ISAIAH CHAPTER 7 - 12

ISAIAH 7

1 It happened in times of Ahaz
The son of Jotham who was son
Of Uzziah that Judah has
Had for a king, that Rezin fun
King of Syria and Pekah
Who was son of Remaliah,
The king of Israel, went up to
Jerusalem to give it rue,
But could not conquer it when done.
2 And it was told to David’s house
And spoken then “Syria’s grouse
Is joined with Ephraim, the mouse.”
And his heart was moved and the heart
Of his folk as the trees that start
In the wood move by the wind’s part.
3 Then YHWH said to Isaiah, “Go
Out now to meet Ahaz in show,
You and Shearjashub who’s your son,
At the end of the conduit done
On upper pool in the highway
Of the fuller’s field on a day;
4 “And say to him, ‘Be careful and
Be quiet, do not fear the band,
Nor be fainthearted for the two
Tails of these smoking brands in crew,
For the fierce wrath of Rezin with
Syria, and Remaliah’s myth.
5 “Because Syria and Ephraim,
And the son of Remaliah grim,
Have taken wicked plans to set
Against you, saying 6 “Let’s go get
Judah and trouble it and make
A breach in it for our own sake,
And set another king in it,
The son of Tabeal, man fit:”
7 So says the Lord YHWH, “It shall not
Succeed, nor come to pass the plot.”
8 “For Syria’s head is Damascus,
And Damascus’ head’s Rezin’s curse,
And within sixty-five years’ run
Broken Ephraim shall be done
And no more be a folk for fun.
9 “And Ephraim’s head’s Samaria,
Samaria’s head’s Remaliah’s claw.
If you do not believe, then you
Will never be set in your pew.”’”

I too have spoken impudently to
Those in authority over my pew
As did Isaiah to Ahaz when he
Promised that You would save him faithfully.
I’ve seen my impudence make chiefs doubt what
I had to say, and so the fault in glut
Fell on me and I suffered at the butt.
Isaiah is no wiser in my view.
Beloved, Ahaz might have believed if You
Had told Isaiah to say just the true
Without the threat that unbelief would track
The king out of his throne and with a smack.
But then You are just not a diplomatic
Bloke meeting both the greedy and fanatic.

10 Moreover YHWH spoke to Ahaz
Again and uttering this jazz:
11 “Ask a sign of YHWH Ælohim,
Ask either in the depths’ pazaz
Or in the heights above that gleam.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask,
Neither will I tempt YHWH in task.”
13 And he replied, “Listen here now,
O house of David like a cow,
It is enough you tire out men,
But will you weary God again?
14 “The Lord Himself shall give a sign:
See how a virgin shall combine
And bear a son and call his name
God-is-with-us, but you’re to blame.
15 “Butter and honey shall he eat,
He’ll learn to reject evil’s street,
And choose the good as for a treat.
16 “And before the child comes to know
How to reject the evil show
And choose the good, the land you fear
Will be forsaken with its gear
By both of her kings come to steer.
17 “YHWH shall bring on you and your folk
And on your father’s house a stroke
Of days that never came before
From the day that Ephraim set store
Away from Judah by the score
Of the king of Assyrian shore.”

The woman was a virgin when the prophet
Spoke these words, but it’s not a thing to scoff at
That she was married in time to receive
The seed of her conception on the sleeve.
The sign was not virginity, but that
You’d intervene before a child that sat
Upon its mother’s knee could utter scat.
If the child meant is one born without dad
Some hundreds of years later on the pad,
Then it’s no sign at all to King Ahaz,
And makes Your word a laughing stock and razz.
The Gospel quotes it for the name itself
To show that as in time of king and elf,
Even then You are with Your folk Yourself.

I’d think Your presence and Your aid would be
Enough for human hearts with faith and glee
Without distractions of an argument
Whether the damsel had been or not lent
To a man’s bed. The promise that You give
To save is what we need to rise and live.
I fondly wish that Ahaz had replied
With something as a sign from a sky wide,
Such as a falling star or an eclipse,
Instead of standing there with hands on hips.
Then You would not have intervened to make
A mess in human expectations’ wake.
Aye, You’re responsible for what men do
Since You knew just how stupid was the crew.

