(ECCLESIASTICUS) WISDOM OF SIRACH CHAPTER 39 - 48

SIRACH 39

1 But he who devotes his days to
The study of the law in view
Of the Most High will seek out word
Of wisdom of the ancients stirred,
And ponder prophecies for clue.
2 He’ll keep the speech of noble men
And penetrate subtleties’ den
Of parables, 3 he will seek out
The hidden meanings without doubt
Of proverbs and be at home with
Parables’ obscurities’ myth.
4 He’ll surely serve among great men
And appear before rulers’ ken,
He’ll travel throughout foreign lands,
For he tests the good and the stands
Of evil among men. 5 He’ll set
His heart to rise early and yet
To seek YHWH who made him, and will
Make petition before the hill
Of the Most High, he’ll open lips
In prayer and make petitions’ sips
For his sins and his errorships.
6 If the great Lord is willing, he
Will be filled with the spirit free
Of understanding, he’ll pour out
Words of wisdom and with a shout
Give thanks to YHWH in prayer about.
7 He will direct his counsel and
Knowledge aright, and ponder grand
Secrets of His throughout the land.

The three sources of knowledge in the way:
The law, the prophets, and the writings sway
Are mentioned in the lines that drew the flame
Of Ecclesiasticus for the game
Of catacumens all dress up to learn
The way of righteousness and how to earn
The bliss of paradise. Beloved, discern
The wisdom of mankind in act and aim.
I rise, Beloved, before the light of day,
At least in winter with the snow to pay,
And seek You early as I come to pray.
The search is never weary, You are found
Before the jugular is up and bound.
The secret is too near to leave the ground.

8 He’ll show instruction in his teaching,
And glory in YHWH’s Torah’s pact.
9 Many will praise his wisdom preaching,
Never will it turn out unstacked.
His memory will not disappear,
His name will live as ages rear.
10 Nations will publish his wisdom,
And the assembly praise in sum,
11 If he lives long, he’ll leave a name
Greater than a thousand in fame,
And if at last he goes to rest,
It is enough he’s done his best.

The more, Beloved, I devote my days to
The study of Your Torah, it is true
That my name wanes and becomes less account
Beside the cobblestones and market fount.
If I had sought the ways of fame I might
Have built myself a monument in sight,
But that was never my intention here.
And yet I find the promise insincere.
Beloved, I do not need a thousand grand
In reputation on the shifting sand,
But I point out the wicked promise made
Since very opposite comes in parade.
I am content alone before Your throne
To turn from flesh and tears to whiting bone.

12 I still have more to say, which I
Have pondered, and to satisfy
Like the moon at full in the sky.
13 Hear me, you holy sons, and bud
Like a rose growing by the flood,
14 Send forth fragrance like frankincense,
And put out blossoms like the tents
Of a lily. Scatter the scents,
And sing a hymn of praise, bless YHWH
For all His works, 15 ascribe the due
Majesty to His name and give
Thanks to Him with praise, and so live
With songs on your lips, and with lyres,
And you shall say this in the quires
Of thanksgiving, 16 “All things are YHWH’s
Works, for they’re very good in views,
And whatever He orders will
Be done when His time shall fulfil.”
17 None can say “What is this?” “Why that?”
For in God’s time all things have sat.
At His word waters stood in heap,
And the reservoirs of the deep
At the word of His mouth to keep.
18 At His command whatever please
Him is done, and no one can freeze
His saving power. 19 The works of all
Flesh are before Him, and none mesh
In hiding from His eyes of flesh.
20 From everlasting to all time
He sees them, and there is no clime
That is a marvel in His sight.
21 None can say “What is this?” “Why that?”
For everything’s created right.
22 His blessing covers the dry flat
Like a river, and drenches it
Like a flood. 23 The nations are fit
To incur His wrath, just as He
Turns fresh water into salt sea.

I too have much to say, Beloved, as I
Look out upon the coldly winter sky
Of morning where the colours bend to left
And streaming right sink in the frozen cleft.
I too have much to say in praise to You
For consciousness of frost instead of dew,
Of stillness on the snow, the crack of tree,
The slighting groan above eternity.
Prosaically my booted feet crunch out
The punctuation of my round-about
Left for the hounds to sniff and for a doubt
Rejoice and then pass on to pay no heed
To what I may or may not have in deed,
To when I may or may not be devout.

24 To the holy His ways are straight,
Just as they are walls to the rate
Of wicked men. 25 From the start good
Things were made for righteous manhood,
Just as evil things for the hood.
26 The necessary for man’s life
Are water, fire, and iron for fife,
And salt, and flour and milk and honey,
Grape juice and oil and clothing’s money.
27 For the good all these things are good,
But they turn evil for the hood.

I must not be a holy man below
Your countenance, for I am very slow
To see straight paths in all the ways You go.
Instead I see the thicket run about
In crooked maze for rabbit’s silent shout,
The turn and twist of trail by boulder lent
The form of the dog’s hind-leg brown and bent.
Instead I see all zig-zags and the braise
Of ice cracked on the barrel in a craze
Of colours and of splintered fingers there.
There is no straightness even in the air.
The firs and birches at my window frame,
For all their straightness, have no tear or shame
To crook and crack even under heaven’s stare.

As there are ten commandments that express
The whole duty of mankind and confess
The wonders of Your power and sovereignty,
So there are ten things of necessity
For humankind to live and bank the fee.
Water and fire and iron and salt and flour,
The milk and honey, grape juice and the dour
Dress seem both biased by culture and less
Than truth. I mean an acorn and a bean
Or walnut or at least a fish in seine
Seem to my mind like necessary guess.
Perhaps You’re right, Beloved, You know the mess.
I could ask confirmation from someone
Who knows nutrition or what fashion’s done.

28 Some storm winds were made to avenge,
Which in their fury can unhenge
The mountains. In catastrophe
They spend their force in anger’s spree
Appeasing their Maker for free.
29 In His treasure-house also’s kept
For the right time fire and hail swept,
Famine and sickness, and wild beast,
30 The scorpion, vipers increased,
Venging sword to annihilate
The sinners. 31 When they keep His state
They take joy in their tasks in rate.
32 So from the start I took my stand
And wrote down my subject at hand.
33 All works of Ælohim are good,
He fills every need as He should.
34 There is no reason to complain,
“This is not good as that in wane.”
For everything comes in its time
To show its proper prose and rhyme.
35 So with heart full of joy proclaim
The righteous blessing on the name
Of the One who’s holy in fame.

