JEREMIAH CHAPTER 47 - 52

JEREMIAH 47

1 The word of YHWH that came upon
Jeremiah the prophet drawn
Against the Philistines, before
Pharaoh’s attack on Gaza’s shore.
2 So says YHWH: “See the waters rise
Up from the north and floods baptize
The land and everything in it;
The city where its dwellers sit;
The men shall shout and then shall howl
All who live there beneath the scowl.
3 “At the sound of stamping of hoofs
Of his stallions, at rushing roofs
Of his chariots, and rumbling wheels,
The fathers shall turn on their heels
Unable to save children’s jowl.
4 “Because the day comes to the spoil
Of all the Philistines in coil,
To cut off from Tyre’s town and yet
Zidon every helper that’s met;
For YHWH will spoil the Philistines,
The rest of Caphtor in designs.
5 “Here’s come baldness on Gaza’s town,
And Ashkelon has been cut down,
O remnant of their valley, when
Will you cut yourself loose again?”
6 O sword of YHWH, how long till you
Are quiet? Put yourself from view
In scabbard, rest, and be still too.
7 How can there be quiet, since YHWH
Has given command against the crew
Of Ashkelon, against sea shore?
He has appoint it its store.

When the great prophet Muhammad, so sweet
And blessed along with progeny to greet,
Recited the Suura of Chargers, did
He know how much of the chapter then hid
Within the prophecy of Jeremiah?
I must assume he did, because the glow
Of knowledge on his brow was never slow.
The chargers sweep across the screen of late
In the art of Ahmed Moustafa’s rate
In dots that pour out on the universe,
The one great point encompassing and terse.
The sound and sight together twine and bid
The watcher and the listener on grid
To whirl in dotly spark a little higher.

JEREMIAH 48

1 “Against Moab” says YHWH of hosts,
“The Ælohim of Israel’s boasts,
Woe to Nebo! For it is spoiled,
Kiriathaim’s taken and uncoiled;
Misgab’s confounded and dismayed.
2 “There’s no more praise of Moab laid,
In Heshbon they devised a plan
Of evil against it to scan,
Let us cut it off from the land.
You too will be cut down, madman,
The sword shall pursue you unbanned.
3 “A voice crying from Horonaim,
Spoiling and great destruction’s crime.
4 “Moab’s destroyed, her little ones
Have caused a cry heard above guns.
5 “For the ascent of Luhith crying,
Go up weeping, go down with sighing
To Horonaim the enemies
Hear cry of desolation’s pleas.
6 “Flee for your lives upon the heath
Naked as wilderness beneath.
7 “For since you trusted in your work
And in your treasures, they shall lurk
Among the takers, Chemosh go
Out into captivity’s show,
Priest and prince together below.

Moab’s the elder son of Lot I see
By all accounts, though bias may run free
In what the Bible records of the way
The man was conceived on a winter day.
One cannot help but think that slander sheer
Alone’s the motivation of the seer.
Be that as may, I praise You for the stay
Against incest: You condemn them instead
For their idolatry, priest and prince bred.
Beloved, incest or not, I take the view
That Your mercy is great in what You do.
I’ve never been amazed at justice’ store,
And always thought that judgements might be more.
But Your mercy’s beyond my parvenu.

8 “The spoiler comes on every town,
No city shall escape the frown,
The valley also shall lie flat,
The plain be destroyed by all that
As YHWH has spoken by His crown.
9 “Give wings to Moab, so it may
Flee and in fleeing get away;
For its cities are desolate,
With no one to live there in state.
10 “Cursed be the one who does the work
Of YHWH deceitfully by quirk,
And cursed the one who keeps back sword
From blood as fearful of the gored.
11 “Moab has been at ease since youth,
Settled on lees, and not in truth
Emptied from pot to pot, nor gone
Into captivity once drawn;
That’s why his taste remains in him,
And his scent has not become dim.
12 “So see how the days come,” says YHWH,
“That I will send to him in view
The wonderer to cause him too
To wander and shall empty out
His pots and beak their jars in rout.
13 “Moab shall shame for Chemosh too,
As Israel’s house met the shame due
Of Bethel in their trusty view.”

Moab is the place of the holy mount
On which the prophet Moses in account
Laid down his life and at its closing view
Saw all the panorama and the crew
Of Israel spread before him in the light
Of closing day and coming of the night.
Yet Moab is condemned, cut off in shame
Despite the glories of its former fame.
Beloved, I have no fame at all to spin
Against your prodigies against my sin,
But still I cling to Moses’ frantic word
And what from Sinai’s cloud lands I have heard
Of life and health and knowing of the steep,
The ten commandments spoken before sleep.

14 “How do you say ‘We’re mighty strong,
And men of war in battle long?’
15 “Moab is spoiled and fled from towns,
His chosen young men from the downs
Gone to the slaughter,” says the King
Whose name is YHWH of hosts to bring.
16 “Moab’s catastrophe is near,
Calamity rushes with fear.
17 “All you around him, moan and grieve,
All you who know his name’s reprieve,
Say ‘How the strong staff’s broken reed,
The beautiful rod gone indeed!’
18 “Daughter dwelling in Dibon’s vale,
Come down from your glory and wail
In thirst; then Moab’s spoiler comes
To you to destroy all your sums.

Dibon is a wasting away indeed,
Whether name of a place or meaning’s seed
In the speech of the prophet, so is found
The inner truth at times along the sound
Of names of places and men on the ground.
Beloved, YHWH is Your name, and that sound brings
Into my spirit everything that sings,
Whether upon a desert land before
Either the burning sand or sunlit shore
Of northern summers where the rock meets sea.
All is a singing cantillate to me.
Beloved, Dibon be the place where I stand
And look upon the desolation’s band
That furnishes Moab with crystal sand.

19 “Inhabitant of Aroer,
Stand by the road and look, beware,
Ask the one who flees and the girl
Escaping, say ‘What dangers whirl?’
20 “Moab’s confounded, broken down;
Howl and cry; tell it in Arnon,
That Moab’s spoiled and broken crown.
21 “Judgement has come upon the plain;
Upon Holon, on Jahazah,
And on Mephaath like falling rain,
22 “And on Dibon, and Nebo’s claw,
On Bethdiblathaim as for gain,
23 “On Kiriathaim, on Bethgamul,
And on Bethmeon at the pull,
24 “And on Kerioth, on Bozrah too,
On all the towns of Moab’s view,
Far or near, emptied or still full.
25 “The horn of Moab is cut off,
His arm is broken like a staff,”
Says YHWH. 26 “So make him drunk, for he
Magnified himself up to be
Against YHWH: Moab shall also
Wallow in his vomit, also,
Shall in derision be cast low.

Aroer is the name of place perhaps
Or then the nakedness in its relapse
That brings the desert mountain man back to
The pristine garden state before Your view.
I live in nakedness, I live there too,
As vulnerable as any in the crew.
The ancient times were wicked for all men,
And all feared nature’s hand and nature’s glen.
But artifice has not made free men safe:
Electrical power leaves the strong like waif.
Beloved, Your judgement falls on those without
Technology to meet the cloven doubt,
And on those who spend all in graven clout:
Nakedness falls is silence and in shout.

