JEREMIAH CHAPTER 27 - 33

JEREMIAH 27

1 At the beginning of the reign
Of Jehoiakim son of fane
Josiah king of Judah came
This word to Jeremiah’s claim
From YHWH, saying a word of fame:
2 So says YHWH to me: ‘ Make a chain
And yokes and put them on your neck,
And send to king of Edom’s beck,
And to the king of Moab too,
And to king of Ammonite crew,
And to the ruler of Tyre and
To the king of Zidon, by hand
Of messengers which come in awe
To Jerusalem in Judah
Where is the king Zedekiah.
4 Command them to say to their masters,
So says YHWH of hosts and of blasters,
The Ælohim of Israel,
So shall you all say to your masters;
5 I’ve made the earth, the man and beast
Upon the ground, by power released
And by My outstretched arm, and gave
It to whom it seemed to Me brave.
6 And now I’ve given all these lands
Into Nebuchadnezzar’s hands,
The king of Babylon, My slave,
And the beast of the field I gave
Also to serve him in his bands.
7 All nations shall come to serve him
And his son and his son’s son grim,
Until the very time of his
Land also come under My biz,
And then many nations and great
Kings shall benefit from his state.
8 And it shall happen that the land
And kingdom not to serve the hand
Of Nebuchadnezzar the king
Of Babylon and will not fling
Their neck under the yoke of king
Of Babylon, that land I’ll sting,
Says YHWH, with sword and famine too,
And with the pestilence that’s due,
Till I’ve consumed them by his hand.
9 Don’t listen to your prophets or
To your predictors on dreams’ shore,
To your enchanters, sorcerers,
Who speak to you of what occurs,
Saying ‘You will not come to serve
Babylon’s king’ and so they swerve.
10 they prophesy a lie to you,
To take you out from your land’s view,
So I should drive you out of pew
And you should perish like the dew.
11 “But the nations that bring their necks
Under the yoke of the king’s checks
Of Babylon and serve him, I
Will let them remain in their sty,”
Says YHWH, ‘and they shall till it nigh.’”’”

In the beginning there was only reign
Of You, Beloved, and all the world was sane.
Now King Jehoiakim is here today,
Nebuchadnezzar too has come to stay.
The foolish raise rebellion in an hour
And think that You, Beloved, will save the flower
Of aristocracy. The reason that
You give no grant to changing of regime
By overthrow of everyone that sat
In world oppression, is quite simply team
That overthrows sits in the self-same seat.
The hearts of revolutionaries meet
With hands of the oppressor once the game
Is done, and everything is just the same.

12 I talked to Zedekiah too,
The king of Judah and in view
Of all these messages, and said
“Bring your necks under the yoke led
Of Babylon’s king and serve him
And his people and so live trim.
13 “Why should you die, you and your folk,
By the sword and by famine’s stroke,
And pestilence, and as YHWH spoke
Against the nation that will not
Serve Babylon’s king in his plot?
14 “And so don’t listen to the words
Of the prophets that speak their sherds
To you saying ‘You shall not serve
The king of Babylon and swerve,’
For they prophesy lies to you.
15 “’For I have not sent them,’ says YHWH,
Yet they prophesy lies in view
Of My name; so I’ll drive you out,
And so you’ll disappear from scout,
You and the prophets who lift voice
To you as though they would rejoice.’”

It seems even You, my Beloved, submit
To heathen powers in government to sit.
In that case I am wise if I restore
To Caesar everything that’s gone before.
The Huguenot was wrong then to resist:
I can recite before the icon kissed
Your ten commandments in my heart and mind
And no priest shall know that I’ve not been blind.
Until the fall of Babylon the wise
Sit in the royal pew that they despise
And cantillate the hymns to Bel and Sin
And every Trinity and thing unclean.
I wait the day of Babylon’s great fall
To see the golden writing on the wall.

16 Also I spoke unto the priests
And to all these people of feasts,
Saying “So says YHWH, ‘do not hear
The words of your prophets and dear
Who prophesy to you and say
“Behold the vessels of YHWH’s way
Shall now shortly be brought again
From Babylon,” for they are men
To prophesy lies in your den.
17 “Do not listen to them, but serve
The king of Babylon with nerve
To live; why should this city be
Cast down and made a waste to see?’”
18 But if they’re prophets and the word
Of YHWH is with them to be stirred,
Let them now intercede with YHWH
Of hosts, so that the vessels’ view
Which are left in the house of YHWH
And in the house of Judah’s king
And at Jerusalem on wing
Need not move to Babylon’s sting.
19 For so says YHWH of hosts about
The pillars and the sea and rout
Of the bases and residue
Of vessels in this city too,
20 Which Nebuchadnezzar the king
Of Babylon did not unspring
When he carried captive away
Jeconiah the son in sway
Of Jehoiakim Judah’s king
From Jerusalem to the sting
Of Babylon, and the elite
Of Judah and Jerusalem;
21 Indeed, so says YHWH of hosts’ gem,
The Ælohim of Israel,
About the vessels that stay well
In YHWH’s house and in house of king
Of Judah and Jerusalem,
22 “They shall be bourn to Babylon,
And there shall they be till the dawn
Of the day that I visit them,”
Says YHWH, “and then I’ll bring them up,
And restore them, both plate and cup.”

The lovely pots are more important than
The heart and soul of every Jewish man.
They golden pots and silver and the brass
Were long ago returned from Bel’s house mass.
The pots themselves created that fond fear
That brought the writing to Belshazzar’s ear.
Not truth nor grace nor grandeur could retain
Attention of the heathen folk and fane,
But only temple pots, the pots in store
That whistle in the desert wind the more.
Beloved, I am like others at your door:
I peer into the throne room after dawn
And see the glory spread on empty drawn,
And hear no word but silence till I’ve gone.

JEREMIAH 28

1 It happened the same year at start
Of the reign of Zedekiah,
The king of Judah for his part
In the fourth year, the fifth month raw,
That Hananiah Azur’s son,
The prophet come from Gibeon,
Spoke to me in the house of YHWH,
Before the priests and all the crew,
Saying then, 2 “So speaks YHWH of hosts
The Ælohim of Israel’s boasts,
Saying ‘I have broken the yoke
Of Babylon’s king at a stroke.
3 “Within two full years I’ll bring back
To this place all the vessels’ lack
Of YHWH’s house Nebuchadnezzar
The king of Babylon and star
Took away from this place and bore
To Babylon on river shore.
4 “And I’ll bring again to this place
Jeconiah the son in race
Of Jehoiakim Judah’s king,
With all the captives in the ring
Of Judah that went to the wall
Of Babylon,’ says YHWH to all,
‘For I’ll break the yoke of the king
Of Babylon and make him sing.’”