I too take joy, Beloved, in the storm cloud
That breaks upon my mind and shouts aloud
Against my neighbour and against the crowd
Of Lutherans and Pentecostals loud
Who shout their way against Your law and name.
I too take joy to speak the bitter claim
Against the sinner and the craven brood
That make society I see so crude.
Ten simple words direct all humankind,
And yet there are so few not crass and blind
Who drive their lives according to Your law.
I rejoice in the vengeance of Your claw.
The thunder and the rushing rain appears
An ecstasy drowning all human tears.

Beloved, You made man gifts of life to please
With the half score of sweet necessities.
But vengeance that is stoked is less than these
By two. And that shows the ratio’s degrees
Of how You are more gracious than a threat.
I myself would be more destroyer met
Than You, who wake each morning with the bet
Of how far beyond Jupiter Your light
Might trace its dancing way before the night.
Ten things You give to humankind to sway
Him to walk in the grace of mercy’s way,
And only eight things lie in store for need
In case man lives in cruelty and greed.
Beloved, I lay hold on Your grace for creed.

SIRACH 40

1 A burden of care God has set,
A heavy yoke on all men met,
From the time that a man is born
To the day he returns outworn
To all creatures’ mother forlorn.
2 His cogitations and the fear
In his heart and omens appear
Till the day he lies on his bier,
3 Whether he sits upon the throne
Or lies in dust and ashes blown,
4 Whether he wears a sparkling crown
Or gathers a rough woollen gown,
5 His thoughts are wrath and envy’s tread,
Troubled about and full of dread
Terror of death, raging conflict.
He seeks his bed for rest untricked
And finds nightmares to fill his head.
6 His brief rest seems like none at all,
Striving in dreams as in day’s pall,
Frightened by figments of the mind,
Like one pursued and running blind,
7 Till he grasps safety and awakens
Amazed no danger threatens bacons.
8 So it is with all creatures made,
Both human and beast on parade,
But for sinners seven times in grade.

It’s true that dog and man both dream in sleep
And flee the fierce pursuer and the keep
To waken crazed and tired upon the shore
Of dawn to lap a drink and bolt the door.
But is it true the nightmare is a rage
Of seven times hotter fire in pilgrimage
Of sinners? There is no research to cast
A light on quantity of the half-mast.
Beloved, my dreams do not surpass the way
That rage around me on the earth would play
Against both righteous and against the poor,
And I wake up to find the dream is sure.
I mind my lot, if that is innocence,
Thankful to find no greater in my tents.

9 Pestilence, bloodshed, wrath and sword,
Plunder and ruin of the horde,
Famine and death, 10 For wicked ones
These were created evil stuns,
And they themselves bring on the guns.
11 All from the earth returns thereto,
And what’s from above goes there too.
12 The profit gained from unjust bribes
Will be blotted out from the tribes,
But faithfulness always transcribes.
13 Wealth caught from wickedness is like
A flash-flood in arroyo’s spike,
A heavy stream beneath the clash
Of lightning and the thunder’s crash.
14 It rises and carries the stone,
But suddenly is gone as flown.

How well, Beloved, You have described in times
Past the stock market and its ripened limes!
The money writ in paper forms comes in
With a rejoicing ‘most as sweet as sin,
And after all the blather and the din
Ekes out again and leaves one high and dry,
Another floundering beneath the sky.
Beloved, I seek my treasures in the law
Of Your lips spoken on Sinai, not straw
Of excess fodder or wine in the trough.
Catastrophe is the result of all
The striving to get more stuff on the ball
Than is due to each one born in the race
Of humankind scattered about the place.

15 The bud of violence will not
Blossom and flourish in the spot,
Because the godless root is set
On rock and not the loam’s deep net.
16 Or they’re like reeds beside the stream,
Withered before all plants that seem,
17 But goodness will never be struck,
And justice endures through the muck.
Wealth or wages can make life sweet,
But better than both is the treat
Of finding treasure at one’s seat.
18 Offspring or a town founded may
Establish one’s name for a day,
But better than either in stray
Is to attain to wisdom’s way.

Jesus the sweet quoted this proverb when
He spoke of the sower who came again
To scatter seeds upon the stony ground.
It was a joke, I guess, because I’ve found
That those who sow don’t miss the fertile mound,
But scatter well and evenly up to
But not including path and stone and slew.
Force as an argument is the fair way
That Rome always hides its plans from the gay,
But even the Scholastics on their bent
Of logic knew its fallacy and sent
Their students back to syllogisms’ pent.
Force seems, Beloved, the best plan to all men
Who rule, but there’s a way to death again.

19 Sheepcotes and orchards bring the rife
Health in prosperity for strife,
Better than either’s a good wife.
20 Wine and music delight the soul,
But better is a couple’s toll.
21 The flute and harp sing graciously,
But better’s a tongue truthfully.
22 Grace and beauty delight the eye,
But better than either to spy
Flowers that in the meadow lie.
23 Both friend and neighbour are good guides,
But none like a prudent wife bides.

Like Solomon before him, Ben Sirach
Knows that a good wife gives a man his slack.
He sets her above cattle and the fruit
Of orchards growing in season from root,
Above both wine and music in the boot,
Above the cello, piano and the flute.
He knows a wife is better than a friend
Or neighbour, even one that comes to send
His help and gear before trouble can bend.
Beloved, the Oriental kind of mind
Dotes on the queen of heart and may be blind,
And yet the barren stones of northern reach
Have no recourse other than the same peach.
It’s something every man learns each to each.

24 A brother is a helper in
The times of trouble’s perigrine,
But better than either is that
Charity that rescues the cat.
25 Silver and gold’s security
Is every man’s hope in the way,
But better than either in fee
Is sound judgement upon the day.
26 Wealth and strength build up confidence,
But better than either’s the fence
Of fear in Ælohim. YHWH’s fear
Leaves nothing in deficit’s rear,
And the one who has that need seek
No other comfort for the weak.
27 God’s fear’s a garden of the blessed,
Its shelter is shining with rest.
28 My son, don’t live a beggar life,
Better to die than beg to fife.
29 When someone has to depend on
Another table, his life’s drawn.
The neighbour’s sweets bring but disgust
To the spirit of one who must
Understand the inside of trust.
30 The tongue of shameless men find sweet
The word of begging in the street,
But the discerning man finds it
A burning fire on tongue to sit.

Fear of starvation sends a man to greet
The stranger with a kiss upon the street,
In hope that bread and wine may come his treat.
Fear of You only, my Beloved, strokes law
Of the commandments held before Your awe.
Six days of labour for fodder and straw
Suffice to bring the joy of Sabbath’s strain,
When sustenance is given in the grain.
The day of double manna comes each week
To bless all men, and yet there is a streak
Of dying by starvation of the meek.
I am not meek, Beloved, but just so my
Rulers, if they should notice my fine cry,
Would starve me without turning, without sigh.

