BARUCH CHAPTER 1 ~ 6

BARUCH

The centuries to follow in the wake
Of Jeremiah and kingly mistake
To trust Egyptians for safety in store
Show that the reputation more and more
Of Jeremiah grew in every way.
Not only Baruch as a book bears sway
In testimony of that genre’s pay.
The influences seep through Pentateuch
And reach from peasant up to king and duke.
Beloved, the book of prayer and prophecy,
Letter posted against idolatry,
Distils in wisdom for a night and day,
And so I turn to read its pages few
And find them leading ever back to You.

BARUCH 1

1 These are the words of the book which
Baruch who was son of Neraiah,
Son of Mahseiah for a switch,
Who was the son of Zedekiah,
The son of Hasadiah, son
Of Hilkiah, in Babylon
Wrote 2 in the fifth year, seventh day
Of the month, at the time when sway
Of Chaldeans conquered the town
Jerusalem and burned it down.
3 Baruch read the words of this book
In the hearing and in the look
Of Jeconiah the son of
Jehoiakim, Judah’s king’s love,
And in hearing of all the folk
Who came to hear what the book spoke,
4 Before the mighty men and princes,
In the hearing of the elders’ winces,
And in hearing of all the folk,
From least to great, all in the yoke
Of Babylon by River Sud.
5 They wept and fasted, and in flood
Prayed before YHWH, 6 they gathered up
Money, each one by his own cup,
7 And sent it to Jerusalem
To Jehoiakim the high priest,
The son of Hilkiah, the gem
Son of Shallum, and to each priest,
And to all the folk but not beast
There with him in Jerusalem.

The practice of collection for the poor
And for adorning shrines has come down sure
From the days of Baruch and Babylon,
The product of oppression once begun.
Collection for the poor of that fair town
Was performed by even man of renown,
Saul of Tarsus, so long the practice vied
Among the faithful on the riverside.
Beloved, I’ve given all that I have earned
To feed the hungry or to serve the spurned,
And count no loss but only reach the tide
Of living in my comfort to abide.
The world turns on its groans from side to side
And yet its folk have nothing ever learned.

8 At the same time, on the tenth day
Of Sivan, Baruch took array
Of vessels of the house of YHWH,
Which had been carried away too
From the temple, and to return
Them to the land of Judah stern,
The silver vessels which the son
Of Josiah Zedekiah,
King of Judah, had made to stun,
9 After Nebuchadnezzar king
Of Babylon bore everything
Away from Jerusalem then
Jeconiah and the princes’ men
And prisoners and mighty men
And the folk of the land, and brought
Them to Babylon in the plot.
10 And they said “We hereby send you
Some money, so buy with it too
Burnt offerings and sin offering new
And incense, and grain offerings too,
And offer on altar of YHWH
Our Ælohim, 11 “and also pray
For the life of the king in sway
Of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar,
For the life of his son and pleaser
Belshazzar, that their days on earth
May be like days of heaven in worth.
12 “And YHWH will give us strength, and He
Will give light to our eyes, and we
Shall live under protecting hand
Of Nebuchadnezzar to stand
As king of Babylon and by
Protection of his son to cry
Belshazzar, and we shall serve them
A long time and in favour’s hem.

Here starts establishment of religion,
The wicked influence of Babylon.
Babylon’s faith is found in every place
Where prayer is made for king and kingly race.
All men love kings and so tempted to pray
For them instead of keeping the right way.
I too love pageantry and royal suit,
And bands and marches and the tread of boot,
But let me not like church and synagogue
Make formal prayer on behalf of the wog
That sits upon the throne of power and state.
Beloved, bless every man, even the king,
But keep me from deception of his wing
And faithful to the law in Decalogue.