As in the days of Jeremiah and
Hananiah, the temple prophets stand
In their denominations to reveal
Their hopes political and wrought in steel.
One may be true among them, but to find
Such weedles in the mayracks is to bind
Both hand and heart forever in the search.
Beloved, You’ve left us all here in the lurch
Since the time that two prophets rose to speak
And make the folk and king and temple weak.
It’s hard enough to submit to the sound
Of voice prophetic with just one around.
Cacophony of conflict in the word
Is still today the thing that has hearts stirred.

5 Then prophet Jeremiah said
To Hananiah prophet bred
Before the eyes of priests and by
The eyes of all the folk come nigh
To stand there in the house of YHWH.
6 And prophet Jeremiah said
*Amen, let YHWH be by you led,
And act according to your words
That you have prophesied for curds
To bring back the vessels into
The very house of Lord and YHWH,
And all the captive people too
From Babylon into this pew.
7 “Yet you will hear what I say too,
To you and all the people’s crew.
8 “The prophet before my time and
Before your time of ancient stand
Prophesied both against the lands
Of many countries and the bands
Of great kingdoms of war and plague
And pestilence and evils vague.
9 “Prophet prophesying Islam,
When the word of the prophet come
To pass, then shall the prophet be
Known, that he has come in YHWH’s decree.”

The beggars of theology would make
The word of Jeremiah truth in stake:
Fulfilment of prediction is the test
To prove a prophet’s speaking for the best.
But fact is Jeremiah makes no claim
Of how to tell the right from wrong in flame:
He only vaunts the fact that Babylon
Has taken Jerusalem like a pawn,
And prophesying the contrary is
A foolish thing before the facts in biz.
Beloved, the mind of faith grasps at fine straws,
Distracts from Your commandments and laws,
Predictions and fulfilments of men’s hopes
Turn hand and heart back to their darkened scopes.

10 Then prophet Hananiah took
The yoke from off the neck and crook
Of prophet Jeremiah’s neck,
And broke it and made it a wreck.
11 And Hananiah spoke before
All the people and said what’s more,
“So says YHWH, even so I’ll break
The yoke of Nebuchadnezzar
King of Babylon from the stake
Of all nations both near and far
Within the space of two full years.”
And prophet Jeremiah steers
His way departing from their wake.

See how the wicked prophet who speaks peace,
The name of Islam for the fond release
Of violence upon both just and poor.
His victory is evident and sure.
He too can prophesy by wondered sign,
And break the yoke of wood, both oak and pine,
And cry aloud in rhetoric as fine
As that You inspire with or without wine.
Beloved, I see Your beaten prophet go
In silence from the singing choirs that show
Your glory to the heavens, I see him lone
Down through the centuries without a bone
To chew for comfort, just an empty dish,
And rarely five loaves and a pair of fish.

12 Then the word of YHWH came back to
Jeremiah, after the view
Of prophet Hananiah breaking
The yoke from off the neck forsaking
Prophet Jeremiah, to say:
13 “Go and tell Hananiah, say
‘So says YHWH: “You have broken yoke
Of wood, but you shall make by stroke
A yoke of iron for each bloke.
14 “For in this way” says YHWH of hosts
The Ælohim of Israel’s boasts:
“I’ve put an iron yoke upon
The neck of all these nations drawn,
So they may serve Nebuchadnezzar
King of Babylon like a Caesar,
And they shall serve him, and I gave
Him beasts of the field too like slave.”’”
15 Then said prophet Jeremiah
Unto prophet Hananiah,
“Hear now Hananiah, for YHWH
Has not sent you, but it is you
Who make this folk trust in a lie.
16 “That’s why YHWH says now: ‘Indeed, I
Will cast you from the face of earth.
This year you shall die in your berth,
Because you’ve taught rebellion here
Against YHWH and against His fear.’”
17 So Hananiah prophet died
The same year and the month decried,
The seventh month and left his gear.

In the beginning prophecy was true,
And every man that took in hand to do
The prophet’s task spoke truly from the Lord.
But as the reign of kings began, the sword
And flattery came in to reign instead
Of truth and grace and what, Beloved, You said.
False prophecy breaks off the yoke of wood,
The simple, few commands that told what should
Be right behaviour, and brought in their place
A yoke of iron, bowing to public face
And all the many customs that restore
The pecking order and put You out door.
I wait Your great salvation from the king,
The purse, the president, and those who sing.

Does casting spells of witchcraft that succeed
In killing others on the spot of greed
Prove that the witch is instrument to feed
Your glory and Your purpose on the wall?
From the outback of aboriginal
To Africa and the great turtle’s back
Such witches are not rare and are not slack.
If You are sovereign, so the scholars say,
Then all that happens happens in Your sway,
And by Your sovereign will, and so today
Is bright with war and plague because You slay.
Beloved, if you were just and true,
And merciful, no doubt You’d kill the crew
With the ark and let no soul slither through.

JEREMIAH 29

1 These are the words set in the writ
That Jeremiah, prophet fit,
Sent from Jerusalem to those
Elders left among captive rows,
And to the priests and prophets, and
To all the folk there in the band
Nebuchadnezzar carried off
As captives from Jerusalem
To Babylon for them to scoff.
2 After that Jeconiah king
And the queen and the eunuchs’ hem,
Princes of Judah and the town
Of Jerusalem, and craftsmen
And smiths who had departed then
From Jerusalem; 3 By the hand
Of Elasah, son of Shaphan,
And Gemariah son by plan
Of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah
The king of Judah sent by crier
To Babylon and to the king
Of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar,
Saying, “So says YHWH of hosts, appeaser
Of Israel, to all those bourn
Away as captives, whom forlorn
I’ve cause to be carried away
From Jerusalem to the sway
Of Babylon: 5 “Build houses there,
And live in them, plant gardens fair
And eat the fruit of them in share.
6 “Take wives and beget sons and daughters;
Take wives for your sons, give your daughters
To husbands, that they may bear sons
And daughters; and be multiplied
There and not diminished in pride.
7 “And seek the peace of the town where
I have caused you to be bourn there
As captives, and pray to YHWH for
The peace of it, for in its peace
You shall have peace and its increase.

In every place and kingdom where the crowd
Gathers pretending to praise You aloud,
The Huguenot, the Lutheran, unproud
The Orthodox all pray for king and state,
For president and for the country’s fate.
It is the thing most politic at last
And bound to keep the peace with flag full-mast,
And yet I wonder whether at the time
It was good Hananiah who gave rhyme
To faithfulness to You. When Jeremiah
Was useful his writings were treasured higher
To make the Persians feel secure that Jews
Had always been their faithful catecues.
Beloved, keep me safe from poetic muse.

8 So says YHWH of hosts, Ælohim
Of Israel, “Let not the dream
Of prophets and diviners beam
Among you for deception’s fate,
Nor listen to your dreams of late
Which you’ve spun in your wishful thinking.
9 “They prophesy falsely in blinking
To you in My name; I’ve not sent
Them,” says YHWH. 10 YHWH will so present
That “After seventy years have passed
On Babylon, I’ll come at last
And perform My good word to you,
And bring you back to stall and pew.
11 “For I know the thoughts that I think
Toward you,” says YHWH at the brink,
Thoughts of peace and not evil stink,
To give you an awaited end.