SIRACH 41

1 O death! How bitter is the thought
Of you to the man who is brought
To peace among wealth and lot,
For the man in success and ease,
Who still enjoys life as he please!
2 O death! How sweetly comes your blow
On weak men whose strength fails to go,
Who totter and are sent out slow,
With no more sight or hope to know!
3 Do not fear death’s decree for you,
Remember it took those of crew
Before you and will come to view
For those after you in the pew.
4 So has God ordained for all flesh,
Then why should you reject out fresh
The will of the Most High? If one
Has lived a thousand years when done,
A hundred or ten, in the world
Below he has no life unfurled.

Death has three faces in the human show:
The face of fear and dread to those who glow
Still in the false belief that life is sweet;
The face of gratitude for those who meet
Death as a saviour from the troubled feet;
And last of all the face of trust and joy
That You, Beloved, who set the bounds Troy,
Give no decree to Your own children here
But what is best despite the pain and tear.
Death has three faces, cursèd Trinity,
That freezes hearts that should be turned to Thee.
But You, Beloved, have one face where I flee,
Toward You or away, I always see
The haven of creation and the free.

6 A wicked generation are
The children of sinners for star,
And senseless spawn are in the tents
Of wickedness in their presence.
6 Dominion’s lost to sinners’ sons,
Reproach falls on their spawn in tons.
7 The children curse their wicked dad,
Through him disgrace is what they’ve had.
8 Woe to you, O sinful men tossed,
Who make the Most High’s law one lost.
9 If you have sons, catastrophe
Will fall on them, you beget wee
Only for sighing in degree.
When you totter, they laugh for joy,
When you die, you are curses’ toy.
10 Whatever’s of nought must return
To nought, so too the godless earn
From emptiness and left to burn.
11 Man’s body is a fleeting thing,
But a name of virtue will ring
Forever and beyond death’s sting.
12 Take care of your name, it will stand
By you better than treasures grand.
13 The boon of life’s for days in count,
But a good name’s for the amount
Of days without number to stand.

It’s easy said to take care of one’s name,
But this world that we live in is a shame
Of destruction of every name that’s fair,
And elevation of the vile with care.
Beloved, I have no name at all but that
One name that I receive from Father flat,
Your name of grace and mercy, and the store
Of judgement on the wicked threshing floor.
The word of every man, whether in hope
Of telling truth or falsehood, has in scope
The limitations of the human mind
Well as the potential to be unkind.
Beloved, in every name by which I stand
I find nothing of good but at Your hand.

14 My sons, listen to what I say
About shame, judge of disgrace’ sway
Only by the law of my hand.
For it is not always command
To be ashamed, nor is it right
Always to blush at every sight.
15 Before your father and your mum
Be ashamed of immoral hum,
Before master and mistress blush
To tell a lie, but rather hush.
16 Before a prince and king have shame
To speak with flattery in claim,
Before the public assembly,
Have shame for any crime’s degree.
17 Before a friend, before a mate,
Be ashamed of disloyal rate,
And breaking an oath or pact’s state.
18 Be ashamed of theft by the folk
Where you have settled under yoke,
And of stretching your elbow out
When dining at the table stout.
19 Take shame when you refuse to lend,
When you defraud another friend.
20 Shame when you fail to greet one who
Has been so friendly to greet you.
21 Shame staring at a married wench,
And having thoughts to keep in trench
About another’s wife, to take
In trifle a servant girl’s cake,
To violate her bed and stake.
22 Shame on harsh words used among friends,
And after giving gifts for ends
Following them with insults’ bends.
23 Shame on you when you spread a tale,
Revealing secrets under veil.
24 These are the things that you should take
As shameful for the people’s sake,
So you might walk in favour’s wake.

These ten commandments of shame here declare
The things that should not be seen on the air.
All fit in jealously to keep the share
Of custom and of law of which beware,
But one, that’s taking of a servant girl
Who has no refuge from the master’s curl.
Some Muslims seem to think the Qur’an gives
The right to take a servant girl who lives
By the same tent. This cannot be the meaning
Of the Qur’an, because it would be screening
Away Ben Sirach’s word direct and true.
Marriage and proper such is what is due
By word of good Muhammad. I draw back
From taking what is in my power and slack.

SIRACH 42

1 But do not be ashamed of these
And sin by human ways to please:
2 Of the Most High’s law and His word,
Or judgement passed on sinful herd;
3 Of sharing costs of enterprise
Or a journey among the wise;
Or of dividing heritage
Or property in the right wage;
4 Of accurate scales in the mart,
Of tested measures and their art;
5 Of earning much or little store,
Of bargaining at merchant’s door;
Of training sons in the right way,
Beating a slave to make obey;
6 Of a lock to keep erring wife
At home, a lock against the strife
Of many hands put to the knife;
7 Of numbering each profit’s store,
Recording transactions and more;
8 Of punishment for silly fools,
Or old and sick in life’s hard schools.
So you’ll be wary before men
Who shall all know you’re wise in den.

I’ve learned to bargain a bit in my time,
And yet I wonder at the fitting rhyme
Of bargaining today with those who sit
Upon the edge of refugee camps knit
To sell a scrap or corner or a bit
Of metal to the passer-by and fit.
Is there a sale where bargaining is not
A righteous way to fulfil every plot?
Some say that it is legal when agreed
Upon by both the one caught up in greed
And the merchant who sells in desperate need.
Beloved, I’m glad that You have not made me
Interpreter of Your law on the free,
Even if I translate Your word in spe.

9 A daughter is a treasure that
Keeps her father awake on mat,
And worrying about her keeps
His rest away from where he sleeps,
For fear she shall not get a man,
And when she does and if she can,
That she’ll be hated in her plan.
10 Unmarried, that she’ll be seduced,
Or as a wife she’ll be reduced
To unfaithfulness; that she might
Conceive in her dad’s house at night
Or be barren in her man’s sight.
11 Keep a close watch on daughter so
She’ll not make you a joke to foe,
A proverb in the town, a warning
Among the folk, object of scorning
In the assembly. Make sure there
Is not lattice in her room’s share,
No window that looks on the street.
12 Let her not set her charms like treat
Before men, or spend time to greet
Married women; 13 for just as come
Moths from the wool, so harm in sum
To women comes from women’s hum.
14 Better the harshness of a man
Than spoiling a woman in plan,
Better a frightened daughter than
A disgrace in the public scan.

Ben Sirach’s way of treating women seems
To find recourse mainly in Arab dreams,
The locked room and the darkened way in keeping
Both virgin and the erring one from sleeping
With neighbour man or robber on the street.
Ben Sirach sees women just as men’s treat.
Is there no fear that sons may be seduced
By weird and woeful older ones reclused?
If boys can go to play without a chain,
Then why not girls too without pain on pain?
Beloved, the fear in human hearts is much,
And harried and unburied in the clutch
Of circumstance. I see the coloured dress
Of women at the well, hear laughter’s guess.