18 “And it will happen in that day
That YHWH shall whistle for the stray
Fly in Egypt farthest away
Upon the river, and the bee
That’s in Assyria’s land and free.
19 “And they’ll arrive and all alight
In desolation’s valleys’ plight,
And in the holes of rocks and on
All the thorns and the bushes drawn.
20 “On the same day the Lord will shave
With a rented razor and brave
From those beyond the river, by
The king of Assyria, to ply
The head and the hair of the feet,
And it shall take away discreet
The beard also in which you vie.
21 “It shall happen upon that day,
A man will feed a heifer hay
And two sheep of the flock to stay;
22 “And it will happen they shall give
So much in milk that he will live
On butter, for all of those left
In the land and not ones bereft
Shall eat butter and honey cleft.
23 “And it will happen on that day
That every place where thousands stay
In vines worth thousand’s silver pay
Shall be in briers’ and in thorns’ sway.
24 “With arrows and with bows he’ll come,
Because the whole land’s thorny sum.
25 “And every mountain shall be ploughed,
And never shall be fear endowed
With briers and thorns, but it shall be
For sending out oxen for free,
And for the little sheep in spree.”

The future is a thing to fear, it seems,
Through ignorance. It shows in feeble gleams
To king and prophet till Your word reveals
The time that destroys and the time that heals.
It matters not whether water and bread
Or butter and honey are victuals fed,
The anxious mind recalls the past in dreams
And looks on future with the vision’s dread.
Beloved, I hear the cantillation set,
The vasty humour of the words that get
But faint response from humankind who’ve met
The enervating priestly function, yet
I hope with the intensity that finds
Your path that earth and sky open the blinds.

ISAIAH 8

1 Moreover YHWH said to me, “Take
A large scroll, and write in its wake
With a man’s pen concerning one
Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz the son.

Does woman ever have the chance to speak?
Let lusty men who say their sex is weak
Ask rather can a woman hold her tongue.
Such are the men that women live among.
In secret they contrive to state their case
Against oppression in this time and place:
When least expected, thunder, whispered word,
An eyebrow raised, a single laugh that stirred
The wrath if not the consciences of kings.
Ah, women deal in many, many things.
Without renown, they prophesy to men
Who merely turn, forget their names again:
The wife of such and such the title runs.
They prophesy in what they call their sons.

The fact is that the son was never named
Immanuel, it seems, for the king shamed.
Instead his virgin cum mother preferred
To name him with a word that had been stirred
With prophecy and guileless hope for best.
Immanuel is unknown east and west.
It does not matter, my Beloved, if none
Bore that name under Ahaz’ burning sun.
What matters is that You bear names that show
That You are with Your creatures on the go.
And as You rise from throne to seek the rate
Of Your rule and opened celestial gate,
You still remain beside the smallest child,
No matter what his name is in the wild.

2 I took good witnesses to write,
Uriah the priest and the wight
Zechariah who was the son
Of Jeberechiah when done.
3 I went into the prophetess
And she conceived and bore to bless
A son. Then YHWH said to me, “Call
Him Maher-shalal-hash-baz all.

I guess Isaiah’s wife was prophetess
Not only in living at the address
Of prophet, but because she came to guess
What You would tell the man to call his son.
She was a prophet when she jumped the gun.
Or then, Beloved, You heard a mother’s cry
And forced the dad to listen to the try
Of womankind to raise a voice, be heard.
What ever happened, my heart is still stirred
To hear divine revelation unblurred.
My mother also gave me my own name
Because of what she had experienced tame,
Proud to be sprung from Pocahontas’ fame,
So Thomas Rolf contributed a claim.

Beloved, give me a name of consequence,
A name that has both meaning and some sense,
A name like Mahershalalhashbaz so
The women will stop here to see my show.
Quick to the prey and hasten to the spoil
To rob the reckless ones of half their toil,
Increase my store of love and faith and hope
So that I may learn in a world to cope.
Beloved, give me a name to mind the way
You hasten to deliver night and day,
To delve in justice in the burning noon
And bring the right into the world and soon.
Beloved, give me a name to keep in heart,
Remembering Your mercy’s loving part.