27 “Was Israel not a joke to you
When he fell among thieving crew?
You talked about him to rejoice.
28 “O dwellers in Moab for choice,
Leave cities and hide in the rock,
Be like the dove with nest in stock
Of the caves mouth, covered by dock.
29 “We’ve heard the pride of Moab, he
Is greatly proud, lift loftily,
His arrogancy, and pride start
On the haughtiness of his heart.
30 “I know his wrath,” says YHWH, “but no;
His lies shall not avail to go.
31 “So I’ll howl for Moab’s estate,
And cry for all Moab come late;
I’ll mourn for Kirheres’ men’s fate.
32 “O vine of Sibmah, I will weep
For you with Jazer’s laments deep,
Your plants have gone over the sea,
They reach to sea of Jazer’s lea;
The spoiler takes your summer fruits,
And treads your vintage under boots.
33 “Let joy and gladness from the field
Of plenty, and the fruited yield;
I’ve made the wine fail from the press,
None shall tread with shouting’s address,
Their sound shall fail and not confess.
34 “From the cry of Heshon up to
Elealeh, to Jahaz in view
They’ve uttered their voice from Zoah
To Horonaim even as far,
Like third-year heifer bawling rate,
Nimrim’s waters be desolate.

Do You lament, Beloved, the vast destruction
Of sinful peoples in the last construction
Of universe? Does Your heart bleed and pain
Beneath the weight of scoffing and the vain
Recourse to marketing and torture plain?
I thought that You were passionless, not prone
To change, not in the sway of time to groan
Or joy. The sunset is to You without
End or beginning. You need never shout.
When Esdras stood aghast to see the way
Whole populations fell like chips of grey
And useless marble for the sake of one
Great, human monument of pleasure done,
You chided him. Now Moab is Your hay.

35 “And I’ve made an end in Moab,”
Says YHWH, “of those who make confab
In the high places and there burn
Perfumes to his gods from an urn.
36 “That’s why My heart cries out aloud
For Moab like pipes in the crowd,
My heart sounds pipes for all the men
Of Kirheres, because again
The wealth he’d got perished by cloud.
37 “For every head shall be bald and
Every beard clipped, and on each hand
Shall be cuttings and round each waist
Sackcloth is bound for the unchaste.
38 “Laments on all Moab’s housetops,
And in its streets, for all the props
Of Moab I have dashed without
Pleasure,” says YHWH above the shout.
39 “They’ll howl ‘How it is broken down!
How has Moab turned back with frown!’
So shall Moab be oath and clown,
Dismay to all of those about.”

I have a bald spot on my head myself,
And my beard though clipped is like one of elf
For length at times. In all of these effects
There is no lamentation that selects
My heart and soul to groan upon the shelf.
There’s no belt of sackcloth I wear, that’s sure,
But had there been, no sorrow for the pure
Destroys my peace. Moab is lost to me
And so are all the marks of grief’s degree.
Beloved, if You bring judgement on the street
Of Moab or if Your forebear in sweet,
My jaundiced carriage is not moved at all,
But springs a peek along my mossy wall.
Howl if You like, Beloved, I keep my stall.

40 For so says YHWH; “See, he shall fly
As does the eagle in the sky,
And spread his wings on Moab’s sty.
41 “Kerioth is taken, the strong hold
Is surprised, and strong men’s hearts cold
In Moab at that day untold
Like heart of woman labour rolled.
42 “Moab shall be no more a folk,
Because he’s magnified a stroke
Against YHWH. 43 “Fear the pit and snare
Upon you, Moab’s dwellers there,”
Says YHWH. 44 “He who flees from the fear
Shall fall into the pit made near,
And he who gets out of the pit
Shall be taken in snares to sit,
For I shall bring all upon it,
Upon Moab, their judgement’s year,”
Says YHWH. 45 “Those who fled stood there near
The shadow of Heshbon with gear;
But a fire shall come from Heshbon,
A flame from the midst of Sihon,
And shall devour the corner of
Moab, and the crown and the shove
Of the tumultuous ones above.
46 “Woe to you, Moab! How the folk
Of Chemosh perish at the stroke,
For your sons are in captive held,
Your daughters also captives felled.
47 “Yet I’ll turn back captivity
From Moab in the latter plea,”
Says YHWH. “So far and then no more
Judgement upon Moab for score.”

In casting down the judgement on the sold
Of Moab, my Beloved, were You not told
Of Naomi and her old family
Who found refuge in Moab for the spree
Of famine in Judah? Not only they
But Ruth and Orpah also found their way
Along the cragged runs of Moab’s sway.
Your wings of comfort in distress came down
In many times and places without frown
On Moab. My Beloved, look on the town
And mind the way You have been in renown.
If Moab falls for its idolatry,
Is desolate, what then may do the free
Who seek a haven from Your last decree?

JEREMIAH 49

1 “Against the Ammonites,” says YHWH;
“Has Israel no sons, heirs in view?
Why does their king inherit Gad,
His folk dwell in his cities glad?
2 “Therefore, see, the days come,” says YHWH,
“That I will bring a cry and hue
Of war to be heard in Rabbah
Of the Ammonites, and the craw
Shall be a desolation and
Her daughters shall be burned in band
With fire; then Israel shall be heir
To those that had been his heirs there,”
Says YHWH. 3 “Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai
Is spoiled; daughters of Rabbah, cry,
Put on sackcloth, lament, and run
Back and forth by the hedges spun;
Their king goes to captivity,
His priests and princes in the spree.
4 “Why do you glory in the vale,
Your flowing valley to travail,
Backsliding daughter, who put trust
In treasures, who shall come to dust?
5 “See, I will bring a fear on you,”
Says the Lord YHWH of hosts in view,
“From all those that are about you,
And you’ll be driven out each man,
And none shall gather up his scan.
6 “And after that I shall reverse
Ammon’s captivity and curse,”
Says YHWH, without punishment worse.

Beloved, You do not countenance, it’s clear,
The burning of sons on altars with gear
To names of heathen deities and dear.
When Abram brought his son, You sent a guy
From heaven to speak to him out of the sky
Preventing holocaust. And that is why
I wonder that You now prescribe the fate
Of burning daughters at the city gate.
The ruin of children in the conquest call
Is just as much a sacrifice for all
As laying babes across the burning arms
Of Baal in effigy for human harms.
Beloved, I turn from sacrifice today
And fill my cup to last the bitter bay.