It was a brave thing Jeremiah did
By setting a specific day in bid.
But then the people could not bring in proof
Fulfilment of the prophecy or goof
Because by then both folk and Jeremiah
Would all be in their graves or at least nigh her.
All prophets are a cunning breed and fill
The oracle with things to fit the bill.
Beloved, I’m tired of prophets and of words
Revealed by greedy hearts and stinking turds.
Let me have just Your sermon on the mount,
A drought of clear and cool water from fount
Of heavenly glory and of earthly use
Instead of prophets and wicked abuse.

12 “Then you shall call on Me a Friend,
And you shall go and pray to Me,
And I will listen to your plea.
13 “And you shall seek and then find Me
When you search to your heart’s degree.
14 And I shall be found by your soul,”
Says YHWH, “and I’ll turn back the toll
Of your captivity, and I
Will gather you from all the lie
Of nations and places where I
Have driven you,” says YHWH, “and I
Will bring you to this place again
From which I drove you captive men.”

Beloved, I lack at this moment some years
Of seventy in exile with my tears.
And yet with every passing day my heart
Longs less and less for the place of depart.
My grandmother’s no longer there for start.
The railroad shops are gone, the house is set
Apart in flats that college students let,
The grocery on the corner is long gone,
The river that was such a mystery
Is now a muddy ditch as all can see.
I might as well stay on in Babylon
And hang my harp upon the willow tree,
Forget the songs of Zion in the dawn
And turn at evening from their history.

15 Because you’ve said “YHWH’s raise for us
Up prophets in Babylon’s muss;”
16 Surely so says YHWH of the king
Who’s sitting on David’s throne’s wing,
And of the people who stayed well
In this city a time to dwell,
Who did not go out with you too
Into captivity in crew;
17 So says YHWH of hosts: “See, I’ll send
On them the sword and famine bend,
The pestilence and make them like
Spoiled figs too bad to eat a pike.
18 “I’ll persecute them with the sword,
With famine and with plagues unstored,
And set them to be removed to
All the kingdoms of earth in view,
To be a curse and to amaze,
To be a hissing and a craze
Among all the nations where I
Have driven them under the sky.
19 “Since they’ve not listened to My words,”
Says YHWH, “which I sent to their birds
By My servants the prophets to
Rise up early and send, but you
Would never listen,” so says YHWH.
20 “So hear the word of YHWH, all you
Of the captivity, whom I
Have sent from Jerusalem to
Babylon:” 21 So says YHWH of hosts,
The Ælohim of Israel’s boasts,
“Of Ahab son of Kolaiah,
Zedekiah son of Maaseiah,
Who prophesy a lie to you
In My name; See, I’ll send them to
The hand of Nebuchadrezzar
The king of Babylon and star,
And he’ll kill them before your eye.
22 “And of them shall be taken up
A curse by all those gone to sup
Captivity of Judah who
Are in Babylonian crew,
Saying ‘YHWH make you be like such,
Zedekiah and Ahab touch,
Whom Babylon’s king roasted well
In the blazing fire for a spell.’
23 “Since they’ve done wrong in Israel,
And commit there adultery
With the wives of their yeomanry,
And spoken deceit in My name,
Which I’ve not commanded in claim,
Even I know and a witness,
Says YHWH to answer their address.

How much deceit, Beloved, have I heard spoken
In Your name by the preachers for a token
Of Gospel, when they say that what You said
On Sinai was a word unseemly spread,
A thing that no man could accomplish here,
A lie told by God to keep men in fear!
There’s not a single priest or preacher known
Who will admit the ten commandments shown
Should all be kept as they are written down.
They all have catechisms with a frown
That tell why Sabbath is not to be kept,
And why You are not one but three unswept,
And when to kill is the more valiant way
To foster US interests on the way.

24 “So shall you speak to Shemaiah
Also the Nehelamite’s paw,
Saying 25 ‘So utters YHWH of hosts,
Ælohim of Israel to say
“Because you have sent in your name
Letters to all the folk in claim
Of Jerusalem and unto
Zephaniah the son in due
Of Maaseiah the priest, and to
All the priests saying for their rue:
26 “’YHWH’s made you priest to stand in place
Of Jehoiada the priest’s face,
So you should be chiefs in the house
Of YHWH, for every man to douse
Himself as a prophet you must
Put him in prison in the dust.’
27 “Now then why have you not reproved
Jeremiah of Anathoth,
Who makes himself a prophet moved
To you without your being wroth?
28 “Because he’s also sent to us
In Babylon, making a fuss
To say that it is long to wait,
So build houses and sit in gate,
And plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”’”
29 And Zephaniah the priest moot
Read this letter to Jeremiah,
The prophet, and let his ears nigher.

Let well enough alone is the good word
Of Jeremiah faced by bitter curd
Of life in Babylon. Don’t live in hope
Of justice and mercy beneath the pope.
Lie low, don’t rock the boat, and build a house,
And live to help your sons to find a spouse.
Imperial in action must require
A population to provide the fire
Of income and of benefit to those
Who rule. And so a certain lowly pose
Is to one’s benefit. One need not build
A temple and have priests among the skilled.
It is enough to read the Torah law
At home and guard the actions of one’s paw.

30 Then came word of YHWH to the man
Jeremiah, saying in plan:
31 “Sent to all those who sit in rows
Of the captivity that shows:
‘So says YHWH about Shemaiah
The Nehelamite, “Since Shemaiah
Has prophesied to you, though I
Did not send him, you trust a lie.
32 “That’s why” says YHWH; “See, I will send
Shemaiah the Nehelamite,
And his offspring to make an end:
He shall not have a man to dwell
Among this folk of Israel;
Neither shall he see the good I
Do for this people by and by,”
Says YHWH; “because he came to teach
Rebellion against YHWH and preach.”’”

Your representative cannot refrain
From casting death-spells on the weakened train
Of those who would rebel against the fane
Of Babylon and Rome, Geneva and
Fair Canterbury and wherever stand
The popes of Lutherdom. In that he shows
Unpleasant influence upon his toes
Of those he fails to offend and oppose.
Benign empires, whether of Bel or sweet
Mithraic trinities upon the street
Of Dublin, always have behind the smile
Two rows of sharpened teeth to match the guile.
With innocence of mien I match the greeting
While carefully low-profiling retreating.