4 Before the child can say the words
Dadda and momma, all the birds
Of Damascus and Samaria’s
Spoil shall be taken without cause
By the great king of Assyria’s.
5 YHWH spoke also to me again
And said 6 “Since this people in den
Refuses Shiloah’s waters then
That flow in quiet, and rejoice
In Rezin and Remaliah’s choice,
7 Now therefore, see, the Lord will bring
Up on them the waters in spring
Of the river, a current strong,
The king of Assyria come along,
And all his glory, and he’ll rise
Upon over all his streams in size
And overflow his banks in guise.
8 And he shall pass through Judah; he
Shall overflow and in his spree
Reach to the neck, and stretch his wings
To fill the width of your land’s stings,
But El is with us in the flings.

No matter what the kingly recompense,
No matter what the royal punishments,
Above the clouds of dust and spoil You stand,
Beloved, forever with us in the land.
The sea may overflow the wondered banks,
The river may dry up before the tanks
Of the domestic tyrant or the waves
Of the invader coming to make graves,
But beyond pestilence, Beloved, You sit
Among the righteous as they wait the fit
Of holocaust or just the global wit.
Beloved, Assyrian kings go out no more,
Assyrians themselves are caked with gore
And scattered where the winds of earth propound
The story of mankind in battle sound.

9 Confederate, you people, and
You will be broken on the sand,
Listen now, every distant land,
Belt up, yet broken you’ll not stand,
Belt up, yet broken you’ll not stand.
10 Take counsel, still your plans shall fail,
Proclaim decrees, they’ll not prevail,
For El is with us and our band.
11 For YHWH spoke to me outright so,
And taught me that I should not go
In the way of this people’s show,
Saying 12 “Don’t say ‘A federation,
To all of those who hear the ration
Of this folk saying federation,
Don’t be afraid when they are scared,
Nor fear destruction unrepaired.”
13 Sanctify YHWH of hosts Himself;
And let Him be your fear on shelf,
And let Him be your dread and dared.
14 He’ll be a refuge place and true,
Yet stumbling stone, offending rock
To both houses of Israel’s stock,
A gin and snare to those who dwell
Within Jerusalem a spell.
15 And many among them shall stumble,
And fall down broken, where they grumble
Be snared and taken when not humble.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal
The law to my disciples’ heel.
17 And so I shall await on YHWH,
That hides His face from the house view
Of Jacob, and I’ll seek His due.
18 See, I and the spawn YHWH gave me
Are signs and wonders that may be
To Israel from YHWH of hosts,
Who dwells in the mount Zion’s coasts.
19 And when they shall say unto you,
“Enquire of those who have a crew
Of their familiar spirits, and
Of wizards that peep and demand,”
Should not a people seek their God,
And not the living to the sod?
20 To Torah and witness thereof,
If they speak not for push and shove
According to this message, it
Is because they’ve no candle lit.

The Qur’an also makes the charge that all
Should take the Torah written on the wall
As the criterion of great and small.
I take the Decalogue, Beloved, and show
That all the Torah is with grace aglow,
And in that light of revelation I
Find all the answers that I need to try.
It is amazing that a few small words
Illuminate all duty for the herds
Of humankind. Parameters of life
In Torah save both energy and strife.
I take the witness that is clear and find
That it reveals quick who and what is blind
And where and which are truly of good mind.

21 And they shall pass through troubles and
Through hunger, till it come to stand,
That when they’re hungry they shall fret
And curse their king and their God yet
And look up to find what is set.
22 And they shall look unto the earth;
And see there trouble, darkness’ berth,
Dimness of anguish and they’ll be
Driven to darkness by degree.

The prophet promised to the king his son
Would be called the Immanuel when done,
But the fact is the wife came in to say
A different name and in an different way.
Both You and dear Isaiah changed the set
To Maher-shalal-hash-baz for a bet.
That’s no doubt why the prophecies that come
After such promises like steady rum
Keep saying El is with us. I’m not dumb.
I see how both of you contrive to state
The thing over and over in the gate.
Be reconciled, Beloved, Isaiah too,
To what the mother said a name would do.
Through humankind You learn what is a mate.