13 “And pray for us to YHWH our God,
For we have sinned upon the sod
Against YHWH our Ælohim, and
Up to this time YHWH’s wrath may stand,
His anger turn not from our band.
14 “And you’ll read this writing we send
To you to make confession tend
In YHWH’s house on the days of feast
And at appointed times increased.
15 “And you shall say ‘Righteousness still
Belongs to YHWH our God until
Confusion of face as today
Remains to us in Judah’s prey,
To dwellers of Jersualem,
And to our kings and princes’ gem,
And priests and prophets, elders too,
17 “Because we have sinned before YHWH,
18 “And we have disobeyed Him too,
And have not obeyed voice of YHWH
Our Ælohim, to walk upright
In the statutes of YHWH for light
That He has set before our pew.
19 “From the time YHWH brought our dads out
Of Egypt’s land to this days grout,
We’ve disobeyed YHWH Ælohim,
And have neglected, it would seem,
His voice. 20 “So to this day there cling
To us calamities and wing
Of curse that YHWH declared and spoke
Through Moses His servant in stroke
When He brought our ancestors out
Of the land of Egypt with shout
To give us a land flowing with
Milk and honey, and not a myth.
21 “We did not heed the voice of YHWH
Our Ælohim in words to do
From all the prophets that He sent,
22 “But we each followed the intent
Of our on wicked heart to serve
Other gods and going to swerve
In evil in the sight of YHWH
Our Ælohim in what we do.’”

Each man must find philosophy to show
An explanation for the grief in tow.
Baruch like other prophets so explains
Captivity and increase of folk’s pains
By some allusion to the presumed sins
The victims had incurred upon their shins.
The grief itself is evidence in state
Of their wrong-doing in the soon or late.
Beloved, I hate and oppose all such things
And every attempt to make living springs
Of Your injustice on the earthen sod.
I do not have faith in the act of God
Portrayed in each catastrophe I see.
I trust that You are good, not wicked spree.

BARUCH 2

1 “‘So YHWH confirmed His word, which He
Spoke against us, and faithfully
Against our judges who enjoined
False verdicts against Israel,
And against our kings there purloined
And against our princes a spell
And against men of Israel
And Judah. 2 Under the whole sky
There’s not been done like what you spy
Him doing in Jerusalem,
By what is writ with stratagem
In the law of Moses, 3 that we
Should eat, one the flesh of his son
Another flesh of daughter’s bun.
4 And He gave them into the power
Of all the kingdoms round our tower,
To be reproach and desolation
Among every surrounding nation,
Where YHWH has scattered them in station.
5 They were brought low and not raised up,
Because we sinned against the cup
Of YHWH our Ælohim, in not
Heeding His voice to teach the plot.
6 “‘Righteousness is to YHWH our God,
But confusion of face and prod
To us and our ancestors’ nod,
As is today. 7 All those grave hurts
With which YHWH threatened us in spurts
Have come upon us. 8 Yet we’ve not
Entreated YHWH’s grace by repenting,
Each one of us from every thought
Of wicked heart and not relenting.

Let Baruch speak for himself in the crowd.
I’m sure that repentance had been allowed
By many in the state, for in the day
Of good Elijah, whose prophetic stay
Thought he alone was there to keep the way,
There were five thousand and two more to pray
To You alone, Beloved, without the proud.
How many then when Baruch spoke the word
Had in the silence of heart stricken, stirred,
Prayed for Your grace entreating penitence
With tears and groanings in their captive vents.
I too feel I’m alone upon the lea
Of my mountain and lake: by faith I see
The thousands praying still and faithfully.

