should be seized for feoffs
Of sacrifice and they themselves
Be expelled from the crowd like elves
Who had come back from captive shelves.
5 Then the people of Judah’s tribe
And Benjamin gathered by scribe
Into Jerusalem within
Three days. This was the ninth month’s bin,
On the month’s twentieth day in skin.
6 And all the crowd sat on the square
Before the temple, shivering there
Because the weather was not fair.

The tale of wandering Jew might well begin
In coming to Jerusalem to win
And falling short a day or two, though roads
Were covered with mud, ruts from heavy loads
And people in the way. I hate to think
That Your laws are so awful on the brink
That cattle must be stolen from the poor
Who could not make it to the temple door.
But then I know the Christian Church around
Me on the frozen Finnish sort of ground
Was used to taking widows’ mite and cow,
Inheritance tax as the chiefs allow.
Beloved, I flee the temple and the state
Even if set up under Your rebate.

7 Then Ezra rose and said to them,
"You’ve broken the law to an em
By marrying strange women and
Have increased Israel’s load of sand.
8 So make confession and give glory
To YHWH Ælohim of the story
Of our ancestors, 9 Do his will,
Separate yourselves from the bill
Of the land’s folk and from the wives
You’ve taken from such foreign hives.”
10 Then all the crowd spoke up with shout
And said with a loud voice in rout,
“We’ll do as you have talked about.
11 “But we’re a big crowd in the cold,
Standing in open air not bold,
It’s not a thing that we can do
Right now or in a day or two,
Since we’ve sinned so much in these matters.
12 “So let the chiefs stay and fat catters,
And let those of us who live here
With foreign wives come to appear
Each in his turn, 13 with elders and
Judges of each place, till we stand
Free of the wrath of YHWH in band.”

The mass arranging of divorce is not
A thing to be done when it isn’t hot
Outside and when the crowd is cold and bare.
The thing to do is to arrange the scare.
The Christian Church today says to beware
Of any divorce unless taught to share
In some unfaithfulness and even that
Is not excuse for any Catholic cat.
And here You force the farming dudes to cut
Loose every dame that’s defined as a slut
Because her mom and dad in heathen rut
Failed to remember that Your name is best
Of any name of god in east or west.
I sit up and take notice of the messed.

14 Jonathan son of Asahel
And Jahzeiah son of Tikvah
Set to the task and fill the spell,
And Meshullam and Levi’s paw
And Shabbethai served them on draw.
15 And those who had returned at last
From the captivity and fast
Acted by all these orders’ mast.
16 Ezra the priest chose for himself
The leading men upon the shelf
Of their ancestral houses, all
Of them by name and by the call.
And on the first day of month ten
They started their assizes again
To judge the matter of a wen.
17 And the cases of men who had
Foreign wives, a thing that’s so bad,
Were finished by the first day come
Of the first month, and moved with rum.
18 Of the priests those brought in and found
To have strange wives were up and bound:
19 Of the sons of Jeshua son
Of Jozadak and brothers done:
Maaseiah, Eliezar, Jarib,
And Jodan also not to fib.
20 They swore to put away their wives
And to give rams to save their lives.

If I had been among the holy few
That had taken a strange wife in the pew,
I think I would have slinked away and left
The racists to their gardens and their theft
And found a house in Damascus and there
Lived in peace and in love without a care.
I wouldna swear to send my wife away
Despite the purists in their great heyday,
I wouldna leave me bairns to suffer ought
Because some fools came back with foreign plot
To dream of golden ages and such rot.
Beloved, I can serve You beside the stream
Of Syria as well as in the cream
Of Quds above Brook Kidron when I’ve got.

21 Of sons of Immer: Hanani
And Zebadiah for a try,
And Maaseiah and Shemaiah,
Jehiel and Azariah.
22 Of the sons of Pashhur to know:
Elioenai, Maaseiah’s show,
Ishmael, and Nathanael, and
Gedaliah, Elasah’s band.
23 And of the Levites: Jozabad
And Shimei for the wife he had
And Kelaiah, who was Kelita,
And Pethahiah to benight her
And Judah and Jonah at hand.
24 Of temple singers, I am crushed:
Eliashib and Zaccur hushed.
25 Of the gatekeepers: Shallum and
Telem. 26 Of Israel in band:
Of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah,
Izziah, Malchijah in fire,
Mijamin, and Eleazar,
And Asibias, and the gar
Benaiah. 27 Then of Elam’s sons:
Mattaniah and without guns
Zechariah, Jehiel and
Abdi, and Jeremoth on hand
With Elijah. 28 And of the sons
Of Zattu: Elioenai’s runs,
Eliashib, Othoniah,
Jeremoth, Zabad, Zerdaiah.

It seems the doorkeepers and singers are
The purist of the crew, purist by far.
They only have two each to represent
The sinners on the spree and on the bent.
I sing though voice is hardly one to trust,
I stand beside the door and in the dust.
My humble voice alone is temple for
The Kalender who stands outside the door.
Beloved, I take the shoes of those who pray
And hope I give them back after they pay
To the right owners so that no dismay
May fill the hearts of those who come Your way.
And while I wait outside beneath the sun
I sing a Psalm of David on the run.