JEREMIAH 30

1 The message came to Jeremiah
From YHWH saying as to a crier:
2 “So speaks YHWH Israel’s Ælohim,
Saying ‘Write all these words a-beam
That I have spoken to you here
In a book. 3 “See, the days are near,’
Says YHWH, ‘that I will bring again
The captivity of My men
Of Israel and Judah,’ says YHWH:
‘And I’ll make them return then to
The land that I gave as a plot
To their ancestors, what they’ve got.’”
4 And this is the message that YHWH
Spoke about Israel in pew
And concerning Judah in crew.
5 For so says YHWH; “We’ve heard a voice
Of trembling, fear and not peace choice.
6 “Ask now and see whether a man
God into labour with the span
Of childbirth? Why does every man
I see have his hands on his paunch
As a woman in labour’s launch,
And all faces turn pale to scan?
7 “Woe! for great is that day like none,
Indeed a time of trouble done
To Jacob, still he’ll save his bun.
8 “For it shall come to pass that day,”
Says YHWH of hosts who still bears sway,
“That I’ll break his yoke from your neck
And take away your chains and wreck,
So strangers will no longer deck
Him with their obligations’ beck.
9 “But they’ll serve YHWH their Ælohim,
And David their king whom on beam
I’ll raise up to fulfil their dream.

Unless the words of the return at end
Of seventy years were added by a friend,
The prophet stuck out neck at least to bend
If not to break, by warning of demise
Of Babylon before the Persian prise.
Perhaps the danger was not too great if
The royalty remembering the stiff
Messages calling Jew and Israelite
To the submission of Babylon’s right.
The warning could be seen in favour’s light,
A chance to make a spell or token bright
To counteract the charm or prophecy,
A golden image to count off the fee
Of omen and of dream’s eternity.

10 “So do not fear, Jacob My slave,”
Says YHWH, “neither be in the wave
Of your dismay, O Israel;
For see I’ll save you from far off,
Your spawn from the land where they scoff;
And Jacob shall return and be
At rest, in quiet on the lea,
And none shall frighten his degree.
11 “For I’m with you,” says YHWH, “to save,
Though I make a full end of brave
Nations all where I’ve scattered you,
Yet I’ll not completely bestrew
You, but I shall correct your way
In measure with punishment’s sway.”
12 For so says YHWH, “Incurable
Is your bruise and your wound is full.
13 “There is no one to plead your case,
To bandage you for healing’s grace.
14 “All your friends have forgotten you,
They do not try to find your pew,
For I have wounded you by stroke
Of enemy, by cruel yoke,
For piles of your iniquity,
Your sins increased in wicked spree.
15 “Why do you cry for your affliction?
Your sorrows are uncured addiction
Because of your evil’s constriction,
Your sins expanding jurisdiction,
For this I’ve caused your dereliction.
16 “That’s why all who consume you shall
Be devoured themselves at the pall,
And all your foes and every one
Of them shall be captive and done,
And those who spoiled you shall be spoiled,
Those who prey on you be encoiled.
17 “For I’ll restore your health to you,
And I will heal your wounds of rue,”
Says YHWH, “because they called you too
Outcast, the Zion in no one’s view.”

An outcast I have been from birth, it seems,
At least I have such memories of dreams,
But for the most part I have lived a life
Without the need of any surgeon’s knife.
Whether that is because You heal my case
Or whether I have merely lived by grace,
I do not know, and thanks would seem a trace
Self-centred, since I know so many more
For whom the shelf has been less than a bore
And often hell on berth, at least in store.
Beloved, an outcast is a lovely thing,
A chance to see the world as though on wing
Above the tints of human art and showing,
Where sea is silver, and the woods are glowing.

18 So says YHWH, “See, I’ll bring again
Jacob’s tents from the captive den,
And have mercy on his home glen,
And the town shall be built again
Upon the ruins left in pen,
And the temple shall stand again.
19 “Out from them go thanksgiving’s sound,
The voice of dancers on the ground,
And I shall multiply their bound
And they shall not be few then found,
And I will glorify them round,
And they shall not be small in mound.
20 “Their children shall be as before,
Their congregations stand on floor
Before Me, and I’ll punish all
That oppress them in land or stall.
21 “Their nobles shall be of their own,
Their chief shall proceed from their throne,
And I will bring him near and he
Shall come up then approaching Me,
For who is this that set his heart
To come nearer to Me in part?”
Says YHWH. 22 “And you shall be My folk
And I’ll be your God at a stroke.”
23 See, the whirlwind of YHWH goes out
With fury, windy water-spout,
It shall fall with grief on the head
Of the wicked standing outspread.
24 The fierce wrath of YHWH’ll not turn back
Before He has performed the track
Of His hearts intents, in the days
To come you’ll stop to ponder ways.

Despite the beauty of the Hebrew words,
The trinity of thoughts is full of turds.
I do not care for all the wrath I see
In my own heart and in Scriptures’ degree.
I do not care for the racist in bill
That makes one folk Your own while others will
Drop dead beneath Your wrath and punishment.
And finally, I see no favour spent
In restoration of a temple site
To store gold in for solar gods’ delight.
Beloved, I take Your love alone and wait
For all men to be Your own in their state,
And enter in the temple without hands
That You build of my inner chamber’s bands.

JEREMIAH 31

1 “At the same time,” says YHWH, “I’ll be
The Ælohim of each family
Of Israel, and they shall be
My folk.” 2 So says YHWH, “The folk left
By the sword found grace though bereft
In desert places, Israel,
When I made him enter rest’s spell.”
3 YHWH has appeared of ancient time
To me, “Indeed I loved your rhyme
With everlasting love; therefore
I’ve drawn you in my loving store.
4 “Again I shall build you, and you
Shall be established, virgin crew
Of Israel; you shall again
Be adorned with your timbrels then,
And go again out on the earth
To dance with those come to make mirth.
5 “You shall plant vines upon the hills
Of Samaria by their rills:
The planters will plant and will eat
As common things their plantings’ treat.
6 “For there shall be a day when they
Who watch upon the mountain way
Of Ephraim shall cry, ‘Rise, let us
Go up to Zion credulous
To YHWH our Ælohim by bus.’”
7 For so says YHWH; “Sing with gladness
For Jacob and shout and confess
Among the chief of nations yet;
Publish and praise and say ’YHWH, set
To save Your people, Israel met.’
8 “See, I’ll bring them from the north lands
And gather them from far in bands,
With them the blind and lame, the dame
With child and her labouring gain
With child together, a great band
Shall return here into the land.
9 “They’ll come with weeping and with cry
Of supplications, then shall I
Lead them; I’ll make them to walk by
Rivers of waters in straight ways
Where they shall not stumble in craze,
For I’m a counsellor and dad
To Israel, Ephraim no cad
Is My firstborn upon My pad.”

I rejoice in the love that You express
To Israel, the chosen folk to bless,
Who hold the oracles divine and sure,
The promises of Sinai as a lure.
I rejoice that such love someday may be
Expanded beyond border and degree,
And that You, My Beloved, might love as much
All nations and all people from the Dutch
To Hottentot. The seed of truth is there,
And even God may learn and have a share
In development without heathen scare.
If You had seen the visions I have seen,
The earth like a sapphire upon the sheen
Of loveliness, You would know what I mean.