9 And YHWH has kept calamity
Ready, and YHWH has brought to see
Before us, for YHWH’s just in all
His works which He commands in call
Us to do. 10 Yet we’ve not obeyed
His voice, to walk YHWH’s statutes laid
Which He set before our parade.
11 “‘And now, Israel’s YHWH Ælohim,
Who brought Your people from the stream
Of Egypt with a mighty hand
And with signs and with wonders and
With great power and outstretched arm, and
Have made You a name, as today,
12 We’ve sinned, gone ungodly astray,
We have done wrong, O Lord our God,
Against all Your statutes and prod.
13 Let Your wrath turn away from us,
For we are left, few for a muss,
Among folk where You’ve scattered us.
14 Hear, O Lord, our prayer and our plea,
And for Your own sake set us free,
And grant us grace in sight of those
Who took us to exile in rows,
15 That all the earth may know that You
Are YHWH our Ælohim and true,
For Israel and his descendants
Are called by Your name’s heritance.

The prophet is amazed the people do
Not obey You despite the punishment
That lies upon the Israelite in tent,
Despite the cup of wormwood and the rue.
The prophet wonders that the horrid view
Of the captivity that You have sent
In no way has been able to prevent
Idolatry of sundry in the crew.
Beloved, your prophet may have studied law
But the psychology of love and fear
Escapes his holiness as I can see.
Today men know that love and not the claw
Inspires both loyalty and eye and ear:
Learn from the wisdom of this century.

16 O Lord, look down from where You dwell,
Consider us. Incline ear well,
O Lord and hear, 17 open Your eyes,
O Lord, and see, for dead who lies
In Hades, whose spirit’s been taken
From body, will not now be shaken
To give glory’s justice to YHWH,
18 But the one who’s greatly distressed,
That goes about bent over vest
And feeble, and the eyes that fail,
And the one that hungers for tale,
Will give You glory’s righteousness,
O Lord. 19 For it is not address
Of some righteous deeds of our fathers
Or of our kings that we for bothers
Bring before You in plea of grace,
O YHWH our Ælohim to trace.

Beloved, Your prophet deigns to think that You
So covet praise that You will come in view
To help and save if You just understand
That praise comes best from every suffering band.
I will not stop to accuse prophet of
The thought that You showed such a lack of love
And let the people fall in their despair
For the very purpose that they should bear
More valuable offerings on the stair.
Beloved, the primitive in thought may seem
Naïve to me ensconced in pleasant beam,
But in truth faith today is just as trite:
When such catastrophe falls on the right,
They always proclaim You’ve some goal in sight.

20 For You have sent Your wrath and Your
Anger upon us, as before
You did declare by Your servants
The prophets, saying 21 “So says YHWH:
‘Bend your shoulders and serve in due
The king of Babylon, and you
Will remain in the land which I
Gave to your ancestors to ply.
22 “But if you’ll not obey the voice
Of YHWH and will not serve by choice
The king of Babylon, 23 “I’ll make
Cease from the towns in Judah’s wake
And from the region round about
Jerusalem the voice to shout
Of mirth and gladness, and the voice
Of the bridegroom and to rejoice
The bride, and the whole land will be
A desolation and empty.’”

You give the folk, Beloved, the choice to live
In peace beneath the servitude to give
The heavy burdens of tribute in sieve
To Babylon’s king, or to rise and fight,
Defending house and home and slave and right.
The fruit of one is that the city stand,
The product of the other in the land
Is devastation at invader’s hand.
The choices that You give, Beloved, are slight,
But very like the ones I see tonight,
As I regard the market empire here
That desecrates the Sabbath without fear.
Submit to law of false democracy
And live in some peace under the decree.