29 Of the sons of my friend Bebai:
Jehohanan and Hananiah
And Zabbai and Emathis’ cry.
30 Of the sons of Bani as spyer:
Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah,
Jashub, Sheal and Jeremoth.
31 Of the sons of Addi in troth:
Naathus, Moossias, Laccunus
And Naidus, and Bescaspasmys
And Sesthel, as well as Belnuus
Also finally Manasseas.
32 Of the sons of famous Annan,
Elionas as well as man
Asaias and Melchias and
Sabbaias and Simon in band
Of Chosamaeus. 33 Of the sons
Of Hashum: Mattenai and runs
Of Mattattah and Zabad and
Eliphelet and Manasseh
And finally the last Shimei.
34 Of sons of Bani: Jeremai,
Maadai, Amram, Joel, Mamdai
And Bedeiah and Vaniah,
Carabasion and Eliashib
And Machnadebai, Eliasis,
Binnui, and one Elialis,
Shimei, and also Shelemiah,
And Nethaniah in the crib.
And of the sons of Ezora:
Shashai, Azarel, Azael,
Shemaiah, and Amariah,
Joseph, as men of Israel.
35 Of sons of Nebo: Mattithiah,
Zabad, Iddo, Joel, Benaiah.
36 All these had married foreign gals,
Whom they divorced with children pals.

I think, Beloved, the way we do things here
In heathen land, a place without Your fear,
That makes a man responsible in full
For his own children even in the pull
Of grand divorce, is at least to the fate
Of minors one You had best contemplate.
I recognize, however, in the dust
That killing pagan children is a must
If You would keep the race both pure and safe
From enemies without and warring waif.
My social conscience is a product of
My times’ progress and other crimes in glove.
Creation is a mess and even by
Survival of the fittest it goes wry.

37 The priests and the Levites and men
Of Israel settled once again
In the town of Jerusalem
And in the country round its hem.
On first day of seventh month, when
The sons of Israel were in place,
38 The whole crowd gathered at a trace
In open square before east gate
Of the temple 39 and to relate
To Ezra the chief priest and scribe
To bring the law of Moses’ side
Once given by YHWH Ælohim of
Israel. 40 So Ezra the chief glove
Brought the law, and for all the crowd,
Men and women, and all allowed
Of the priests to hear the law, on
The first day of seventh month drawn.
41 And he read aloud in the square
Open before temple gate there
From early morning till midday,
In presence of both men to stay
And women; and all of the crowd
Listened to the law read aloud.

I guess it was an easy thing at last
To read the law from dawn until repast
Of midday, since all foreign ladies were
Sent out of town with their spawn on the spur.
The lads and lassies that remained well knew
To hush and be still in the laboured crew
That listened to the law come into view.
Nobody whispered or complained a bit.
Beloved, You kept the people in a fit
Of fear with the results that sweetly sit
Upon the square to hear the proclamation
Of what they ought to do as folk and nation.
Despite the harshness of Ezra in leading,
I’d love to hear that law writ with such breeding.

42 Ezra the priest and scribe of law
Stood on the wooden platform’s claw
That had been built to raise in awe.
43 Beside him stood Mattathiah and
Shema, Anaiah, Azariah,
Uriah, also Hezekiah,
And Baalsamus at his right side,
44 And on his left came to abide
Pedaiah, Mishael to nurse,
Malchijah, and Lothasubus,
Nabariah, and Zechariah.
45 Then Ezra picked up the law book
While the whole crowd there came to look,
Since he held precedence of a’.
46 And when he opened up the law,
They all stood up straight and in awe.
And Ezra blessed YHWH God most high
The Ælohim of hosts forebye,
The Almighty; 47 And all the crowd
Answered, "Amen" and spoke aloud.
And they raised up their hands, and fell
To the ground and worshiped YHWH El.

The Sunnites when they pray all in one voice
Repeat amen after the verse of choice,
While Shi’ites will not say that fatal word
Because it is not found in Qur’an stirred.
There’s always something to be found to take
The eyes and ears away of Your law’s sake.
At any rate we’re all agreed to make
Exception for our hate in raising hands
And falling in prostration on the sands.
Beloved, I join the crowd, whoe’er they be
Who bow down at Your name’s unicity,
And take You only in the idols’ spree
That fills the world with hopely rivalry.
I turn and see the gathered prostrate bands.

48 Jeshua and Anniuth and
Sherebiah, Jamin on hand,
Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah,
Maaseiah also Kelita,
Azariah and Jozabad,
Hanan, Pelaiah, and not sad
The Levites, taught the law of YHWH
And translated the reading due.
49 Well Attharates told Ezra
The chief priest and the scribe in awe,
And the Levites who taught the crowd,
And everyone saying aloud,
50 “This day is sacred to YHWH”, while
They were all weeping without smile
As they listened to the law’s pile,
51 “So go in peace and eat the fat
And drink the sweet from where you’re at,
And send out portions to those who
Have nothing to enjoy in crew,
52 For the day is holy to YHWH,
And don’t be sorrowful, for YHWH
Will surely come and exalt you.”
53 And the Levites commanded all
The people, saying, “This day’s call
Is holy, don’t be sorrowful.”
54 Then they all went their way, to eat
And drink and enjoy every treat,
And give gifts to those who had none,
And to make great rejoicing done,
55 Because they were moved by the word
That they had been taught, and were stirred.

The Targum’s a tradition from the time
Of Ezra when the folk could hardly climb
The steepness of the Hebrew letters’ hill.
So translation came in to fit the bill.
Today the synagogue is close to fill
Despite the fact no Targum’s read but only
The Hebrew words, not to make any lonely.
When Jesus came, the Targum was read still.
Beloved, I long for hearing of Your law
Both in the syllables of brighter awe
And in the homely phrases of the tongue
I learned as child to know when I was young.
Beloved, I hear the verses once repeated
Where I bow down and where I am now seated.

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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