15 Now I’ll remember God’s great acts,
What I have seen, I’ll show the facts.
At God’s word were His works brought out,
They do His will and without doubt.
16 As the sunrise is seen by all,
So YHWH’s glory fails not to fall
On all He’s done. 17 Yet God’s saints too
Fail in justice to acts of YHWH,
17 Though God has given them work to do
As crowds to stand firm in their crew
Before His glory in their pew.
18 He searches depths, opens to view
The heart; their innermost He knows.
The Most High has all knowledge pose,
And sees from ancient times the things
That are to come in future’s wings.
19 He makes known the past and the rate
Of what’s to come, opens the gate
Of deepest secrets to relate.
20 No understanding does He lack,
Nothing at all escapes His knack.
21 Often returning in its power
Is His almighty wisdom’s hour,
He is from all eternity
One and the same without degree.
22 With nothing added or subtracted,
He needs no counsellor enacted.
23 How beautiful are all His works,
Even the glimpse of shining quirks!
24 All things live and abide in time,
Each in its purposed place and clime.
25 Each is unique, yet none in vain,
Each is good in its turn and plain,
Can their glory then ever wane?

The theological attributes waken
In Ben Sirach’s words stoked and then out-shaken.
You are omnipotent by His account,
Omniscient too, Revealer on the mount,
Eternal, One, Unchanging and the same,
Without attributes added for Your fame
And none subtracted in an evil game.
So Ben Sirach stands firmly in the view
Of attributes unadded by the crew,
Agreeing with the Shi’ite part and pew
That what You are is not in parts, but You.
Beloved, I fail to understand the start
And end of theological in art,
But take Your blessing as my worthy part.

SIRACH 43

1 The shining dome of sky is bright
Like heaven itself with glory’s light.
2 The dazzling globe of sun to rise
Is the Most High’s work in the skies.
3 At noon it bakes the earthly ground,
And who can bear its fire around?
4 Like flaming oven of hard steel,
Igniting mountains in its keel,
Its arrows fired burn up the land,
The eyes are blinded by its hand.
5 Great is YHWH indeed who made it
To whip its chariot horses fit.

The countdown of the gods upon the sky
Ben Sirach sets in order by and by,
Beginning with the sun unnamed to vie,
Aware that men still worship light and power.
Its flaming hands he sees where shadows cower,
And men seek relief from the life and flower
That wells up in the solar song and hour
To set at last where evening purples creep.
Beloved, I see the waning and new birth,
I see the cycles of the sun and earth,
And realize their Maker does not sleep.
I turn away from burning altar’s weight
And feel the cool of Your presence come late
And plunge into the fine, refreshing deep.

6 The moon marks also seasons’ round
In cycled sign upon the ground.
7 By it we know feast days and dates
Fixed by the waning of its gates.
8 Its name shows how each month renews,
How marvellous this course in cues!

These words do not resolve the issues yet,
How calendars are calculated high
On moons or suns or stars against the sky
Made clear by cycles almost to the fret.
As I follow the wane of moon I’ve met
Stout promises of days and weeks as sly
Moments accounted and arrayed as by
Computers stacked as high as the hills get.
Elated by the silver sickle’s shroud,
Lounging two weeks upon the waxing cloud,
While the moon rises, the illusion’s right
Among the stars made calendar of night.
I shake off the illusion and I find
No better than the Jubilee can bind.

9 The gloried beauty of the skies
Is the stars arrayed in such wise
To shine upon great heights and rise.
10 At His word they follow their track
And in their guard they’re never slack.
A shield against flood waters stored
On High, lighting the sky adored,
11 See how the rainbow sends its cord.
So praise its Maker, for indeed
It is a splendour majestied.
12 It arches on the sky with light,
This bow bent by God’s hand of might.
13 His word defines the lightning’s way,
And sends arrows on judgement day.
14 At the sign the storehouse lies wide,
The clouds like vultures cease to hide.
15 With glory He grants storms their power
And casts down hailstones in their hour.
16 The sound of His voice makes the earth
Tremble, before His power the berth
Of mountains shakes for all its worth.
17 By His command the south winds rise,
The wrath of the north wind in skies,
The hurricane and storm’s reprise.
18 He scatters the snow like a flock
Of birds aflutter, come to dock
Like swarms of locusts on the rock.
19 Its shining whiteness blinds the eyes,
The thoughts are choked to see it rise.
20 He shakes out frost on earth like salt,
It glitters like flowers without fault
Upon the thorn bush where it lies.
21 Out from the north He sends cold blast
That turns standing waters to last
As ice. He freezes every lake,
Arrays each pool in armour’s stake.

The primitive of humankind sets store
Upon the rainbow guiding to the door
Of universe, of fortress, and the safe:
And so concreteness is the hope of waif.
In wisdom of new science I have come
To find the rainbow in its size and sum
So unsubstantial that the steel and smoke
Of shield and weapon both fell down and broke.
If what I thought were binding cords in youth
And columns so immoveable as truth
Turn out to be just passing light and hue,
It does not mean that I must turn from You.
Reality, no matter what the cake,
Is true and truth is always for Your sake.

22 When mountain meadows scorch with heat,
And flowering plains as in flames’ beat,
23 Drops from the clouds bring life again,
The scattered dew awakes the glen.
24 His is the plan that calms the deep,
And sets the islands’ rock and steep.
25 Those who venture down to the sea
Tell parts of it in history,
And we who listen thunderstruck
26 Hear of His creatures in their luck,
Horrendous in size to amaze,
All living things, monsters to craze.
27 From Him each angel finds the way,
All His commands comes to obey.
28 There’s nothing left at all to say
Except He’s over all in sway.

Ephemeral in life, I stand amazed
By the mere counting of the harvest crazed
And cracking patterns of the islands set
West of Ecuador in the oceanette.
Galapagos is born volcanic age,
Each island spreading out in a white page
Where You write sentences in heritage,
Then send the rock away toward the east
And take another from the womb of beast.
When will Your correspondence end at last
As the first messages that were out cast
Sink back into the sea? You shake Your skirts,
Adjust Your hair, think main course and desserts,
And turn to the tasks of a day that starts.

29 Let us praise Him above, since we
Cannot fathom His depths or see
The extent of His poetry.
30 Awesome is YHWH in majesty,
And wonderful His potency.
31 Lift up your voices to praise YHWH,
Though He’s beyond your praise to do.
32 Exalt Him as with strength renewed,
Do not be weary though unviewed
Lies the bound of His multitude.
33 For who can see Him and describe?
Who can raise up a diatribe
As He is, not as sees His brood?
34 Much beyond this lies secret store,
Only few of His works outpour
Before our eyes, around our door.
35 YHWH only has made all things be,
To those who live in His fear He
Gives wisdom of eternity.