24 “‘But we did not obey Your voice,
To serve the king of Babylon,
And You have confirmed Your words’ choice,
Which You spoke by Your servants won
The prophets, that bones of our kings
And bones of our ancestors’ springs
Would be dug up out of their graves,
25 And indeed, they’ve been cast in waves
Out to the heat of day and frost
Of night. They perished in the cost
Of misery, by famine tossed
And sword and pestilence embossed.
26 And the house that’s called by Your name
You have made as it is today,
Because of the wickedness’ way
Of house of Israel and blame
Of house of Judah gone astray.
27 “‘Yet You have dealt with us, O YHWH
Our Ælohim, in Your kind due,
And in all Your compassion’s view,
28 “As You spoke by Your servant Moses
On the day when You came and chose us
Commanding him to write Your law
In the presence and in the awe
Of the folk of Israel, to say,
29 “If you will not choose to obey
My voice, this mammoth multitude
Will surely turn into a crude
Small number among nations, where
I’ll scatter them and make live there.
30 “For I know they will not obey
Me, for they are a stiff-necked folk.
But in the land of exile’s stroke
They’ll waken to the truth and stay
31 “To know that I am YHWH their God.
I’ll give them a heart and a prod
To obey and an ear to hear,
32 “And they will praise me without fear
In the land of their exile, and
Will remember My name, 33 and stand
To turn from their stubbornness and
Their wicked deeds, for they will mind
The ways of their ancestors’ kind,
Who sinned before YHWH. 34 “I will bring
Them again to the land and spring
Which I swore to give to their dads,
To Abraham and Isaac and
To Jacob, and they’ll rule its pads,
And I will multiply their stand,
And undiminished all their band.
35 “I’ll make an everlasting pact
With them to be their Ælohim
And they shall be My folk in fact,
And I’ll never again remove
My people Israel from the groove,
Of the land I gave them to prove.”

The everlasting covenant it seems
Appeared with the return from the ripe dreams
Of Nebuchadnezzar to build the town
And temple under joy and under frown.
The covenant the prophet would see here
As everlasting and without a fear
Turned out to be the Hellenizing gear,
The torture of the faithful and the tear
Of those who conformed to the law set down.
Fulfilment of the promise was some less
In the reality come to address
Than hope of peace and fast tranquility.
That’s why, Beloved, I take a pain of fault
To hear that You will save the wheat and malt.

BARUCH 3

1 O Lord Almighty, Ælohim
Of Israel, the soul would scream
In anguish and fainting to You.
2 Hear, O YHWH, and have mercy too,
For we have trespassed before You.
3 For You’re enthroned for ever, and
We perish always as You stand.
4 O Lord Almighty, Ælohim
Of Israel, hear now the beam
Of the prayer of Israel’s dead
And of the sons of those unled
Who’ve sinned before You, who did not
Heed the voice of YHWH their God sought,
So that calamities have come
Upon us. 5 Do not remember
Iniquities of ancestor,
But in this crisis remember
Your power and Your name all in sum.

The sweet Christian pretends in times of old
You bore salvation on the true and bold
Because of their obedience to law
And without grace to diminish the claw.
Yet Baruch in ancient times comes to plead,
Not ancestral obedience to creed,
Nor his or his own people’s better deed,
But Your power and Your name to save in need.
Grace is eternal, my Beloved, it seems,
Both in the true faith and the one of dreams,
And there’s no saving without mercy’s way,
Without the grace to cover sins and pay.
But grace itself is in the law You spoke
On Sinai, reject it, take heathen yoke.

6 For You are YHWH our God, and You,
O Lord, will we praise as is due.
7 For You have put the fear of You
In our hearts in order that we
Should call upon Your name, and we
Will praise You in exile, for we
Have put away from our hearts all
Our ancestors’ wicked way’s gall
Who sinned before You in their stall.
8 Indeed, today we’re in exile
Where You have scattered us a while
To be reproached and cursed and punished
For all the wickedness unfunnished
Of our ancestors who forsook
YHWH our Ælohim at a look.

The factor of release that provides power
Of Your obedience for just an hour,
The hand to keep Your law, though light of use,
Is that fear that You place in hearts and nous.
It is not terror that produces flame
Of obedience to Your spoken game,
But fear of Your opinion for Your fame
Instead of what the other people claim.
Public opinion is what keeps the soul
From her obedience to You as goal,
A greater fear of what people may say
Than of what You, Beloved, on judgement day
Hark back to when You first revealed the way
On Sinai and stood up to take the toll.