10 Hear the word of YHWH, O you lands,
Declare it in the isles of bands
Far off and say, ‘He that spread out
Israel will gather him about
And keep him like a shepherd flocks.”
11 For YHWH’s redeemed Jacob, ransomed
Him from the hand of stronger gummed.
12 That’s why they’ll come and sing upon
The hill of Zion and flow drawn
Together to YHWH’s goodness shown
For wheat and wine and oil and cone,
For the young of the flock and herd,
Till they are like the garden docks
Well watered, and they’ll not be sad
Any more at all for the bad.
13 “The virgin shall rejoice and dance,
Both young men and old in the prance;
For I’ll turn mourning into joy,
And comfort them and so employ
To make them rejoice from their shocks.
14 “I’ll satisfy the soul of priest
With fat, and My folk make increased
With My goodness,” says YHWH of knocks.

Beloved, You are a wonder at Your best,
But even humankind can without rest
Also perform the miracle that You
Maintain as greatest of all in Your view.
We share capacity to rise above
Both sorrow and grief to enter in love
The joy of being, even holocaust
Recedes from pain in certain moments lost.
Beloved, You turn my mourning to delight
And from the néant bring before my sight
The visions of reality behind
The shadows that I grasp when I am blind.
The alchemist of all that’s true and rare,
No stone, no mercury, no gold in share.

15 So says YHWH: “A voice has been heard
In Ramah, lamentation spurred
By bitter weeping; Rachel weeps
For her offspring, and so she keeps
From comfort for her children, for
They were no longer at the door.”
16 So says YHWH, “Stop your voice of crying,
And your eyes from tears and from sighing,
For you work shall receive reward,”
Says YHWH, “and they shall come restored
From the land of the foe abhorred.
17 “And there is hope at last,” says YHWH
“That your children will find their due.”

The wise man that wrote Matthew’s Gospel erred
Perhaps in saying this promise was stirred
On those in Bethlehem upon a year
When Herod brought the sacrifice in gear
Of firstborn and the children of his spear.
I only say this with a sigh and tear
To see the promise of the weeping came
To pass by that prediction, but the flame
Of their return has never met its claim.
The children, if they died, they are still dead,
Each one a skeleton with shrivelled head.
The crying must continue where it’s led,
While hope died two millennia in shame.
Raise up those children, I’ll believe the fame.

18 I’ve surely heard Ephraim who groans:
”You’ve punished me into my bones,
As a heifer is broken in,
Turn me back, and I’ll turn from sin,
For You are YHWH my Ælohim.
19 “After my turning back I swim
In my repentance; when I knew,
I groaned for the day of shame’s view,
And showed you how I bore reproach
From my youth till evils encroach.”
20 “Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he
A pleasant child? Since My decree
Against him, I remember still;
For him My mercy comes to fill;
I’ll surely have mercy on him,”
Says YHWH in spoken measures dim.

The simple Gospel’s always bee to say
Repentance and turning to the right way
Brings grace and mercy from eternal sway
Of Your house and Your treasured roundelay.
The treasure’s not in gold, nor yet in prayer
Of praise or in the hymn sounding on air.
The treasure is the heart divine that speaks
Within the bosom of the one who seeks.
Beloved, You make the way of life on earth
So easy and so sweet in simple worth,
Because in Your love You do not know why
Repentance is so narrow on the fly.
You hold the easy things: justice, mercy,
The human heart sighs beneath penance’ fee.

21 Set you way marks and make high heaps;
Set your heart toward the highway steeps,
The way you went; now turn again,
O virgin of Israel, let men
Turn back to these your cities’ den.
22 How long will you wander astray,
Backsliding daughter, from the way?
For YHWH creates a novelty
Upon the earth, a woman, see,
Shall compass a man secretly.
23 So says YHWH of hosts, Ælohim
Of Israel; “Yet they’ll say and deem
This speech in Judah’s land and in
Its cities, when I bring again
The folk from captivity’s pen;
‘YHWH bless you, house of justice and
Mountain of holiness to stand.
24 “There shall live in Judah itself,
And in all the cities on shelf,
The tiller and the shepherd band.
25 “I’ve satisfied the weary soul,
I’ve replenished the saddened soul.’”
26 And then I woke up and I saw;
My sleep was sweet to me on straw.

27 “See, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I
Will sow the house of Israel nigh
And house of Judah with man’s seed,
And with the seed of beast indeed.
28 “And it shall come to pass, as I
Have watched over them to pluck by
And to break down and to throw over,
And to destroy, afflicting rover;
So I will watch over them too,
To build and plant them,” so says YHWH.
29 “In those days they shall say no more,
The fathers have tasted the spore
Of sour grape, and so the teeth
Of spawn are set on edge beneath.
30 “But every one shall die in pain
For his own wickedness and vain;
Every man eating sour grape,
His teeth are set on edge for shape.
31 “See, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I
Will make a new covenant try
With the house of Israel and by
The house of Judah coming night:
32 “Not according to covenant
That I made with ancestors’ cant
In the day I took them by hand
To bring them out of Egypt’s land;
And they broke then My covenant,
Though I was a husband to rant
To them,” says YHWH to understand.
33 “But this shall be the covenant
That I will make with Israel’s plant;
After those days,” says YHWH, “I’ll put
My law in their inward parts’ root,
And write it in their hearts, and I
Will be their God, and they reply
As My own folk under the sky.

New Covenant is not something beyond
And after the Hebraic words and frond.
It comes with Jeremiah and not by
A later day and time with Jesus’ sigh.
It differs from the first in just two ways:
It’s made on heart and not on stony stays;
It’s one not to be broken in its lays.
I look about at Jew and Gentile now
And see that neither has such pact in vow.
The ten commandments though written on heart
Extend not further than the horse and cart.
And in that small extension few remain
To keep those laws here in the new domain
Neither this prophet nor Jesus impart.

34 “No more shall every neighbour teach
His neighbour, and every man preach
To his brother, saying, ‘Know YHWH,’
For they shall all know Me in crew,
From the least of them to the greatest,”
Says YHWH. “For I’ll forgive their latest
Iniquity, and their sin I
Will not remember by and by.”

As soon as Your divine law comes within
The human heart and mind, You take their sin
And never more remember what they did
And how they broke Your law when they backslid.
Beloved, write on my heart that blessèd word
That from the mount of Moses spoke and stirred
The hearer to the bone, write on my heart
The sacred graphic text once without art
Appearing on the tables of blue stone.
I read and hear the covenant once grown
Cold, barren and forgotten, yet the fire
Of promise from Your lips kindles desire
To lay my heart before Your writing pen.
Write on me now as You wrote on them then.

35 So says YHWH, who gives sun for light
By day, and ordinance by night
Of moon and stars, and who divides
The sea when the waves on its sides
Roar, YHWH of hosts, His name’s delight.
36 “If those statutes depart from Me,”
Says YHWH, “then seed of Israel’s tree
Shall also cease from being here
A nation before Me and clear.”