The seas that fill the immense hole that I
Dig on the shore with spade and pail comply
With the great rule of universe that You
Set in motion by Your creation’s stew.
The synergistic train of science goes
On with the generations of my toes
Crinkling the sand and arming me with thoughts
Of cold and wet, or hot and dry in pots.
Beloved, the sciences that extend out
From human heights may in their furthest doubt
Attain to fleeting and a mystic cry
Of some seagull that rises up to fly
And then resettles on the unseen wave
Of Your eternity and my lost grave.

SIRACH 44

1 Now I will praise those godly men,
Our ancestors, each in his den.
2 Abundant glory of the lot
Of the Most High, His own part sought
From ancient times. Those who subdued
In royal rate ancient men crude
In their might and their multitude.
3 Or advisers in wisdom’s grasp,
Or prophets of all things in gasp,
4 Stalwart princes among the folk,
And rulers with their staves to stroke,
Writers of skill in epigrams,
5 Composers of Psalms in their drams,
Discoursers on poetic themes,
6 Stout men established on their dreams,
At peace on their own land it seems.
All these were honoured in their time,
7 And famous in their place and clime.

I too praise ancient men and women too,
But most of all the Psalm-composing crew.
At least two women wrote Psalms still in view:
Hannah and Deborah, heroines true.
I too honour those who in times gone past
Kept Your law and repented when they cast
Outside the things permitted while they last.
To sing and do are what men were made for.
Beloved, I look back on the past in store
And recognize the heroes on Your floor.
Some fought and some resigned, but all were blessed
To do the words You spoke and they confessed.
Mind those today who follow in their wake
And bide within Your law for Your own sake.

8 Some of them were renowned and men
Still tell of what they did again.
9 Others were forgotten at death,
As though they had not drawn a breath,
They and their offspring in their den.
10 Yet those were also godly men
Whose virtues have not been forgot,
11 Whose wealth remains in family plot,
Inherited by offspring’s lot.
12 Their family goes on and on
Through God’s promise made from the dawn.
13 For all time their children endure,
Unspotted fame for ever sure.
14 Their bodies are laid out to rest,
But their fame lives on with the best.
15 In the assembly what they’ve said
Is recalled and for all men spread
To their praise and honour instead.

Wise Ben Sirach has come to realize
That not all men who were created wise
Are known and recalled by fickle folk’s fame.
The greatest of the true may have a name
Now unknown to all who live and require
A book to lead them to sing in the mire.
Wise were the words that told the fatal truth:
The greatest Psalms are lost on old and youth.
The greatest deeds of virtue fail to find
A place in human word and human mind.
But all, both praised and the forgotten swell
Are kept close in the heart of divine spell,
Ready to live again and then to tell
The ways and means of Your leading in kind.

16 Enoch walked with YHWH and was gone,
Taken up so folk of his spawn
Might learn what he brings from earth’s dawn.

The first that Ben Sirach would praise of all
The prophets and the sages under pall
Of time is Enoch, who escaped the wall.
Enoch is my instructor in the way,
I touch his robe and turban every day
I come before Your throne, Beloved, to sway.
The whirling of the sacrifice in round
Of three hundred and sixty four days’ sound
Comes to the end of the years and at last
Sees Enoch drawn up in the chariot fast
To wait for good Elijah on the sea
Of crystal without waves eternally,
Of winds perfumed in myrrh and frankincense,
Of light and shadows covering my tents.

17 Noah was just and perfect and
Gave the race a new start to stand
After destruction of the land.
Because of his obedience
There were survivors in presence,
And so the flood came to an end
With a sign to him not to bend.
18 Eternal covenants were made
With him that all flesh on parade
Should never more be blotted out
By flood come on the earth in rout.

I follow in the covenant You made
With Noah, but delight not in parade
Of the excuses the Rabbis have stayed
To flatter humankind with verdicts played.
The law that Noah knows, knows also when
The week returns on earth and sea again,
And what is clean and what unclean to eat,
It is not limited to Gentile street.
I take the Decalogue, Beloved, and yet
I add to it the ordinances set
By Noah’s Flood and by the candle flame
That guided him to cantillate Your name.
When I have spent the statutes in all hues
Of rainbow, then I’ll look for other clues.

19 Abraham was the father great
Of multitudes of nations late,
And no one has been found like him
In glory, 20 he kept the law grim
Of the Most High, was taken in
The covenant with Him, his win
Established the covenant in
His flesh, when he was tested he
Was found faithful, faithful to be.
21 That’s why YHWH swore to him in oath
That the nations would be blessed both
Though him and his posterity,
That he would multiply him like
The dust of the earth, and on spike
Exalt his children like the stars,
And make them all inherit cars
From sea to sea and from the stream
To every part of the earth’s dream.

The covenant of Noah was expanded
To Abraham who was the first commanded
To offer sacrifice and not just wheel
In circumambulation at Your heel.
The circumcision was sent down in place
To Abraham to indicate the race
Of those who follow You in every trace.
The many nations that bless Abram’s name
Appear before You with a valid claim,
Keeping the Decalogue, the covenant
Of Enoch and of Noah while they pant
In emulation of Abram in faith.
I do not follow shadow, no, nor wraith,
But see the clear command and stop my rant.

22 To Isaac too He gave the same
Promise for the sake of the fame
Of Abraham his father’s game.
23 The blessing of all men He made
The covenant to rest and stayed
Upon the head of Jacob, He
Acknowledged him by blessings free,
And gave him his inheritance,
Determining his portions’ dance,
Divided in twelve tribes in glance.

The law is now complete with Abraham:
Isaac receives the promises like lamb,
Obeys the ordinance and statute set
By You, Beloved, and greets all that he met.
But Isaac does not get new laws to keep:
His heritage is money and the deep
Soil where his flocks and words graze on the heap.
Beloved, I take the God of Isaac and
The God of Jacob, and beneath that hand
I find Your guidance and Your promise grand,
The gleams before me of the better land.
The holy twelve before me come to whirl
About the dergah floor, and at their swirl
I join the forties in their secret band.

SIRACH 45

1 From his descendants YHWH brought out
A man of mercy, who was stout
Before all creatures, and beloved
By Ælohim and man ungloved,
Moses, whose memory’s blessed, no doubt.
2 He made him equal in his fame
To the saints, and made great his claim
To bring his foes to fear and shame.
3 By his words he caused signs to cease,
YHWH glorified him in release
Of kings. He gave him commands for
His people, and showed him the store
Of His glory. 4 He sanctified
Him through faithfulness to abide
And meekness, He chose him from all.
5 He made him hear His voice and call,
And led him into the thick dark,
And gave him the commandments stark
While face to face, the law of life
And knowledge, and to teach from strife
Jacob the covenant, and folk
Of Israel His judgments’ stroke.