7 “Concerning Edom,” so says YHWH
Of hosts; “Is wisdom in the crew
Of Teman? Is counsel destroyed
From the prudent that once employed?
Is their wisdom vanished from view?
8 “Flee now, turn back and borrow deep,
Inhabitants of Dedan steep;
For I’ll bring the calamity
Of Esau upon him freely,
The time I come to make him weep.
9 “If gatherers of grapes appear,
Would they not leave some gleaning here?
If thieves by night come, will not they
Destroy till they have all their prey?
10 “But I have made Esau be bare,
I’ve uncovered his secret lair,
He cannot be hidden now there;
His seed is wasted and his kin
And his neighbours are not within.
11 “Leave your orphaned sons, I will keep
Them alive, let your widows peep
For trust in me and not to weep.”
12 For so says YHWH: “See those whose fate
Was not to drink of the cup late
Have surely drunk; and are you one
To go unpunished on your bun?
You shall not go unpunished now,
But surely drink it anyhow.
13 “For I have sworn Myself,” says YHWH,
“That Bozrah shall be wasteland’s view,
Reproach, a desert, and a curse,
And all its cities shall be worse.”

Edom or Esau’s closer to the crew
Of chosen even that Ammonite few
In the days Ammon was the son in cue
Of Lot and not as now filled with the view
Of Abraham’s own children in the pew.
You do not even bring to light a sin
Of Esau for which You would split his bin.
You execrate vituperation here,
But do not clarify why he should fear.
The sinless too feel every scourge that’s sent
Upon the earth in every place You’ve meant.
Beloved, I raise a villain’s cry in vent
To see the falling of the innocent.
Have a regard, Beloved, when You appear.

14 I have heard a rumour from YHWH,
A messenger to heathen crew:
“Gather together, rise to attack,
Come to the battle, don’t be slack.
15 “For see, I’ll make you small to be
Among the heathen pageantry,
Despised among men faithfully.
16 “Your terribleness deceives you,
The pride of your heart come in view,
O you who live in rocky caves,
Holding to heights that the hill paves;
Though you should make your nest as high
As that of eagles near the sky,
I’ll bring you down from there,” says YHWH.
17 “Edom too shall be desolate,
Every passer-by shall relate
Astonishment and hiss to see
All the plagues of Edom’s country.
18 “As in Sodom’s overthrow and
That of Gomorrah on the sand
Of near-by cities, all in band,”
Says YHWH, “no man shall abide there,
Neither son of man take its share.
19 “See him come like a lion from
The swelling of the Jordan scum
Against the dwelling of the strong;
But I’ll suddenly come a long
To make him flee from her; and who
Is chosen to appoint to do
Over her? Who is like Myself?
And who’ll appoint Me on the shelf?
Who is the shepherd that will stand
Undaunted before Me unmanned?”
20 Therefore hear the counsel of YHWH,
He’s taken against Edom’s crew;
And His purposes that He’s set
Against Teman’s people as met;
Surely the least of the flock draws
Them out, surely He’ll make the claws
Of their dwelling desolate straws.
21 Earth moves at the sound of their fall,
At the cry of the noise withal
Heard as far as the Red Sea’s wall.
22 See, He shall come and fly as high
As the eagle into the sky
To spread wings over Bozrah’s land,
And at that day shall heart of manned
Of Edom be as woman’s heart
In the pangs of her birthing’s start.

Still not one word to say what was done wrong
In Edom but the singing of a song
When Israel fell because idolatry
Had eaten out the heart to last degree!
Beloved, I would have chosen like Isaac
Esau from the beginning of attack,
Instead of siding with Rebecca when
She by deceit made Jacob heir of men.
Israel was fill with such idolatry
To rouse wrath and disgust by Your degree,
And while I do not doubt that Esau’s store
Was too idolatrous to keep for more,
You do not bring the evidence to shore.
Beloved, do You not come to speak to me?

23 “Concerning Damascus: Hamath
Is confounded on Arpad’s path;
For they’ve heard the bad new to come,
They are fainthearted, and not rum,
Sorrow upon the sea to rise,
It can’t be quiet in demise.
24 “Damascus is gone feeble, turned
Herself to flee, and fear unspurned
Has seized upon her; anguished earned
And sorrows take her as a lass
In first travails and not to pass.
25 “How it’s not left forsaken yet,
City of praise, town of my pet!
26 “So her young men fall in her streets,
And all the men of war’s retreats
Shall be cut off in that day,” so
Says YHWH of hosts, who is not slow.
27 “I’ll kindle a fire in the wall
Of Damascus, it shall devour
Palaces of Benhadad’s power.”

Three cities count in this tirade You make
Beloved for Syrians and others’ sake.
I do not know Damascus’ name in store,
But for that I know the two other’s lore.
Hamath’s a fortress, Hittite it may be,
North of Damascus and in safety’s lea.
Arpad’s a couch, a rest given above
The Sabbath of Israel to those You love.
For the same sun that rises on the just
Of Sabbath morning, comes to kiss the dust
Of every town and country in its lust.
You may destroy whom You wish, but at last
You give Your blessing to all in the blast.
Beloved, I look on three and am outcast.

28 “Concerning Kedar: the kingdoms
Of Hazor, Nebuchadrezzar,
King of Babylon strikes like bums,”
So says YHWH; “Get up, go up to
Kedar, and spoil the men in crew
From the east. 29 “Their tents and their flocks
Shall they take away from their stocks,
They’ll take to themselves all their veils,
Their vessels and the camels’ tails,
And they shall cry to them for fear
Is on every side, groan and tear.
30 “Flee, get far off and burrow deep,
Inhabitants of Hazor steep,”
Says YHWH, “for Nebuchadrezzar,
King of Babylon takes a star
Counsel against you, and conceives
A purpose against your reprieves.
31 “Arise, get you up to the land
Of wealth where no cares shall command,”
Says YHWH, “with neither gates nor bars,
And dwell alone among the stars.
32 “Their camels shall be booty and
The herds of cattle in spoil’s hand;
And I will scatter every band
To all the winds as far away;
And I’ll bring their calamity
From all sides of it in that day,”
Says YHWH and speaking faithfully.
33 “Hazor shall be the dwelling place
For dragons, forever the trace
Of desolation, there shall be
No man abiding there to see,
Nor son of man, nor any tree.”

Kedar, dark-skinned, Kedar, whom I love,
And Hazor, an enclosure like a glove,
How can You raze the beauty and the shove
Born of Abraham and a child above?
Bring back the flocks to Kedar, yes, bring back,
And bless the hope and help and be not slack.
The promise You give Babylon takes all,
Has no regard for beauty and the stall,
Gives no respect to righteousness nor yet
To ancient bounds and keeps when they are met.
Beloved, if Babylon is great and true,
Then I will worship at the kingly pew,
But if You know a better temple where
I may bow, turn my face to find it there.

34 YHWH’s word that came to Jeremiah
The prophet against Elam dire
In the beginning of the reign
Of Zedekiah kind and fane
Of Judah, saying 35 So says YHWH
Of hosts: “See I will break the bow
Of Elam, the chief of their show.
36 “On Elam I will bring four winds
From the four quarters of skies linds,
And scatter them toward all those winds;
And there shall be no nation where
The outcasts of Elam are there.
37 “For I will make Elam dismayed
Before their enemies’ parade,
And before those who seek their life;
I’ll bring on them evil and strife,
My fierce wrath,” says YHWH; “I will send
The sword after them till they bend.
38 “I’ll set My throne in Elam’s way,
Destroy from there the king and fey,”
Says YHWH. 39 “But it shall come to pass
In the latter days, I’ll amass
The captives back to Elam’s grass,”
Says YHWH of the latter day.