As long as Jew exists, You say Your law
Will also not change, but remain in paw.
Perhaps that is the reason we found best
To raise a holocaust up to the test.
If all Jews could be killed, we would be free
To ignore the commandments on our spree.
It was not flesh and blood that we destroyed,
But the imperative of the employed,
The law itself that taught the heart to hate
The flesh on which it was inscribed in state.
Beloved, to know the vast psychology
Of slaughter in human society
Is not to justify any attempt
Upon the part of well-groomed or unkempt.

37 So says YHWH: “If the sky can be
Measured and the foundations deep
Within the earth searched out to see,
Then I will also come to sweep
All the seed of Israel away
For all that they have done at bay,”
Says YHWH. 38 See, the days come, says YHWH,
That the city they shall renew
To YHWH from the tower Hananeel
To the gate of the corner heel.
39 <3The measuring line shall yet go
Out over against it to grow
Upon the hill Gareb, and be
Around about Goath greatly.
40 “And the whole valley of the dead
Carcases and of ashes spread
And all the fields up to the brook
Of Kidron, to the corner nook
Of the horse gate toward the east,
Shall be holy to YHWH increased;
It shall not be plucked up nor thrown
Down any more for ever known.”

You promise that the holy seed shall be
As long as sky’s unmeasured in degree.
Perhaps that is the motive that we see
Astronomer out to count up the fee.
If we can only set the universe
In bounds exact for better or for worse,
Then by Your own promise the people fail
And disappear beyond existence’ veil.
And when that happens the commandments fall,
And all may live by love against the wall
By the sweet jungle’s law that serves the best
And fittest with a day of gloried rest,
Instead of Sabbath of the donkey and
The servant and the son upon the land.

JEREMIAH 32

1 The word that came to Jeremiah
From YHWH tenth year of Zedekiah
King of Judah, the eighteenth year
Of Nebuchadrezzar in fear.
2 For then the king of Babylon
Sent his army besieging drawn
Jerusalem; and Jeremiah
The prophet was shut up as crier
In the court of the prison, which
Was in Judah’s king’s house for pitch.
3 For Zedekiah king of Judah
Had shut him up for being ruder,
Saying ”Why do you prophesy,
And say, ’So says YHWH by and by,
See, I’ll give this city into
The hand of king of Babyloo,
And he shall take it as his due;
4 ”And Zedekiah, Judah’s king,
Shall not escape out of the spring
Of the Chaldeans, but surely
Shall be delivered in the spree
Of king of Babylon and speak
With him face to face like a geek,
And look eyeball to eyeball weak.
5 ”And he’ll lead Zedekiah out
To Babylon to be there stout
Until I bring judgement on him,
Says YHWH, and though in battle grim
You meet the Chaldeans, you’ll not
Prosper or win the battles fought.’”
6 And Jeremiah said ”The word
Of YHWH came to me, saying stirred,
7 ’See, Hanameel son of Shallum
Your uncle shall come in to hum
To you and say “Now buy my field
That is in Anathoth to yield,
For you have got redemption’s right
Upon that field to buy in sight.”’”
8 So Hanameel my uncle’s son
Came to me in court of prison
According to the word of YHWH,
And said to me, “Buy my field, do,
That’s in Anathoth, which is in
The countryside of Benjamin,
For the right of inheritance
Is yours, and the redemption chance;
Buy it for yourself.” Then I knew
That this had been the word of YHWH.

It seems that Jeremiah had his doubts
Whether the word that came in starts and spouts
Was from You, My Beloved, or from another.
He looked for evidence convincing brother.
So when he dreamed his cousin would come by
And sell a field to him, he was not shy
To think You had a hand in it for why.
I could not count the times my wife’s done so,
And knew the future of the come and go
Of neighbour or acquaintance of old time
To step into our kitchen for a rhyme.
Does that mean that it’s You, Beloved, who speaks
To my wife by the hearth for what she peeks?
If so, I’ve got a pipeline above crime.

9 I bought the field from Hanameel
My uncle’s son, in Anathoth,
And weighed out for him by appeal
The money, seventeen in cloth
Of silver shekels not to steal.
10 I wrote it in a writ to seal
Before witnesses and weighed him
The money in fair balance trim.
11 I took evidence of the sale,
Both what was sealed by legal bale
And custom and the open grail.
12 I gave the evidence of sale
To Baruch son of Neriah,
Who was the son of Maaseiah,
In the sight of Hanameel my
Uncle’s son, and before the eye
Of witnesses who signed the writ,
Before all the Jews that would sit
In the court of the prison lit.
13 And I commanded Baruch then
Before their eyes telling the men:
14 “So says YHWH of hosts, Israel’s God;
‘Take these contracts, the writ in prod
Of purchase, both the sealed and that
Which is open and put them flat
In a ceramic pot so they
May keep for many and many a day.’
15 “For so says YWHH of hosts the God
Of Israel: ‘Houses in pod
And fields and vineyards shall again
Be possessed in this land by men.’”

Investment by obtaining worthless stock
And waiting for it to rise in the wok
Is not a bad way to increase one’s wealth:
The dividends come quietly in stealth.
So Jeremiah bought the land he knew
Would be taken by Babylonian crew,
And that he could not use as long as he
Was stuck in prison by the king’s mercy.
Beloved, I have invested in the grain
Of morning flame in sky, though sound and sane,
And put my money on the songs that cheer
The robins having moved into the near
By thickets where the arm of law has spelled
A sacred habitat for beasts unquelled.

16 Now when I had delivered writ
Of purchase to Baruch and fit
Son of Neriah, then I prayed
To YHWH, saying 17 “Lord YHWH waylaid,
See You have made the heaven and earth
By Your great power and stretched by worth
Your arm and there’s nothing too hard
For You to set about unsparred.
18 “You show mercy to thousands and
Punish iniquity of band
Of the ancestors in the heart
Of their children after their part.

I see that Jeremiah knows the speech
That You came down on Mount Sinai to preach,
And notes the mercy that You put in reach
Of thousands who love You and stay to teach
Obedience to Your law, the sweetest peach.
I see that Jeremiah knows that You
Promised to give iniquity in due
Of generations up to three or four
And thus limit the rate of wicked score.
Beloved, the hopeful climate of Your law
Is more, it seems, than humans keep in paw,
And yet the centuries that paved the way
To Jeremiah echo still today
With that great wonder and that speech and ray.