ISAIAH 9

1 But darkness shall not always stay
Upon the earth of troubles’ sway,
If the past time covered with shame
The land of Zebulon and name
Of Naphtali, then time to come
He’ll raise in grace the sea’s way’s sum,
Beyond the Jordan and the land
Of Galilee where nations stand.
2 The folk who walked in darkness saw
A great light, those who lived in awe
Of death’s land, on them light shone grand.
3 You’ve multiplied the people and
Increased the joy, their joy in band
Before You is like the rejoicing
In harvest or when men are voicing
The victory and the spoil in hand.
4 You’ve broken down his burden’s yoke,
The staff upon his shoulder’s stroke,
The rod of his oppression’s span
As in the day of Midian.
5 For every shoe brought in the noise,
And every garment rolled in blood
Shall be thrown in the flames and fire
Shall consume them cast in the mud.
6 For unto us and to our joys
A child is born, a son to sire
Is given and the ruling hire
Shall be upon his shoulder dire;
The wonderful counsellor and
The mighty God, Father to stand
Forever, he shall call his name
The Prince of Peace for his acclaim.
7 The increase of his government
And peace have no end, are not spent
Upon the throne of David sent,
And on his kingdom in its set,
Establishing with judgement met
And justice from this day unto
Eternity. The zeal of YHWH
Of hosts this thing shall come to do.

The name is singular, and so the string
Must be divided at the proper ring,
And take only the last expression taught
As the name of the one that we have sought.
The other words tell who it is who calls
The name above the glowing stars and stalls.
Beloved, the pagan hope in children born
In stables under stars to be forlorn
Before three kings and at the shepherds beck
Will grasp at straws and often make a wreck
Of Your clear word that You are God alone,
That You are sole Creator on the throne.
And yet the faithful too desire to find
A prince of peace among the august blind.

8 The Lord sent a message to Jacob,
A call to Israel to wake up.
9 And all the folk shall know and see,
Ephraim and Samarian dandee
That say in pride of a hard heart,
10 ”The bricks have fallen down, but we
Will build up with hewn stones to start,
The sycamores are cut down but
We’ll exchange them for cedars’ glut.”
11 So YHWH shall set up foes to be
Against Rezin, join enemy
Together. 12 The Syrians before,
And Philistines behind the door,
And they shall consume Israel
With open mouth. For all this spell
Of His wrath has not turned away,
But His hand’s stretched out still to pay.
13 For the folk do not repent at
Smiting of them nor does the brat
Seek YHWH of hosts, 13 so in one day
14 YHWH will cut off the head and tail
And branch and rush from Israel.

No doubt accommodation made to Rome
After the Hellenizing trick at home
By Pharisee and Sadducee at last
Made Israel fugitive and outcast.
It’s not the cutting off of time and space
To leave Jerusalem in her disgrace,
But that the faith and faithfulness grew weak,
The circumventing of the law to seek
Survival under the imperial hand:
That was the final cutting off in band.
Beloved, if Israel is lost to You,
Catastrophe’s beyond the human view.
Theology of replacement’s a shoe
That fits more poorly than the sinful crew.

15 The elder and the magistrate
Take over as the head of state;
The lying prophet in his rate,
He is the tail and reprobate.
16 The chiefs of this folk make them err;
Destruction on the follower.
17 That’s why the Lord shall have no joy
In their young men in His employ,
He’ll have no mercy on orphan
And widow, for all in His scan
Are hypocrites and wicked crew,
And every mouth spouts foolish brew.
Because of all of this His wrath
Is not turned away from the path,
But His hand’s stretched out still in view.
18 For wickedness burns like a fire,
It shall devour the thorn and brier,
And kindle in the wood and glade,
Mounting up high like smoke arrayed.
19 So through the wrath of YHWH of hosts
The land is darkened, in their boasts
The people shall be fuel for fire,
None sparing brother from the pyre.
20 And he shall snatch on the right hand
And be hungry, and he shall eat
On the left hand, and all the band
Shall not be satisfied with treat,
But every man cuts to devour
The flesh of his own arm in power.
21 Manasseh, Ephraim and yet
Ephraim and Manasseh set,
Together against Judah met:
For all this His wrath is not stayed,
But His hand stretched out still arrayed.

The burden of this song’s a hand stretched out,
And caught among the briers and thorns for clout.
The reason is that all authorities
Lead people out to stray and where they please.
Today praise goes to leadership ability,
When leadership is always an aswillity.
Position is synonymous today
With leading people in a wicked way.
Beloved, I turn from every form of power
And seek You only in the sacred tower
Of Your word speaking on the mount an hour.
Let every sect of Judah and the great
Manassic Ephraim pass from my gate.
I set You only in my heart and state.