The four winds are four gates of law to preach
What such destruction comes from each to each,
When all gates are the gates of air and law.
Beloved, show now three other gates in awe.
One wind alone suffices, I must find
The fire and water before any kind
Of earth becomes the sweet rest of Your way,
The habitation of the Sabbath day.
Be simple, yes, but don’t exaggerate
By making every road come soon or late
The windy height of legal bond and strife.
Beloved, open to me the gates of life,
And I shall enter burning love to drink
At fountains clear the mysteries in brink.

JEREMIAH 50

1 This is the message that YHWH spoke
Against Babylon and the stroke
Against the Chaldeans’ land by
Jeremiah the prophet nigh.
2 “Declare among the nations and
Publish and set a flag to stand;
Publish and do not hide a thing:
Say Babylon’s taken to wing
And Bel’s confounded, Merodach
Is broken in pieces and slack;
Her idols are smashed in their track,
Her images a broken thing.

In fact the heathen images that stoke
The Vatican are polished to a stroke,
And none are fallen down, but all remain
A glory to their art and to their fane.
Bel’s live and well and so is Merodach
In trinity and saint to take the flack
When You’re too busy in the prayerful track.
Beloved, there is no human heart but makes
Some idol in the flow of market takes,
And every church and mosque comes out with rakes
To meet the synagogue with faithful shakes.
I care not whether Babylon is set
In desert and without a temple met:
The gods are live and well, that’s what You get.

3 “Out of the north a folk shall come
Against her, which shall make her hum
In desolation where none swell,
They shall remove, depart a spell,
Both man and beast to the last bum.
4 “In those days then, and in that time,”
Says YHWH, “children of Israel climb,
They and the sons of Judah too,
Going and weeping; they are due
To seek YHWH their Ælohim true.
5 “They’ll ask the way to Zion then
With their faces toward that den,
‘Come let us join ourselves to YHWH
In an eternal covenant
That will never be lost from view.’
6 “My folk have been like lost sheep scant;
The shepherds have led them astray,
They have turned on the hills away;
They’ve gone from mountaintop to hill,
Forgetting resting place and still.
7 “All finding them consumed them too,
Their adversaries spoke to spew,
‘We don’t offend, because they’ve sinned
Against YHWH, in whom justice binned,
YHWH hope of their ancestral crew.’
8 “Move from the midst of Babylon,
And go forth out of the land drawn
Of the Chaldeans, like the he-goats
Be in the flocks for what promotes.

Fact is we’re talking not of Rome but still
Of Jerusalem set on Zion’s hill,
And of the role the Persians came to play
In the rebuilding of her temple’s sway.
The people of the north are not the sum
Germanic against the Italic hum
That made the paragraphs of Christian dumb.
The northern folk are Median to share
With Persian in the royalty and glare.
When Cyrus emptied out the river flood
And clipped the king of Babylon in bud
The fate of old Jerusalem was set.
And now I see its domes glisten as wet
With dewly gold above the Muslims met.

9 “For see, I’ll raise and cause to come
Up against Babylon a sum
Of great nations from the north land;
And they shall set themselves in band
Against her; from there she’ll be brought;
Their arrows like a great man’s wrought;
None shall return in vain to stand.
10 “And Chaldea shall be a spoil:
All who spoil her shall stand the toil,”
Says YHWH. 11 “Because then you were glad
Because you rejoiced like a cad,
O you destroyers of My lot,
Because you have grown fat in plot
As the heifer at grass, and bawl
Like bulls beneath the city wall,
12 “Your mother’ll be bewildered then,
She who bore you ashamed again;
See the last nations desert drawn,
A dry land’s wilderness in spawn.”
13 For wrath of YHWH it shall not be
Inhabited, shall be wholly
Desolate, every one that goes
By Babylon amazed what shows,
Will hiss at all her plagues to see.
14 Put yourselves in array to stand
Against Babylon round the land,
All you who bend the bow and shoot
At her, spare no arrows to root,
For she has sinned high against YHWH.

Encouragement to Persians in this book
Makes me think that the further that I look
In the past for the time of prophecy
The further I go astray in degree.
The book is clearly written to make sure
The Persians will rebuild a city pure
On Zion. See, the flattery set out
Of that northern kingdom that put to rout
Babylon by deflecting river stream
And coming under walls and under beam.
Beloved, even the documents that wave
Political reviews one still may save
And read for edifying soul and flesh
Before a faith in You that’s ever fresh.

15 Shout out against her all around,
She’s given her hand at the sound;
Her foundations are fallen bound,
Her wall thrown down before the call
Of vengeance of YHWH to install;
As she has done, do to her wall.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,
The one to wield the sickle drawn
In time of harvest; for the fear
Of the oppressing sword that’s near
They shall go each back to his folk,
And they shall flee at every stroke
Each in his own land to appear.
17 Israel is scattering of sheep,
The lions have driven out to creep;
First came Assyrian with king
To consume him like anything;
And last this Nebuchadrezzar
King of Babylon has come far
To break his bones before the sting.
18 So says YHWH of hosts, Ælohim
Of Israel: “See, I shall beam
Punishment on Babylon’s king
And his land as I’ve sent the sting
On king of Assyrian wing.
19 “And I’ll bring Israel again
To his own habitation’s den,
And he shall feed on Carmel there
And on Bashan, and his soul’s share
Shall be on Mount Ephraim then
And Gilead. 20 “And in those days
And in that time,” says YHWH of praise,
“Iniquity of Israel
Shall be sought out to find the spell,
And not be found; for I will serve
Pardon on the folk I reserve.

The sower is cut off from Babylon.
Sowing is what built up the city done.
They say the double row on barley stem
Is what made possible Sumerian hem.
And all is built up on that first fine wave
That rose in civilized and to behave.
The sower is cut off from cities there
And so the land returns to desert wear
And glistens in the shimmering light of noon
As though dead to the coming late or soon
Of life again upon the barren waste.
And still, Beloved, I enter in the haste
Of Babylon in spirit and to taste
What human beings can make of a boon.

21 “Attack the land of Merathaim,
Go against it, against the crime
Of Pekod’s Inhabitants, waste
And utterly destroy in haste,”
Says YHWH, “and do by all that I
Commanded you to do thereby.
22 “A sound of battle in the land,
Of great destruction come to stand.
23 “How is the hammer of the whole
Earth cut asunder, broken goal!
How is Babylon wilderness
Among the nations in address!
24 “I’ve laid a snare for you, and you
Are also taken in the screw,
O Babylon, though not aware;
You’re found and also caught in snare,
Because you’ve striven against YHWH.”
25 YHWH’s opened up His armoury,
And brought out weapons for His spree,
For this is the work of Lord YHWH
Of hosts in the Chaldeans’ crew.
26 Come against her from the far strand,
Open her storehouses and grand,
Cast her up as heaps on the land,
Destroy her utterly, let stand
Nothing left at all of her band.
27 Kill all her bulls; let them go down
To the slaughter, woe to their frown!
For their day’s come, judgement in town.
28 The sound of those who flee and go
Escaping from the land not slow
From Babylon, and to declare
In Zion the vengeance in share
Of YHWH our Ælohim, and there
The vengeance of His temple’s care.