You sanctified, Beloved, Moses to run
His race as faithfully under the sun
As the stars in their traces and the moon
In its orbit from week to week and soon.
It’s not by faith at all, but faithfulness
That Your servants and sons come out to bless,
While those who refuse to do and confess
Your statutes are turned back to rack and rune.
Beloved, Moses is tall before Your face,
But even he’s a scholar under mace
Of Enoch, who eternally fulfils
The circumambulation of Your hills.
I cannot look upon the shining nose
Of Moses, but I follow where he goes.

6 He raised up Aaron, Moses’ brother,
A holy man like him another
Of Levi’s tribe. 7 He made a pact,
One everlasting, and made act
In the priesthood for all the folk.
He blessed him with fine garments’ yoke,
And put on him a splendid cloak.

Ben Sirach might have stopped right here, I guess,
In his description of Aaron’s fine dress.
And yet I reckon there are many who
Prefer the latest fashions in both shoe
And hat and cloak, and they will stop to read
With diligence the colours of the greed.
Quite frankly I don’t care what Aaron wore.
I even think the woollen garb in store
Pretentious. I myself wear what I find
Thrown out or in the flea market resigned.
It’s not that I do not appreciate
Both the aesthetic and symbol of state,
But I simply do not have eyes for more
Than glory seeping out under Your door.

8 He clothed him with perfection too,
And strengthened him with powers due,
And linen breeches, the long robe,
And the ephod. 9 And like a globe
He circled him with pomegranates,
With many golden bells in rates
To tinkle as he walked, to make
Their ringing heard in temple’s stake
As a reminder to the sons
Of His people before their guns;
10 With a holy garment, of gold
And blue and purple, the work bold
Of an embroiderer, and with
The judgement oracle, no myth,
The Urim and Thummim, 11 and with
Twined scarlet, the work of craftsmen,
With precious stones engraved again
Like signets, in settings of gold,
The work of jeweller, for reminder,
In engraved letters, by the binder
Of Israel’s tribes, 12 with a gold crown
Upon his turban, inscribed down
Like a signet with “Holiness,”
Distinction to be prized, I guess,
The work of a master, delight
For eyes, richly adorned in sight.

The jewellery that men and women now
Put on the wrist, the ankle, neck or brow,
Or even pierced beyond the ear in tongue
Or tit or wit or anything that’s hung,
Is still thought to have properties as great
As Urim and the Thummim to relate.
Each crystal has its form and hardness and
Its colour, but beyond that contraband,
Its mystic powers of health and stealth and hand.
For every state of mind there is a stone,
Not only for the future, but the bone
Of hear and how, of hope’s anxiety.
All things are quick imbued with dignity
Of the Creator that no man can see.

13 Before his time there never were
Such beautiful things to occur.
No stranger ever put them on,
But only his sons and their spawn.
14 His sacrifices shall be burnt
Entirely twice each day as learnt.
15 Moses ordained him, and anointed
Him with holy oil and appointed,
It was eternal covenant
For him and his offspring in cant
All the days under heaven’s slant,
To minister to YHWH and serve
As priest to bless his folk with verve
And from His name never to swerve.
16 He chose him out of all the living
To deliver YHWH offerings, giving
Incense and pleasant odours there
As a remembrance in their share,
To make the folk’s atonement bare.

It’s incense makes atonement and not blood
Gushing from Roman crosses in a flood.
If there is no atonement without shedding
Of blood there is no other kind of wedding
But that spelled with both frankincense and myrrh,
Remembrance as in intercession’s stir.
Eternal plot of Aaron and his sons
Remains with Cohens still in tons and tons,
Though few of them spread perfumes on the grate
And none come with blood sacrifice to wait.
The covenant is made with their fine clothes,
The willingness to obey on their toes,
The hope that they remember father’s gift,
And live to repair every helpless rift.

17 In His commandments He revealed
Authority for him and sealed
Statutes and judgments, and to teach
Jacob what testimonies preach,
And to enlighten Israel
With His law as he had to tell.
18 Outsiders conspired against him,
There in the wilderness, the grim
Dathan and Abiram and their
Men and the band of Korah’s share,
In rage and anger. 19 The Lord saw
And was not pleased, and in the draw
Of His wrath they were destroyed a’,
He did wonders against their claw
To burn them in the fiery craw.
20 He added glory to Aaron,
Gave him a heritage in spawn,
He divided to him the first
Of the first fruits, He so rehearsed
Food of the first fruits in great store,
21 For they eat YHWH’s offerings the more
He gave him and his offspring’s score.
22 But in the land of the folk he
Has no inheritance, and he
Has no portion among the folk,
For YHWH Himself became his stoke.

Though not a priest nor even of the state
Of Cohen, I have heritage to mate.
I too am without family goods and land,
A pilgrim on a strange and wondered strand.
I eat the offerings that come to my share,
Hardly a penny have I that I bear
From labour or from charity, yet I
Still eat bread under satin grey of sky.
My apples and my berries from the wild
Are not the first fruits of a garden mild,
Nor are they brought with faith or hope or trust,
And yet they glimmer luscious by the dust.
Like priest I have no portion on the earth,
But You, Beloved, are everything of worth.

23 Phinehas Eleazar’s son
Is the third in the glory won,
For he was zealous in YHWH’s fear,
And stood fast, when the people near
Turned back, in the right goodness brought
Of his soul, and atonement sought
For Israel. 24 Therefore a pact
Of peace was set with him by act,
For him to be the temple chief,
And of his people for relief,
That he and his descendants meet
Should have the priesthood’s dignity
For ever and eternally.
25 A covenant was also cut
With David, Jesse’s son to strut,
Of the tribe of Judah: the lot
The king is from the son begot
Only to son, so heritage
Of Aaron is for his sons’ wage.
26 May YHWH grant you wisdom in heart
To judge His people for their part
In righteousness, so that their lot
May not disappear, and their glory
May endure in eternal story.

Here’s one occasion that atonement made
Came from the death of one or two who stayed
As sacrificial offerings on parade.
A chief of Israel took a princess to
His tent to engage in the sacred cue
Of the fertility cult Canaan knew.
When Phinehas found them, he thrust a spear
Through both those holy bodies without fear,
And so they died in an atonement dear,
Like Jesus on the cross and Baal once laid
In Hades waiting for the accolade
To rise and start the fair for being paid.
The faith of human hearts is still the same,
Deceitful, sure of pagan fire and flame.