ISAIAH 10

1 Woe to those who decree unjustly,
And write out griefs in pride and bustly,
2 To turn the needy from their right,
And take the portion from the sight
Of My people away, and make
Of widows their prey and in wake
Plunder the fatherless in stake.
3 And what will you do in the day
Of visitation and the sway
Of desolation from afar?
To whom will you flee for a car?
And where will you leave glory’s star?
4 Despite Me they shall bow beneath
The captives and some fall with wreath.
For all this His wrath does not cease,
But His hand’s stretched out to increase.
5 Assyrian, the rod of My wrath,
The staff in their hand is the path
Of indignation I release.
6 I’ll send him on hypocrisy,
Against the folk my wrath will see
I give him orders, take the spoil
And take the prey, and tread the coil
Down like the mire on street and soil.

If gross invasion is a punishment
Sent by Your hand on every nation spent
In false gods and in lack of justice lent,
Then I see Your hand everywhere I’ve bent.
In fact I doubt that Your hand’s in the power
That tramples under tank and gun each tower
Of humankind’s achievements in the dour.
The whip today is in the day to come
The broken clout, the dowsed with fire and rum.
But Your good prophet says the truth a while
When he hopes that the folk repent from guile.
Let me, Beloved, take message heart to heart
And learn in faithfulness to do my part,
Obeying each commandment from the start.

7 But he in fact does not think so,
Nor does his heart with such thoughts glow,
But it is in his heart to bring
Destruction on the nations’ spring.
8 For he says “Are not all my chiefs
Kings? 9 “Is not Calno in reliefs
As Carchemish? Is not Hamath
As Arpad? And Samaria’s wrath
As Damascus? 10 “As my hand’s found
The kingdoms of the idols’ ground,
Whose graven images were great
More than Jerusalem’s estate
And of Samaria in sound?
11 “Shall I not do as I have done
To Samaria and her spun
Idols to Jerusalem too
And to her idols come in view?”
12 That is why it shall come to pass,
That when the Lord performs the mass
Of His work on the fortress mount
And on Jerusalem in fount,
I’ll punish the fruit of the stout
Heart of Assyrian king in rout,
And the pride of his high looks’ band.
13 For he says “By strength of my hand
I have done this, by wisdom grand,
For I am wise, and I’ve removed
The bounds of the folk as I proved,
And robbed their treasures and I’ve put
Down the inhabitants on foot
Like a hero in courage suit.
14 “And my hand has found as a nest
The wreath of the folk and the best,
And as one gathers up the eggs
That are left I have gathered dregs
Of all the earth, and there was none
That moved a wing or after stun
Opened the mouth or peeped a gun.”

The kings that lay waste to the earth presume
In every age that You have given room,
Either that You are on their side for doom,
Or that Your idol is too small to care
Or interfere with their hands on the share.
Methinks both thought though contradictory
Are those of every Christian prince to see,
Or of their spawn in secular slavery.
Beloved, the one who vaunts today shall stand
Upon a brook and at a glassy strand
And hear Your voice no longer of command
But in the judgement that is due to those
Who disobey Your statutes and would close
The open door of grace on those You chose.

15 Shall the axe boast itself on those
That cut wood with it, not their toes?
Or shall the saw stand up in pride
On one to push it side to side?
If the rod should shake against those
That lift it up, or the staff rose
By itself as though not of wood?
16 Therefore shall the Lord YHWH of hosts
Send to His fat unhardihood,
And underneath his glory’s boasts
He’ll kindle burning fire that roasts.
17 And Israel’s light shall be a fire,
His Holy One a flame and pyre,
It shall burn and it shall devour
In one day both his thorn and brier.
18 It shall consume his forest’s glory,
Of his fruitful field soul and body,
And they shall be as when the man
That bears the standard hits the can.
19 And the rest of his forest trees
Shall be few so a child may please
To count them all numbered with ease.

The poor vehicle of Your wrath that burns
Upon the populace of earth that learns
Is really not like wooden staff that spurns
Or rod in hand to strike upon the ferns.
You gave the power to decide to each man
And woman on the earth, both slave and span
Of pretence, and we all each day choose good
Or evil in our pathway through the wood.
Beloved, You do cast down before the gale
Or before slow corruption of the sail
The captain of the fleet that would prevail,
But still each makes his choices and returns
To doom and judgement for the thing he earns.
It really is no complicated tale.