Chaldean crew exists today and still
In the Iraqi plain, unfrequent hill.
Today their faith is Christian to the core,
Kildani as they’re called by Jews and more.
Today Chaldean crew is put to flight
By Muslim hordes who think they know the right.
Perhaps You prophesy the curfew drawn
Against them here and against Babylon.
I’ve met a few of those as refugees
Who suffer in their families under trees
Of Finnish wilds and in such Finnish towns
As will accept these sweet folk without frowns.
Beloved, the wheel of history never slacks
But always returns hard on people’s backs.

29 Summon the archers, let them come
Against Babylon, all in sum
That bend the bow, encamp around
And let none escape to the ground;
Recompense her for what she’s done;
According to what she has won,
Do to her, for she has been proud
Against YHWH and against the cloud
Of Israel’s Holy One as bound.
30 “Let her young men fall in the streets,
And all her men of war’s retreats
Be cut off in that day,” says YHWH.
31 “See now, it is I against you,
O most proud,” so says the Lord YHWH
Of hosts: “for your day’s come in view,
The time I bring judgement on you.
32 “The most proud shall stumble and fall,
And none shall raise him up at all;
And I will kindle in his towns
A fire, and it consumes with frowns
All round about him on the downs.”

Beloved, the archers that rose in their days
Of capturing fair Babylon in haze
Of morning dawning after Persian craze
Of onslaught now are silenced. They are gone.
Peace has descended now on Babylon.
The young men that fell in the streets now lie
As broken and neglected bones that vie
With brick to hide from day’s fell blistered eye.
Peace has come down on Babylon to stay.
Beloved, the fires You kindled in the way,
The battered heights regaining light of day,
Are now extinguished in the peace that falls
On Babylon and on mosaic walls.
What Babylon had in debt she would pay.

33 So says YHWH of hosts: “Israel’s folk
And folk of Judah at a stroke
Were both oppressed together; and
All that took them captives in band
Held them fast; they refused to let
Them go once established and set.”
34 Their Redeemer is strong; and YHWH
Of hosts is His name and His due;
He’ll thoroughly review their case,
So He may give them resting place,
And trouble Babylon in race.
36 “A sword’s on the Chaldeans’ face,”
Says YHWH, “and on Babylon’s space,
And on her princes and upon
Her wise men, all her dwellers drawn.
36 “A sword is still upon the liars;
And they shall dote before their fires;
A sword is on her mighty men;
And they shall be dismayed again.
37 “A sword falls on their horses too,
And on their chariots in crew,
And on the mingled folk in her;
They shall become as wife or cur;
A sword is on her treasury,
And they shall be robbed of the fee.
38 “A drought is on her waters filled;
And they shall be dried up and stilled;
For it’s a land of graven gods
And they boast in their idol clods.
39 “That’s why the wild beasts of the sand
With the wild beasts of each island
Shall dwell there, and the owls will stand,
And it shall be no more a place
Of habitation, and no race
Shall live there for time out of space.
40 “As Ælohim overthrew then
Sodom and Gomorrah again
With neighbour towns around,” says YHWH,
“So shall no man abide the pew,
Nor son of man enjoy the view.

I’ve seen the blue and golden wall that sets
The glory of Babylon. None forgets
The power of her markets and her hand.
I’ve also seen the salt encrusted land
Of Sodom and Gomorrah where they stand
Beneath unblinking eye of history,
Forsaken by all human company.
Beloved, there is no human heart but falls
Beneath the cutting scythe of Sodom’s thralls.
There is a day of hope and happiness,
A looking forward to the great address,
An earning and acquiring of all things,
A stumbling and a warning in the rings,
And then the vacant halls without its kings.

41 “See a folk from the northern lands,
And a great nation, come in bands
Of kings shall be raised from the coasts
Of the earth against all her boasts.
42 “They’ll hold the bow and lance with fierce
Face without mercy come to pierce,
With sound like roaring of the sea,
And riding horses, each one free,
Like a man to the battle come
To attack child of Babylon.
43 “The king of Babylon has heard
Rumours of them, and his hands stirred
Feebly, in anguish and in pang
As a woman in labour sprang.
44 “See, he shall come up like a beast,
A lion from the swelling pieced
Of Jordan to the dwelling strong;
But I will make them run along
Away from her; and who is choice
To appoint over and rejoice?
For who is like me? And who will
Appoint Me to the time to fill?
And who’s the shepherd that will stand
Before Me unwavered and manned?”
45 Therefore hear the counsel of YHWH,
That He has taken for the crew
Against Babylon, and His goal,
That he has planned against the toll
Of the Chaldeans’ land; surely
The least of the pastured flock free
Shall draw them out; and surely he
Shall make their habitation bare.
46 At the sound of the taking share
Of Babylon the earth is moved,
The cry’s heard among nations proved.

If Babylon’s the Church of Rome as speaks
Brave Martin Luther in the joy he seeks,
The northern kingdom is the Reformation
Come in to spoil the Roman Church’s ration.
The parallel if true comes back to slap
The perpetrator in the head and lap.
For You, Beloved, consistently commanded
Obedience to Babylon red-handed,
And brooked no rebellion against that power,
Though heathen and changing the day and hour.
If Persia like the Reformation’s tale
Came in to rebuild temple and prevail,
The tide of unity sucks back with force
To Rome as to a given, charted course.

JEREMIAH 51

1 So says YHWH: “See now, I shall raise
Up against Babylon such ways
Against those who live among them
That rise up against Me in hem,
A wind destroying days and days,
2 “And will send out to Babylon
Fanners to fan her dawn to dawn
And empty her land: in the day
Of trouble they shall come in sway
Against her round about as drawn.
3 “Against the one who take aim let
The archer bend his bow, and yet
Against one dressed in coat of mail,
And do not spare her young men’s tale,
Destroy utterly without fail.
4 “So the slain shall fall in the land
Of the Chaldeans, and the band
Of those thrust through in her streets’ stand.”
5 For Israel’s not forsaken, nor
Judah of her Ælohim’s store,
And YHWH of hosts, though their land’s filled
With sin against Holy One billed
Of Israel. 6 Flee then from out
Of Babylon, and each man’s rout
May save his soul; be not cut off
In her iniquity to scoff,
For this is the time of vengeance
From YHWH, He will render expense
To her to be her recompense.
7 Babylon’s been a golden cup
In YHWH’s hand, that made earth turn up
In drunkenness; the nations drink
Of her wine, and that’s why they sink
In boastful madness at the brink.

The golden cup of vengeance on the earth
That You held in Your hand, Beloved, as berth
Poured out on good and evil for the store
Of Babylon the great and greater more.
The cup of wrath is still abroad today
In every sort of government in sway
That tries to bring peace on the troubled land,
Succeeds in the oppression of the manned.
Beloved, the way of empires is a way
To keep the local robber once at bay,
But still provides an even grander way
Of farming populations under sway.
I hide beneath the canopy of peace,
Illusion of wickedness in release.