“The Great, the Mighty El, and YHWH
Of hosts, is His name, 19 Great in true
Counsel, incomprehensible
In thought: whose eyes are open full
Upon all the ways of the folk
Of Adam [red earth], to render each bloke
According to his ways and by
The outcome of his plans to spy.
20 “You have set signs and wonders in
The land of Egypt, to the bin
Of this day and in Israel,
And among men of every spell,
And have made You a name as well
As at this day. 21 “And You’ve brought out
Your people Israel from out
Of Egypt’s land with signs and wonders,
And with a strong hand and stretched thunders,
And with great terror for their blunders.
22 “And You have given them this land,
Which You swore to their fathers’ band,
Land flowing mild and honey panned.
23 “And they came in and took it over,
But did not obey Your voice rover,
And did not act by Your commands,
Not doing anything in hands
Of what You told them all to do;
That’s why You had this evil come
On them to set them on their bum.
24 “See how the cavalry appears
To take the city in arrears,
And the town’s given to the hand
Of the Chaldeans, that in band
Fight against it, because the sword,
The famine and the plague’s reward
Have come as You said would take place,
And see it now before Your face.
25 “And You said to me, O Lord YHWH,
Buy you the field for money due,
And take witnesses of the true,
For the city is given into
The hand of the Chaldean crew.”

When Jeremiah makes investment due
He does not seem too happy to accrue
The land he knows he’ll not have chance to view.
That’s foresight to be sure, since many take
Life for an unending eternity,
Millennia to find and eat their cake
Under a palm or other desert tree.
Beloved, I to spread out my wings
As though the sheen of silver in all things
Were mine forever. Such a truant way
Is bound to get me more instruction’s pay.
I bring to witness of my purchase made
The tumble of the bumble-bee’s parade,
The lily-of-the-valley green and staid.

26 And word of YHWH to Jeremiah
Came saying to him as a crier:
27 “See, I am YHWH, the Ælohim
Of all flesh, does anything seem
Too hard for me?” 28 That’s why says YHWH:
“See, I will give this city to
The hand of the Chaldeans’ crew,
The hand of Nebuchadrezzar
The king of Babylon and star,
And he shall take it from afar.
29 And the Chaldeans come to fight
Against this city, come with might
And set fire to the town and burn
It with the houses where the urn
Was filled with incense sent to Baal,
And where poured out drink offerings hale
To other gods, provoking wrath.
30 “For the children of Israel’s path
And the children of Judah do
Only evil before Me too
From their youth: folk of Israel
Have only provoked me to spell
Of anger with the work of their
Hands,” says YHWH and for Israel’s share.
31 “For this city has been to Me
A provocation in degree
Of wrath and fury from the day
That they built it up to today;
So I’d remove it from its place.
32 “Because of all the evil face
Of Israel’s folk and Judah’s too,
Which they have done to raise in view
My anger, they, their kings and yet
Their princes and their priests that met
Their prophets, and men of Judah,
Jerusalem’s people of straw.
32 “And they have turned their back to Me,
And not the face I taught to see,
Rising up early to teach them,
They did not obey offered gem.

Does Jeremiah hear You speak the word
That suggests You are like any interred
God of the temples from Damascus’ town
And all around the Middle Eastern frown?
They come at morning light to open doors,
They carry bread and incense on the floors
Of marble black and white and sometimes blue,
To waken god and goddess overdue.
The expectations of the groaning state
Are always in the heart and mind of late
Crowds and the worshippers of town and field.
A prophet though ought to have better yield.
No one can turn a back to You for You
Are everywhere I look by human view.

34 “But they set idols in the house
Which is called by My name as spouse
To make it filthy. 35 “And they built
High places of Baal on the silt
Of vale of Hinnom’s son, to make
Their sons and daughters pass for sake
Of Molech through the fire, which I
Commanded they not do with ire,
Nor did it come to mind that they
Should do abomination’s way,
To cause Judah to sin and sway.

It is no use to complain, my dear One,
Since You created humans blind for fun.
The chips fall in the gutter for the feud
Of the idolatry by those imbued.
A thousand chips and more are swept away
While only one image of art’s to stay.
So with Your own creation at the mill,
Though You are infinite in wisdom’s skill,
The crowds are mere chaff of the divine mill,
Though each flake for a moment in the light
Reflects the brilliance of the sun for spite.
You put a moment of beauty in each
Before You dump the lot in hell to screech.

36 “That’s why” says YHWH the Ælohim
Of Israel about the beam
Of this city, of which you say,
“It shall be delivered in way
Of Babylon’s king by the sword,
And by famine and plague unstored.”
37 “See, I will gather them from all
The countries where I’ve driven in stall
By My wrath and My fury’s fall,
And in great anger, and I’ll bring
Thing here again and make them sing
In safety by the crystal spring.
38 “And they shall be My folk, and I
Will be their Ælohim foreby.
39 “And I will give to them one heart
And one way to fear Me from start
For ever, for the good of them,
And of their children after them.

Beloved, You did give all mankind one heart,
The same awareness of I from the start
Illuminating every gift and sound
From crackling of sky footstep on the ground
To tinkling of the zephirs all around
The firmament beyond all human bound.
It’s only an illusion that the heart
Is lonely and divided from the part
Of all creation in eternal well.
It’s true of both Gentile and Israel.
Beloved, I look around surprised to see
So few have heart of justice and mercy,
And then remember that there’s none but this
Great heart divine that everyone must kiss.

40 “And I will make a covenant
Ages enduring and not pant
To turn away from them again,
From doing good to Israel’s men,
But I will put fear in their hearts
Not to depart from Me like darts.
41 “Indeed I will rejoice in them
To do them good and then again
I shall plant them in this land by
My whole heart and soul under sky.”
42 For so says YHWH, “As I have brought
All this great evil and unsought
Upon this people, so will I
Bring on them all the good to spy
That I have promised from the sky.
43 “And fields shall be bought in this land,
Of which you say it’s desert stand
Without man or beast, but is given
In hand of Chaldeans to live in.
44 “Men shall buy fields for money and
Sign deeds and seal them and take band
Of witnesses in Benjamin,
And what surrounds Jerusalem,
And in the cities of Judah,
And in the towns of mountains’ claw,
And in the cities of the vale,
And in the towns of southern pale,
For I’ll turn back captivity,”
Says YHWH for Israel to see.

No covenant with humankind endures,
Each pact is for the one breath and the cures
Of whirling passages in feet and time,
The arches of ascent the faithful climb,
The arcs descending from the source of crime.
No covenant, Beloved, those spoken by
The lips that do not die and do not lie,
Can be eternal under earthly sky.
The hope, Beloved, of every human breast
Lies in illusion of the east and west,
Progression of time as though it were true,
When in reality there’s none but You.
Shut down the trembling echo and the sight
Of universe and none will see the night.