SIRACH 46

1 Then Joshua the son of Nun
Was mighty in the wars he won,
And was Moses’ successor in
His prophesying. He became,
As it would seem too by his name,
A great saviour of God’s elect,
Avenging foes that would expect
To rise against them, so he could
Give Israel its heritage good.
2 How glorious he was when he
Lifted his hands and stretched out free
His sword against every city!
3 Who before him had stood so firm?
He waged YHWH’s battles to their term.
4 Was not the sun stopped by his hand?
And did not one day come to stand
As long as two? 5 He called upon
The Most High, the Mighty One drawn,
When enemies pressed all around,
6 And the great Lord replied in sound
Of hailstones great in weight and pound.
He cast down battle on that nation,
And at Beth-horon’s indication
He destroyed all resistance there,
So all nations might know his share
To fight before the eye of YHWH,
For he followed Almighty’s view.

This Joshua seems to want to live his day
And night in light of the sun in its sway.
He need not have committed wonders then.
He could have acted like birds and not men.
The arctic tern, they say, also delights
In living where there are no darkened nights,
And flies from the north pole to seek the glare
Of its eternal summer in the bare
And southern attitudes’ eternal ware.
Beloved, I too turn toward You who must be
My sunlight, and I fly in strategy
Across a world of twists and burns to find
My basking place beneath Your throne in kind.
The arctic tern and I, we are not blind.

7 And in the days of Moses he
Did a loyal deed, he and wee
Caleb the son of Jephunneh:
And they withstood the assembly,
Restrained the people from their sin,
And quelled their murmuring in din.
8 And these two alone were preserved
Out of six hundred thousand swerved
People on foot, to bring them to
Their heritage, a land of new
Flowing milk and honey as dew.
9 And YHWH gave Caleb strength that stayed
With him to old age, he waylaid
The foe in the hill country and
Gained for his children lots of land.
10 So all the sons of Israel saw
That it is good to follow YHWH.

Jah indeed! My Beloved, I find the way
That Joshua and Caleb saved the day
An inspiration in my roundelay.
It seems that I too hear a drummer’s voice
That is not known by others for their choice,
Not by six hundred thousand strong I see
March out against the market and the spree.
Be my reward a sip of milk and honey
And leave to others coin and paper money.
Beloved, the whirling in the desert may
Have been a punishment for those astray,
But some like Joshua and Caleb run
The gauntlet of the years and just for fun
I join them in the light and dark for ray.

11 The judges also, with their names,
Those whose hearts did not fall in flames
Of such idolatry and who
Did not turn away from Lord YHWH,
May their memory be blessed too!
12 May their bones revive from the place
Where they lie, and may the name’s trace
Of those who have been honoured live
Again in their sons come to give!
13 Samuel, belovèd by his Lord,
A prophet of YHWH, set restored
The kingdom and anointed chiefs
Over his people for reliefs,
14 By the law of YHWH he judged all
The congregation, and YHWH’s call
Watched over Jacob on the wall.
15 By his faithfulness he was proved
To be a prophet, and as moved
By his words he was widely known
As a trustworthy seer grown.
16 He called upon YHWH, Mighty One,
When his enemies pressed and won
On every side, in sacrifice
He gave a sucking lamb and nice.
17 Then YHWH thundered from heaven, and made
His voice heard with mighty parade,
18 And he wiped out the leaders met
Of the folk of Tyre and the set
Rulers of the Philistines yet.
19 Before time of eternal sleep,
Samuel called men to witness deep
Before YHWH and His Messiah:
“I have not taken any draw
Of property, not so much as
A pair of shoes as leather has.”
And no man accused him of that.
20 Even after he had gone flat
To death he prophesied and showed
To the king his death and his road,
And lifted up his voice aloud
From the earth in prophecy’s shroud,
To blot out all the wickedness
Of the people in their address.

The ways of death are clear it seems to me
In Ben Sirach’s sight, as he chose to see.
At first he finds man’s immortality
To lie in sons alone born in estate.
And then he toots aloud the deathly rate
As an eternal sleep beside the gate.
So far so wood, and even leaf and flower:
The concept rates Semitic on the hour.
But then he spoils his own consistency
By trumpeting that Samuel on a spree
Spoke from his dreamless sleep in prophecy.
I know the text reports the shrouded form,
But is it not much to consider storm
Of spirit speech in evidence set free?

SIRACH 47

1 After him Nathan rose to speak
Prophecy when David was sheik.
2 As the fat’s chosen from peace offering,
So David was chosen from proffering
Sons of Israel. 3 He played his strength
With lions as with young goats at length,
And with bears as lambs of the flock.
4 In his youth he killed giant’s stock
And took away the people’s shame,
When he raised his hand in the game
With a stone in the sling and struck
Boasting Goliath in the muck.
5 For he appealed to YHWH, Most High,
And he gave him strength at his cry
In his right hand to slay a man
Mighty in war, to raise the span
Of his folk as far as he can.
6 They praised him for ten thousands slain,
And for the blessing of YHWH’s reign,
When shining sceptre came to him.
7 For he wiped out enemies grim
On every side annihilating
His foes the Philistines berating,
He crushed their power even to this day.
8 In all he did he gave thanks sway
To the Holy One, the Most High,
With exaltations he sang praise
With all his heart, he loved to raise
His Maker always to the sky.
9 He set singers in altar’s way
To sing sweetly there every day.
10 He beautified the feasts and set
Their times throughout the year, and met
God’s holy name with praise so that
The temple sounded from the bat
Of rising of sun till it set.
11 The Lord took away all his sins,
Exalted his power in its dins
For ever, He gave him the pact
Of kings and Israel’s throne to act.

The secret is let out by one word slipped:
It was David who set the feasts and shipped
The yearly round throughout the land to tell
The times of gatherings of Israel.
It was a later hand that edited
The books of Moses and raised up the bid
Of Jubilees and finally pretended
That all was ancient revelation hid.
Beloved, political expedience
Gave him the right. He saw in Israel’s tents
The keeping of sacral fertility,
The times and crimes of gross idolatry,
And so he called them all to keep the feasts
Under his eye and led by godly priests.

12 After him rose up a wise son
Who’d succeeded for what he’d done,
13 Solomon reigned in days of peace,
And Ælohim gave him release
On every hand, so he might build
A temple for His name and filled
With holiness to stay instilled.
14 How wise you were from your youth on!
You overflowed a river drawn
With understanding from your dawn.
15 Your soul covered the earth, and you
Filled it with parables and true.
16 Your fame spread to countries far-off,
You were loved for your peace in trough.
17 For your songs, proverbs, parables,
For your interpretations’ pulls,
All marvelled and forgot to scoff.
18 In the name of YHWH Ælohim,
Who is called Israel’s Ælohim,
You gathered gold like tin and seam
Of silver like lead piled to beam.