8 Babylon’s fallen suddenly,
Destroyed: howl for her; and take balm
For her pain, if in such a calm
She may be healed under her palm.
9 We might have healed Babylon, but
She was not healed: forsake her shut,
And let us go each one into
His own country to take anew;
For her judgement goes to the sky,
And is lifted to sit on high.

Babylon’s fallen is a message dear
To John when writing on a further year,
And centuries after the rend and tear
Of that great city where the folk and gear
Were taken in captivity and fear.
What could that soldier mean by what he said,
Since Babylon was lifeless then and dead?
The spirit of the empire never died,
But went on living in the Persian side,
And in the Grecian and the Roman too,
And in the Umayyad-Abassid crew.
Who takes the fallen mantle now today?
Competitors there are along the fray,
But none relinquish anything of pay.

10 YHWH’s brought fourth our justice: so come,
And let us declare all the sum
In Zion of YHWH Ælohim.
11 Make bright the arrows like a dream,
Gather the shields; YHWH has raised up
The spirit of the kings like tup
Of the Medes, for His device runs
Against Babylon and her guns
To destroy it, because vengeance
Of YHWH comes for His temple stance.
12 Set up the standard on the walls
Of Babylon: make the watch strong,
Set up the watchmen, set along
The ambuscades; for YHWH’s devised
And done what He spoke and apprised
Against dwellers of Babylon.
13 O you who sit on the floods drawn,
Abundant treasures, your end come,
Measure of your coveting’s sum.
14 YHWH of hosts has sworn by Himself,
“Surely I’ll fill you man and elf,
As with caterpillars; and they
Shall life a shout against your prey.”

The One who inspired or invented these
Words knew beforehand or after the breeze
How Babylon was taken through the flood
Of the Euphrates dried up for her blood.
The drying of the Euphrates became
The watchword for the world’s end in its fame,
Just as the fall of Babylon seemed more
Than ending of the world upon its shore.
Some sit upon the floods today to share
Abundance of the treasure houses there,
And the same danger lurks behind the throne
The defies You, Beloved, for maid or crone
Until the waters recede with the dam
Before the judgement of the great I AM.

15 He has made the earth by His power,
He’s established the world an hour
By His wisdom and has stretched out
The sky by his knowledge in rout.
16 When he sounded His voice, a crowd
Of waters in the sky aloud;
And He made the vapours ascend
From the earth and from end to end;
He made the lightning with the rain,
And brought forth wind from treasures’ gain.
17 Every man’s brutish by his thought,
And put to shame by image wrought
Of the refiner, for false taught
Is molten image, without breath
In them at all, as still as death.
18 Vain things are they, of errors done,
In time of their judgement they’re gone.
19 Jacob’s portion is not like theirs,
For He who formed all things in layers,
He is his portion and his lot,
YHWH of host’s His name in the plot.
20 “An axe for me You are, a flail
Of war, and I’ve broken the tale
Of nations by you, will destroy
Kings as you are in My employ.
21 “By you I’ll crush rider and mount;
By you I’ll break chariot and count
The riders fallen in My joy.

In Genesis You make the heavens and earth
By Your beginning and without a dearth,
But here the gates open in three ways more:
By power, by wisdom and by knowledge door.
St. Augustine would choose among the four
By wisdom and grant You no greater claim.
Each human eye perceives some of the game
But only You know all. Though to our shame
We men look on the narrowness of time
And take the part for whole, our greatest crime.
You’ve nothing to forgive we make You small,
It’s we who must forgive our anthem’s call,
And render to the mystery of space
The glories that are due to silent grace.

22 “With you also I’ll crush both man
And woman, and with you in scan
I’ll break in pieces old and young;
By you I’ll crush the young man strung
With the maid; 23 “I will also break
In pieces by your shepherd’s stake
And his flock; and by you I’ll break
In pieces husbandman and yoke
Of oxen, and by you in stroke
I’ll crush the chiefs’ and rulers’ oak.
24 “I’ll render unto Babylon
And to all the dwell outdrawn
Of Chaldea all evil done
In Zion in your sight and won,”
Says YHWH. 25 See now, I’m against you,
Destroying mountain, so says YHWH,
“For you destroy all the earth too;
And I’ll stretch out My hand on you,
And roll you down from rocks and make
You a burning mountain at stake.
26 “They’ll not take from you just one stone
For a corner or in the loan
Of a foundation, but you’ll be
Desolation eternally,”
Says YHWH. 27 Set up a flag to stand,
Blow the trumpet in every land,
Prepare the nations against her,
Summon attack from kingdoms’ stir
From Ararat, Minni, as well
As Ashchenaz; appoint a swell
Chief against her; let cavalry
Come rough as caterpillars’ spree.
28 Set nations to attack with kings
Of Medes and captains in the rings
Of rulers, all lands in his sway.
29 The land shall tremble, grieve away;
For every plan of YHWH shall come
Against Babylon, to make from
The land of Babylon a waste
With no inhabitants there placed.

It’s one thing in our weakness to paint You
Too small upon the canvass of our view,
And quite another to pound out the gold
And raise it as divine flesh though it’s cold.
You rise to destroy Babylon and those
Who consign You to images in rows,
And all who join the crown to bow in prayer
Before the idols set up everywhere.
Beloved, though my ear cannot hear Your voice,
Though my eye is blind to the divine choice,
Let me eschew what seems of power and light,
And hold to You unseen by day and night,
Who speak in everything created bright
That knows upon a world how to rejoice.

30 The mighty men of Babylon
Refused to fight, they’ve stayed and spun
In their fortresses, their strength failed:
They became as women unveiled;
They’ve burned her palaces impaled;
Her bars are broken and undone.
31 One post shall run to meet another,
One messenger to meet his brother,
To show the king of Babylon,
His city’s taken and undone.
32 The passages are stopped, the reeds
They’ve burned with fire, soldiers like weeds
Are frightened by the battle steeds.
33 For so says YHWH of hosts, the God
Of Israel, “Daughter on the sod
Of Babylon is like the floor
Of threshing, it is time to score
Her with the flail, but yet a space,
Time of her harvest shall replace.”
34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of
Babylon has devoured above,
He’s crushed me, he has poured me out
An empty pot, swallowed like trout,
He’s filled his paunch with my sweet meat
And cast me out beneath his feet.
35 The violence done to me and
To my flesh be upon the stand
Of Babylon; shall dweller in
Zion say; and my blood for sin
Upon Chaldea’s dwellers’ bin,
Jerusalem shall say and win.
36 “That’s why” says YHWH; “I’ll plead your case,
And take vengeance before your face,
I’ll dry her sea and her springs’ trace.