20 And it shall come to pass that day,
The remnant of Israel to stay,
And those escaped from Jacob’s house,
Shall no more depend on the grouse
That struck him, but shall trust in YHWH,
Holy One of Israel and true.
21 The remnant shall return to be
The remnant of Jacob in fee,
And back to El the Almighty.
22 For though your people Israel
Be as the sand of the sea’s swell,
A remnant of them shall return,
Destruction itself then shall burn
To overflow with righteousness.
23 For the Lord YHWH of hosts shall make
An end determined for the sake
Of all the land that’s in its wake.

The picture is too rosy in the plot.
A remnant did come back to favoured lot,
But they were weak and so forlornly caught
Between the machinations of the Persians
And the Samaritans in their own versions,
And after them the Greeks and after that
The Romans come out sleek and ever fat:
It was no picnic to return excursions.
Beloved, the golden age is just a myth:
There is no day under a throne that’s with
All blessing and delight. The struggle tears
The heart and head and hands, and the foot cares
For hidden traps set in the market place,
The field, the roadway, every royal brace.

24 That’s why so says Lord YHWH of hosts,
“O My people of Zion’s boasts,
Do not fear the Assyrian,
He shall strike with a rod in plan,
And shall lift up his staff to smite
Against you, like Egyptian wight.
25 “For yet a very little while,
The indignation shall unfile,
And My wrath in their timely spoil.
26 “And YHWH of hosts shall make a whip
For him just like the slaughtership
Of Midian at Horeb’s rock:
As on the sea was his rod’s stock,
So shall he lift it up again
In the way of Egyptian den.
27 “And it shall happen on that day,
His burden shall be brought away
From off your shoulder, and his yoke
From off your neck, as at a stroke
It shall be destroyed and because
Of the anointing of right laws.
26 He has come in against Aiath,
Passover into Migron’s path,
At Michmash saw his weapons’ wrath.
29 They’ve gone over the pass, and they
Have lodged at Geba for a day,
Ramah’s in fear, and gone away
From Gibeah is Saul to stay.
30 Lift up your voice, O Gallim’s daughter,
Let it be heard where Laish caught her,
O poor Anathoth without ray.
31 Madmenah is removed today,
Gebim’s inhabitants astray.
32 That day he shall remain at Nob,
He’ll shake his hand against the mob
Of Zion’s daughter and the hill
Jerusalem unburied still.
33 See, the Lord YHWH of hosts shall cut
The bought with terror and unshut.
And the high ones shall be cut down,
The haughty humbled in the town.
34 He’ll cut the thickets of the wood
With iron, and Lebanon for good
Shall fall by a strong one come down.

The seven steps up to Jerusalem
Begin at Geba’s hillock for a gem,
And reach Ramah, the highland, where it winds
About the mound of Saul, Gibeah’s rinds.
It passes through the evils of the store
Of Anathoth, to find the open door
Of Madmenah, a dunghill’s grand estate.
At last in Gebim’s flowing cistern’s rate
The cleansing miqwe prepares the soul’s hate
To stay in Nob and so repent before
Reaching the glory of the holy shore.
Beloved, I seek the seven veils to burst
Through each and leave behind the darkness cursed
Where comfort in my blindness blessed and nursed.

ISAIAH 11

1 And there shall come forth a rod out
Of Jesse’s stem, a branch in clout
Shall grow out of his roots’ redoubt.
2 YHWH’s spirit shall rest upon him,
The spirit of wisdom and vim
Of understanding, and the right
Of counsel settled in his might,
The spirit of knowledge in view,
And spirit of the fear of YHWH.
3 And it shall make him quick to know
The fear of YHWH, and he’ll not go
To judge after the sight of eyes,
Neither reprove in hearing’s guise.
4 With righteousness he’ll judge the poor,
Reprove with equity and sure
For the meek of the earth, and he
Shall strike the earth with his mouth’s fee,
And with the breath of his lips he
Shall kill the wicked in their spree.
5 And righteousness shall be the belt
About his waist, faithfulness melt
Across his back. 6 The wolf shall dwell
With the lamb and the leopard spell
To lie down with the kid, the calf
And the young lion come to laugh
Together, and a little child
Shall lead out all these beasts and wild.
7 The cow and bear shall graze in peace,
Their young ones resting in release
Together, and the lion shall eat
Straw like the ox and call it treat.
8 The nursing child shall play beside
The den of the asp and abide,
The weaned child shall put his hand in
The cockatrice’ den with a grin.