JEREMIAH 33

1 And the word of YHWH came again
To Jeremiah. He was then
Shut up in the court of prison,
Saying 2 “So says YHWH Maker done,
And YHWH that formed it to set it;
YHWH is His name and He is fit.
3 “’Call on me and I’ll answer you,
And show you great and mighty crew,
Things that you do not know as true.’
4 “For so says YHWH the Ælohim
Of Israel, about the beam
Of this town’s houses and about
The houses of Judah’s kings stout,
Which are thrown down by cavalry,
And by the sword, 5 ‘They come in spree
To fin with the Chaldeans, but
It is to full them with the glut
Of carcases of men, whom I
Have slain in My anger and My
Fury, and for all whose sins I
Have hid my face from this city.
6 “See, I will bring it health and cure,
And I will heal them and be sure
To reveal to them abundance
Of peace and truth, not song and dance.
7 “And I’ll turn back captivity
Of Judah and captivity
Of Israel and will rebuild
Than as at the first they were filled.
8 “And I will cleanse them from their sin
By which they’ve sinned against My grin,
And I will pardon all their faults
By which they’ve sinned by word and waltz.
9 “It shall be to Me name of joy,
A praise and honour to employ
Before all nations of the earth,
Which shall hear all the good of worth
That I will do for them; and they
Shall fear and tremble for the way
All the goodness’ prosperity
That I procure to it in fee.’”

The pardoning of faults is something wise
And great that humankind too can devise,
No doubt because created by Your will
In images of the divine and still.
But cleansing from such sin takes more than we
Contrive in all human divinity:
We may forgive, and as we do are free,
But only You cleanse from the sinful spree.
Beloved, I grasp the golden words and take
A step beyond the Christian sort of wake,
And plunge into that silver sea to make
My droplet disappear before the wave
Of Youness that cleanses not just the brave,
But all who breathe the hope You have to save.

10 So says YHWH “Again there shall be
Heard in this place of which you say
It is a desolation’s prey
Without man and without beastly,
The cities of Judah and streets
Of Jerusalem without sweets,
Without man or inhabitant,
And without a beast that’s extant,
11 “The voice of joy, voice of gladness,
The voice of bridegroom and address
Of the bride, their voices shall say
‘Praise YHWH of hosts, for YHWH’s in sway;
His mercy is for ever too:’
And of them that shall bring in view
The sacrifice of prize into
The house of YHWH. For I shall turn
Captivity of the land spurn,
As at the first,” and so says YHWH.

I enter in the city of my love,
The inner chamber where my spirit of
Stone glistens in the single light I bear,
Find old and new Jerusalem sits there.
The barren walls are silent and aghast
Before the earthly drought, before the blast
Of the east wind, and yet the slight outcast
That I have been is kindled with the share
Of hope and song that I find imaged there.
Beloved, the sound of joy You promise to
Inflate in old Jerusalem in due
Returns upon my heart as I expand
The Psalms of David in my heart and hand,
And find the walls re-echo though unmanned.

12 So says YHWH of hosts “Once again
In this place which is desert fen
Without man and without beast then,
And in all the towns of the place,
Shall be a habitation’s trace
Of shepherds pasturing their sheep.
13 “In the towns of the mountains’ keep,
In cities of the vale, and in
The cities of the south, and in
The very land of Benjamin,
In suburbs of Jerusalem,
And in Judah’s own towns for gem,
Shall the flocks pass again beneath
The hands of shepherds of belief,”
Says YHWH. 14 “See the days come,” says YHWH,
That I’ll perform that good thing too
Which I have promised to the house
Of Israel and to the house
Of Judah. 15 “In those days and at
That time, I will cause to grow fat
The branch of righteousness to grow
Up for David, and he shall show
Judgement and righteousness below.
16 “In those days shall Judah be saved,
Jerusalem be safely paved,
And this is by what she’ll be called:
YHWH is our righteous One installed.”

As my song does expand beyond the walls
Of old Jerusalem, beyond the stalls
Of Judah and Damascus to the share
Of northern slopes of fir and pine to share
The sound of joy with birch and aspen air,
I find the desert and abandonment.
The flocks and herds have fled the single tent,
The crowds that bowed before the incense went,
And I am one alone before Your throne
To see that You are righteous, You alone.
The human unity that many seek
In sect and son of God must die as meek,
The divine spark rise up and leave the stone.

17 For so says YHWH “David shall not
Lack a man to sit in his plot
Of throne in Israel’s house for aye;
18 “Neither shall the priests of Levi
Lack a man before Me to burn
Offerings and kindle meat in urn,
To sacrifice ever and aye.”

The sweet Christian says that Jesus still sits
Upon the throne of David with his wits.
Israelis fear the promise all the more
If anyone takes notice of the store.
The Muslim makes no claims above the spree,
But hopes in the appearance of Mahdi.
Methinks there’s little hope to sit and wait
For coming of a messianic state.
David’s spawn lives again in me
As I sing Psalms to rise upon the slate.
If I’d a voice, Beloved, like other men,
My singing would make stop on hill and fen
The crowds of worshippers that buy and try
To satisfy desire when You come by.

19 And the word of YHWH came nearby
To Jeremiah, saying sigh:
20 “So says YHWH ‘If you can break My
Covenant of the day, and My
Covenant of the night, and that
There should not be day and night flat
In their time; 21 “then may also be
Broken My covenant’s decree
With David My servant, that he
Should not lack a son to reign on
His throne and with the Levites drawn
As priests, My ministers of dawn.
22 “As the host of the sky cannot
Be counted, neither the sand caught
Of the sea measured, so will I
Multiply spawn of David My
Servant, and the Levites that come
To minister to Me in sum.’”

The covenant with David’s sure as day
And night swim by my waking eyes and prey
Upon my doubts and silences in sway.
When day and night cease from the earth then I
Can be sure that the throne of David nigh
Is vacant and abandoned in the late.
Until then I have certainty to wait.
Beloved, I whirl about the empty room,
The star-filled tent, the melody of gloom,
And rush into the arms of scented doom.
The sons of David ever multiply
Like violets three-coloured or the sly
And pastel waifs sprung up against the sky.
I lose count in my passing asking whom.

23 And the word of YHWH came once more
To Jeremiah at the door:
24 “Do not think of what this folk spoke,
Saying ‘The two families in stroke
Which YHWH has chosen, will He then
Cast them off, even the last men?’
So they’ve despised My people that
They should be no more on their mat
A nation before them that sat.”
25 So says YHWH “If My covenant
Be not with day and with night spent,
And if I have not set abroad
The statutes of the sky and sod;
26 “Then I will cast away the seed
Of Jacob, and David in need
My servant, so that I will not
Take any of his spawn in plot
To be the rulers over spawn
Of Abraham, Isaac and on
Jacob: For I will turn back their
Captivity in mercy’s share.”

When David was in Kedar with the fair,
Those days of evil and of wicked share,
When Israel invited not a nod
But trampled on anointed iron-shod,
Then he brought forth upon the Arab mate
The hidden child whose family had to wait
Until the voice was done and Rome had turned
Away from holy mountain and the spurned.
Then the desired and the awaited came
To bring a word for Abram against shame,
Reciting still Your oneness and not three,
Yet recognizing anointed degree.
Beloved, I hold the secret of the throne
Of David, whose seed’s uncounted and grown.

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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