Beloved, You will not be confined in form
Of gold or light or cloud above the storm,
In idols made by human hands nor by
Anything risen in the earth or sky.
Beloved, You will not dwell in creeds alight
With fervour of priests and prophets who’re right,
For You are Sovereign, without skin to catch
In net or snare of words by light of match.
I see the greatness and the wisdom spent
On every form of faith by humans meant,
Acknowledge power and light, and yet I turn
Regretfully from what my hand may earn,
And empty of both gift and sacrifice
Stand without slipping on eternal ice.

37 “Babylon shall become a heap,
A house for dragons in their sweep,
Amazement and a hissing sound
Without inhabitant there found.
38 “They’ll roar like lions in a band;
They’ll yell like lions’ whelps unscanned.
39 “In their heat I will make their feasts,
And I will make them drunken beasts,
So they may rejoice when they sleep
Eternal slumber and not peep,”
Says YHWH of the unwakened sheep.
40 “I’ll bring them down to butcher like
Lambs and like rams with he-goats’ spike.
41 “How is Sheshack taken! And how
Is the praise of the whole earth now
Surprised! How has Babylon been
Made an amazement in the din!”

It is not Rome alone that keeps the way
Of Babylon, though it has greater sway
Than any other on the earthy maze.
Geneva and Canterbury in phase
With Byzance and Wittenburgian craze
Join east with west to make all faiths alight
With the illusion of receding night.
It is not Rome alone, but every man
Who has the inner temple’s stony span
To choose, that chooses power instead of right.
Beloved, I whirl upon the bloody sight
And slip upon the gore before the mount
To fall prostrating at Your own account,
Where Decalogue resides above the plight.

42 The sea’s come upon Babylon;
She’s covered with the waves come on.
43 Her cities are a desolation,
A dry land and a desert station,
A land where no man dwells to sigh,
Nor does the son of man pass by.
44 “I’ll punish Bel in Babylon,
I’ll bring out of his mouth the run
Of what he’s swallowed up, so no
Oecumenical way will show
Him any more, indeed the wall
Of ancient Babylon shall fall.
45 “My folk, go out of her and save
Every man his own soul and brave
From the fierce wrath of YHWH for knave.
46 “And lest your heart be faint and you
Fear for the rumour that’s heard true
About the countryside, a hue
Come in one year and after that
Another year shall hear the fat,
Violence in the land and chief
Against chief and without relief.
47 “So see, the days come that I’ll do
Judgement upon the graven crew
Of images of Babylon;
And her whole land shall fall upon
Confusion, and all her slain fall
In the midst of her by the wall.
48 “Then sky and earth and all in them
Sing for Babylon to condemn,
For spoilers from the north shall come,”
Says YHWH. 49 As Babylon like bum
Killed Israel and made them fall,
So Babylon shall fall of all
The earth slain there beneath the brawl.

Bel of Babylon’s just another word
For Christ or Mithra, Horus and the stirred
Tao before voice of Buddha had been heard.
All faiths are a perennial delight,
Expression of the human frame of flight,
The structure of the human mind that fills
The heart with faith that there’s no god on hills
But I myself alone in glory’s tills.
I hear You say to leave the trodden way
Of Babylon to walk the path of day,
And know that leaving that town and its sway
Is not enough. I must relinquish all
The faith that seems right in the siren call
To find the humble true above the wall.

50 You who’ve escaped the sword, retreat,
Do not stand still, remember feat
Of YHWH far off and so remind
Yourselves Jerusalem is kind.
51 We are confounded, we have heard
Reproach, and shame covers unblurred
Our faces; for strangers have come,
Into the holy temple swum.
52 “That’s why, see, the days come,” says YHWH,
“That I will make her judgement do
On graven images; and through
All her land wounded shall groan too.
53 “Though Babylon should climb the sky,
And though she come to fortify
The height of her strength, still from Me
Shall spoilers come to her in spree,”
Says YHWH. 54 The sound of a cry from
Babylon, great destruction come
From the land of Chaldean scum.
55 Because YHWH has spoiled Babylon,
And destroyed out of her the gun;
When her waves roar like waters great,
A noise of their voice raised in state;
56 Because the spoiler’s come on her,
On Babylon and upon her
Mighty men taken, every one
Of their bows is broken and done;
For YHWH Ælohim’s recompense
Shall surely requite on their tents.
57 “And I will make her princes drunk,
And her wise men, her captains bunk,
Her rulers and her mighty men;
And they shall sleep unending den;
And never wake,” says the King whose
Name is YHWH of hosts and all crews.
58 So says YHWH of hosts: “The broad walls
Of Babylon are broken stalls,
And her high gates are burned with fire;
And the folk vainly shall inquire,
In conflagration they shall tire.”

Beloved, my life I’ve spent in searching where
The faiths of humankind rise up to share
The truth and light with humankind and make
The journey of life right for judgement’s sake.
I’ve walked about the busy market place
Of Babylon where creeds are sold for grace
And found that all are flawed by human face.
Beloved, the human face in every creed
Is still a mirror of the right in seed,
But I find it at last only when I
Relinquish both the searching and the why,
The human face and will to reach the sky,
The human institutions broken down
To find the new Jerusalem in town.

59 The word which prophet Jeremiah
Set Seraiah son of Neriah,
The son of Maaseiah, when he
Went with Zedekiah in fee
Of king of Judah to city
Of Babylon in the fourth year
Of his reign. Seriah indeed
Was a quiet prince in his need.
60 Jeremiah wrote in a book
All the evil that came and took
Babylon, all these words that are
Written against Babylon’s star.
61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah,
“When you come to Babylon higher
And shall see and read all these words;
62 “Then you shall say ‘O YHWH for sherds
You’ve spoken now against this place,
To cut it off so none retrace,
Neither the man nor beast but that
It shall be waste and always flat.’
63 “And it shall be when you have made
An end of reading this book frayed,
That you shall tie a stone to it,
And throw it in Euphrates’ mitt;
64 “And you shall say ‘So Babylon
Will sink and not rise like the dawn
From the evil that I shall bring,
And they’ll be weary with the sting.’”
Thus far is Jeremiah’s thing.

The prophets have the strangest ways to take
A book apart for human being’s sake.
The one will eat the thing and find the taste
As sweet as honey, but around the waist
A torture to the stomach on the make.
But Jeremiah’s way is just as queer
As eating vellum and parchment with fear.
To tie a stone around it and the sling
The book into the river is a thing
I might not have thought of myself in string.
It’s not a proof divinity contrives
Inspiring the book for poor human lives,
But some divine madness remains to teach
The world what is and is not to impeach.

JEREMIAH 52

1 Zedekiah was twenty-one
Years old when he became the one
To reign eleven years as king
In city of Jerusalem.
His mother’s name was Hamutal
Jeremiah’s daughter and gem
Of Libnah. 2 And he did in thrall
The evil in the eyes of YHWH,
According to all the things due
Jehoiakim in his own pew.
3 For through the anger of YHWH it
Happened in Jerusalem and
Judah, till he had cast the band
Out from His presence as unfit,
That Zedekiah rebelled too
Against king of Babylon’s crew.
4 And it happened in the ninth year
Of his reign, in tenth month and on
The tenth of the month at day dawn,
Nebuchadrezzar who was king
Of Babylon, came he and wing
Of all his army, to attack
Jerusalem, and pitched no slack
Against it, and built forts in back.
5 And so the town was set around
Until eleventh year in bound
Of Zedekiah, king on ground.
6 And in the fourth month in the day
Number nine of the month in sway,
The famine was great in the town,
So that there was no bread for frown
Or money for the folk to stay.
7 Then the city was broken up,
And all the soldiers fled like tup,
And went out of the town by night
By the way of the gate in sight
Between the two walls, which was by
The king’s garden; Chaldeans sly
Surrounded the town all about,
And they went down by the plain’s route.