So peace was given for a single slot
In all of Israel’s days and years in plot,
Not for the comfort of the old and sot,
The young at breast, the weaker women taught,
But rather that Solomon might succeed
In building up a monument to greed.
Beloved, I cry You down. I see the ways
That humankind builds and builds up for praise,
And reckon that the common hut of old,
The cave and brush fire so one shan’t be cold
Are far superior to all things built,
To pyramids and temples that must wilt
Before eternity. The greater house
Is inner chamber where there is no mouse.

19 But you were struck with womankind,
And put your body in a bind.
20 You stained your honour and defiled
Your spawn and so brought anger wild
On your own children and brought grief
For your last folly in belief,
21 So that the sovereignty was rent
In twain and out of Ephraim’s tent
Arose a reign in evil bent.
22 But YHWH never relinquishes
His mercy, nor lets some of his
Works perish, He will not blot out
Descendants of His chosen clout,
Destroying the posterity
Of him who loved him, and so he
Gave a remnant to Jacob, and
To David a root from his stand.
23 Solomon slept with his dads, and
Left one of his sons in his stead,
Full of folly and without bread
Of understanding, and whose name
Was Rehoboam, who for shame
Caused the folk to revolt in blame.
Also Jeroboam the son
Of Nebat, caused Israel when done
To sin and gave to Ephraim
A sinful way. 24 Their sins became
Exceeding many, till their claim
Was removed from the land. 25 For they
Went after every sort of way
Of wickedness and had to pay.

You erred, Beloved, in thinking dynasty.
That’s very human, but Your Majesty
Is not a man to err, nor son of man
To lie and spoil whatever lies in scan.
You did a better job with Saul and sons:
You kept the father but released the buns
Of all his offspring. David with his guns
Was a good choice, but decadence arises
As soon as generations change their prizes.
The fatal promise made to David in
A moment of Your weakness does for sin
Perpetuation in the human din.
Out with all human governments and show
Your law and hand alone and don’t be slow.

SIRACH 48

1 The prophet Elijah like fire
Rose and his word burned like torch dire.
2 He brought a famine upon them,
And by his zeal he made them few
In number. 3 By the word of YHWH
He shut out the heavens from them,
And also three times brought down fire.
4 How glorious you were, O Elijah,
In your wonderful deeds to hide you!
And who can boast for right like you?
5 You raised a corpse up from death and
From Hades, by the word to stand
By the Most High, 6 who brought down kings
To their destruction, and the stings
Of famous men up from their beds,
7 Who heard rebuke at Sinai and
Judgments of vengeance at the sand
Of Horeb, 8 who anointed kings
To inflict retribution, and
Prophets to succeed you at hand.
9 You were raised in whirlwinds of fire,
In fiery horses’ chariot squire,
10 You now expect appointed time,
As it is written, to calm clime
Of Ælohim’s wrath before it
Breaks out in fury where they sit
To turn the father’s heart to son,
Restore the tribes that Jacob won.
Blessed are those who saw you and those
Who’ve been adorned with your love’s rows,
For we also shall live when done.

Like fire, indeed, Your prophet came to be,
And yet he was a master of the sea,
The earth and whirlwind, all the matters three.
He called down rain, he stopped the skies above,
He piled the earth with things to hate and love;
He parted Jordan River with a cloak
And showed his rulership of waters’ yoke:
Like fire, indeed, Your prophet’s sophistry.
Beloved, I know that good Elijah wakes
Still in his occultation for men’s sakes,
And rides the canopy of clouds to find
Fair Enoch reigning still above the mind,
And Jesus caught up in the light to bring
The Guided One upon the earth to sing.

12 Elijah by whirlwinds was hidden,
Elisha filled his spirit bidden,
In all his days he did not shake
In front of any ruler’s stake,
And no one brought him down to stay.
13 Nothing was too hard for his sway,
And when he was dead in the way
His body prophesied one day.
14 As in his life his wonders rose,
So in death his deeds were of those
To marvel at. 15 But after all
This the people did not hear call
To repent, they did not forsake
Their sins, till they went in the wake
Of captives from their land and then
Scattered on all the earth in den.
The folk were left but few beneath
The house of David in sad wreath.
16 Some of them obeyed Ælohim,
But others increased sin in stream.

Anyone with a bit of time and thought
Caught in the round of human doings wrought
Would know not to expect that wonders told
Every prevented sinners being bold.
So what if the dead bones of prophets made
The dead come back to life and on parade!
Such marvels are not calculated best
To raise morality in east or west.
Beloved, if You think miracles will bind
Our hearts to You, You are a God that’s blind.
It is a mystery why men will do
Your will while others here fail to be true.
It is a mystery why some go down
To the grave without faith before the town.

17 Hezekiah strengthened his city,
And brought water in for its pity,
He tunnelled the sheer rock with tools
Of iron and built for water pools.
18 In his days Sennacherib came
And sent Rabshakeh in his claim.
He lifted up his hand to fall
On Zion and made a great ball
Of boasting in his arrogance.
19 Then their hearts were shaken in stance
And their hands trembled, and they stood
In anguish, like women in brood.
20 But then they came to call on YHWH
The merciful as well as true,
Stretching out their hands in His view,
And the Holy One quickly heard
Them from the sky and He was stirred
To save them by Isaiah’s hand.
21 The Lord struck the camp of the band
Of the Assyrians and He sent
His angel to destroy their tent.
22 Hezekiah did what YHWH wanted,
Held to the ways of David vaunted,
His ancestor, and what Isaiah
The prophet commanded to try you,
One great and faithful in his view.
23 In his days the sun started back
And went the wrong way on its track,
He lengthened the life of the king.
24 By the spirit of might on wing
He saw the last things, came to bring
Comfort to those who mourned in Zion.
25 Revealing what should come to try on
At end of time, he showed the things
Hidden before their occurrings.

Prediction is not what makes me doubt here:
It’s rather these two miracles I fear.
I can believe by stretching in a faint
That dead bones raised to life a fresh corpse quaint,
But that the sun returned upon its track
Is something my worldview counts up as slack.
I’ve heard so many tales of saints and bards
That I am sceptical of all men’s cards.
Beloved, work miracles or not, I go
My way each day to find Your law in glow.
It needs no grand embellishment to show
The humble, simple pathway that is right,
The way to peace and love, respect and right.
I need no miracles beyond the night.

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.

To purchase the books, please go to:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-genesis-to-maccabees/paperback/product-20136835.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-job-to-revelation/paperback/product-20050862.html