My grandfather when he was just that age,
Two years old they say of the heritage,
His family kept in the kitchen one
Big blacksnake to keep down the rats for fun.
The boy was playing with the handle set
In the churn once, and the blacksnake he met
And struck it a blow with the wooden piece
And angered the blacksnake who did not cease
Until he bit him on the arm where still
I used to see the scar stark white and grill.
There were days in the past at least when those
Who lived upon the mountains and arose
To worship You beyond the wooded stream
Were not afraid of serpents guarding cream.

9 They shall not hurt, shall not destroy
In all My holy mount’s employ,
For earth shall be filled and wholly
With YHWH’s knowledge as with the sea.
10 And in that day root of Jesse,
Which shall stand for a flag to see
Of the folk, to it shall the nations
Seek, and his rest in glory’s rations.
11 And it shall come to pass that day,
The Lord shall raise His hand in stay
A second time to keep the way
Of His folk’s remnant which is left
Out from Assyria bereft,
And from Egypt and from Pathros,
And from Cush and from Elam’s cross,
And from Shinar, and from Hamath,
And from the isles of the sea’s path.
12 He’s set up a flag for the nations,
And gathered Israel’s outcast stations,
And brought the scattered of the saints
Of Judah from the four restraints
Of all the earth from Rome to Gath.
13 The envy of Ephraim shall flee,
From Judah all adversary,
And Ephraim shall not envy
Judah, and Judah shall not vex
Ephraim for hope or health or hex.
14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders
Of the Philistines toward the boulders
Of the west, they shall spoil the east
Together, and lay hand increased
On Edom and on Moab, and
The children of Ammon command.
15 And YHWH shall utterly destroy
The tongue of the Egyptian sea;
And with His mighty wind employ
To shake His hand upon the lea
Of the river, and shall strike it
With seven streams and make it fit
For men to cross dryshod to sit.
16 There’ll be a highway for those left
Of His people and unbereft,
The remnant from Assyria,
As it was for Israel in draw
Of the day that he came up from
The land of Egypt here to hum.

You struck the Red Sea once and made it dry
So refugees could cross the flood and cry
Your praises under Miriam’s blessèd tongue.
That was a day that any might have sung.
You promise once again to strike the sea
And blow Your winds and set a people free.
How many wait in quiet aspiration
For that deliverance from desperation.
I look down on the bee-hive houses that
Dot the Assyrian desert habitat,
And do not wonder that a people there
Might truly hope to see a seabed bare,
And in the darkness and the cooling shade
I meditate the miracles You’ve made.

ISAIAH 12

1 And in that day you’ll say, O YHWH,
I will praise You, though with me You
Were angry. Your wrath’s turned away,
You comfort me upon my way.
2 See El is my salvation; I
Will trust, and not in my fear cry,
My strength and my song are Jah YHWH,
And He is my salvation too.
3 Therefore you’ll draw your water out
With joy from salvation’s redoubt.
4 And in that day you’ll say ”Praise YHWH,
And cantillate His name and do
Declare his works among the folk,
Note His name’s an exalted stroke.”
5 Sing Psalms to YHWH, for He has done
Excellent things, and this is known
In all the earth. 6 Cry out and shout,
You who live in fortress redoubt,
For great is Israel’s Holy One
To stay among you and about.

Isaiah’s Psalm’s about as good, I say,
As any David used to come and play
Before the throne of Saul, and without pay
Before the goats and sheep on a spring day.
The lovely syllable drawn from Your name,
The great Jah that I love here to proclaim
Resounds about my attic chamber while
I contemplate and cantillate in style.
I am a single soul and come to You
With the bright words that You inspired as true,
And feel the narrow sting that many throw
Against me saying ”Jew”, ”Muslim” and ”crow”.
Repay that Christian taunt, Beloved, and make
Them know that You alone rule every stake.



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