The siege had lasted six months to the day
When Zedekiah caught before the fray
Slipped through the garden to scramble away.
His youth was not excuse for what he did,
The reputation of the prophet hid
No means or reasons to rebel in time
Against the king of Babylon for crime.
Beloved, You set a siege upon my heart
Rebelling after months of loving dart,
And see with pity how I slip between
The lilacs in the semi-darkness’ sheen.
Beloved, will You catch me in trap or snare
As I step smugly from confining lair
Beneath the faint stars that proclaim their share?

8 But the Chaldean army came
Pursuing after king of fame
And overtook Zedekiah
In the plains of Jericho’s maw;
And all his army fled the flame.
9 Then they took the king and bore up
To King of Babylon like cup
To Riblah there in Hamath’s land,
Where he gave judgement on his stand.
10 The king of Babylon killed all
The sons of Zedekiah’s fall
Before his eyes, and killed also
The princes of Judah not slow
In Riblah. 11 He put out the eyes
Of Zedekiah to despise;
The king of Babylon bound him
In chains and carried him out grim
To Babylon, and put him in
Prison till the day of his bin.

Beloved, catch me before Jericho’s plain
As I slink down the hilly road in train,
Slay all my offspring, every sinful beat,
And put out the eyes that seek wicked treat.
Carry me to a far land bound in chains
As all around me atmosphere complains,
And sun and moon pitch in the horrid heat
And stars take pity on my bloody feet.
Carry me far away to sunlit walls,
To prisons shining beneath swallows’ calls,
And bury me forever and a day
Within the prison of Your heart in sway,
And never, my Beloved, let me away,
Let me never depart the golden falls.

12 And in the fifth month and the day
Number ten of the month in sway,
Which was the nineteenth year of reign
Of Nebuchadrezzar the fane
Of Babylon, came chief of guard
Nebusaradan who was starred
To serve the king of Babylon,
Into Jerusalem for fun.
13 He burned the house of YHWH and yet
The king’s palace and all the met
Palaces of Jerusalem,
And all the homes of the great men,
He burned with fire and burned again.
14 And all the Chaldean army
With the chief of the guard set free,
Broke down all Jerusalem’s walls
Around about and in their brawls.
15 And Nebozaradan the chief
Of the guard bore without relief
Away the captives of the poor
Of the people and the rest sure
That had remained there in the town,
And those that had turned coat for frown
To save their lives before the king
Of Babylon, and everything
That was left of the people’s ring.
16 But Nebusaradan the chief
Of the guard left for their relief
The poor of the land to their grief
As vinedressers and husbandmen.
17 Also the pillar of brass den
That were in house of YHWH and yet
The bases and the brazen vat
That was in house of YHWH and sat,
The Chaldeans broke and bore all
The brass to Babylon to gall.
18 The caldrons also and the spoons,
The shovels and snuffers and bowls,
All the pots of brass the dragoons
Took off from the service on shoals.
19 The basins, fire pans, and the bowls,
The caldrons, candlesticks and spoons,
The cups of gold in golden rows,
And those of silver as they chose,
The chief of the guard took and rose.
20 The two pillars, the sea and twelve
Brazen bulls under base to delve,
Which Solomon the king had made
In YHWH’s house, the brass on parade
Was without weight and count unstayed.
21 As for the pillars height of each
Was eighteen armlengths in its reach,
A line of twelve armlengths went round,
The thickness of them four thumbs crowned,
And it was hollow by the sound.
22 A brazen chapter made the crown,
The height of one of those came down
To five armlengths, with filigree
And pomegranates on degree
Around it all of brazen sea.
The second pillar also had
Pomegranates like the first one had.
23 There were ninety-six on each side,
All the pomegranates to ride
On filigree, a hundred round.

The pillars of the temple there where sat
My ancestors in faith and light and fat
Have all been taken by the Roman crowd
And given to idols to praise allowed.
The old Adventist faith that questions that
Old doctrine of the Trinity and more,
Atonement on the cross, the churchly gore,
Is spoiled and ruined and cast out of the door.
The glory is departed and the share
Of hope in Your returning for the fair,
And yet I stay to dress the figs and bear
The olives that grow wild about the room,
Content in poverty and single doom,
Content to stay with heather and the broom.

24 The chief of the guard took Seraiah
The chief priest, also Zephaniah
The second priest, and from the door
Three keepers of more than a score:
26 He also took a eunuch out
Of the city, who had charge stout
Of soldiers and seven of them
Who were near the king’s person’s gem,
Which were found in the city’s hem,
And the main scribe of all the host,
Who mustered the people in boast,
And sixty men of the land’s folk
Found in the city at a stroke,
He took them all to Riblah’s oak.
27 The king of Babylon struck them,
And put them to death in Riblah,
In the land of Hamath and stem.
So Judah was borne up in claw
Captive from his own camera.
28 This is the folk Nebuchadrezzar
Carried out captive, every geezer:
In the seventh year three thousand
Jews and twenty-three left in hand.
29 In the eighteenth year of the reign
Of Nebuchadrezzar for pain
He carried away captive from
Jerusalem eight hundred bum
And thirty-two persons in sum.
30 In the twenty-third year of reign
Of Nebuchadrezzar for drain
Nebusaradan, chief of guard,
Carried away captive unstarred
Of the Jews seven hundred more
And forty-five persons in store.
30 All the persons were four thousand
And six hundred taken in band.
31 In thirty-seventh year it came
To pass in captivity’s frame
Of Jehoiachin king of Judah,
In the twelfth month, in the day ruder
Of twenty-fifth, Babylon’s king
Evilmerodach in the spring
Of his first year he raised the head
Of Jehoiachin, had him led
From prison, kind of Judah fed.
32 He spoke kindly to him and set
His throne above the throne of yet
The kings with him in Babylon,
33 And changed his prison clothing spun,
And he always ate before him
All the days of his life grown dim.
34 As for his feeding there was set
Always a dinner from king met
Of Babylon, and every day
A portion till his death in sway,
All the days of his life to stray.

The rulers You’ve apportioned to the state
Of heathendom that guide the small and great
Are benign and kind in the way they speak,
Though with a strong hand the prevent the peek
Of any change toward the law that You,
Beloved, spoke on Sinai’s eternal brew.
That all men have but one God is no thing
That they will accept in the heathen ring.
That You forgive without the bloody kill
Is nothing they can understand now still.
That Sabbath is a right of man and beast
Is a principle that they have released.
That life is sacred and no man must die
At human hand is something they belie.

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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