9 Hear the commandments of life, O
Israel, give ear, learn wisdom so!
10 Why is it, O Israel, that you
Are in the land of your foes’ crew,
And grow old in a foreign land,
That you’re defiled with the dead flanned.
11 That you’re counted among those in
Hades? 12 You have forsaken fount
Of wisdom. 13 If you’d walked the mount
Of Ælohim, you would be dwelling
In peace forever at the telling.

If any man had kept the sacred word
Of Decalogue pronounced on wing of bird
To soar above Sinai like soar today
The swallows around Mecca’s heart in sway,
He would be dwelling in peace of Islam,
The peace of full submission to Your balm.
Instead establishments of faith come round
To circumvent Your law and make the bound
Appear more loving and more free in sound,
When in fact all establishments agree
To enslave partisan eternally.
Beloved, I hear commandments of life and
Rejoice to know that one ear in the land
Takes hold in faith determined where to stand.

14 Learn where there’s wisdom, where there’s strength,
Where understanding, that at length
You may perceive the days of life
Where there’s life and peace without strife.
15 Who’s found her place? And who’s gone in
Her storehouse and her treasure bin?
16 Where are the princes of the lands,
And rulers of earths beasts in bands,
17 Those who shoot birds on wing for sport
And save up silver and gold sort
In which men trust, and without end
To their acquiring things to spend,
18 Those who scheme to get silver, and
Are anxious, whose labours expand
Beyond the counting on the hand?
19 They’ve vanished, gone down to Sheol,
And others risen in their toll.

Those who spend life seeking success of things,
The gathering of wealth, the right of kings
And priests (I use the words symbolically
Of those who grasp abusive power in spree),
When they come to give their account at last,
After the struggle and the hopes in blast,
Find not security and rest, but ticket
To enter Hades by the nearest wicket.
Beloved, the chaff, though driven by the wind
Of great desire among those who have sinned,
Is piled high to be burned, and it would seem
There’s always room at the top of the cream.
While waiting for the furnace to be heated,
Let’s go and shoot some birds among the seated.

20 Young men have seen the light of day,
And lived upon the earth in sway,
But they’ve not learned in knowledge path,
Nor understood her ways and math
To lay hold on her roundelay.
21 Their sons have strayed far from her way.
22 She’s not been heard of in Canaan,
Nor seen in Teman by the plan
23 Of sons of Hagar, who seek for
Understanding on the earth floor,
The merchants of Merran and Teman,
The story-tellers and the seaman
Seekers for understanding, they
Have not learned of wisdom her way
Nor given thought to her paths’ sway.

What’s lovingly called Islam by the great
And by the small reporters for the state,
The faith of Arab, who by all accounts
In the Qur’an is worst in its amounts,
Is but the straying far from the right way,
Commandments that You posed upon a day.
The story-tellers and each Sindibad
Command their notice to make the heart sad,
But true Islam’s in words the prophet spoke
To lead both Jew and Christian from their yoke
Into the freedom of Your sacred law,
Keeping the ones You send all still in awe,
To gather humankind to realize
One God and one boat carry all the wise.

24 O Israel, how great’s the house
Of Ælohim! And how vast grouse
Of territory that He holds!
25 It is great and has no bounds’ folds,
It’s high and without measure’s moulds.
26 The giants were born there, and they
Were famous in ancient time’s sway,
And tall and mighty in the fray.
27 Ælohim did not choose them, nor
Give them the way to knowledge store,
28 So they perished because they had
No wisdom, they perished as bad.
29 Who has gone up into the sky
To take her and brought through clouds nigh?
30 Who has gone over the sea, and
Found her, and will buy her for brand
Of gold? 31 No one knows how to find
The path to her, and where to bind.
32 But he who knows all things knows her,
He found her by intelliger.
He who laid the earth for all time
Filled it with four-footed to climb,
33 He who sends forth the light to go,
Called it, and it obeyed not slow,
34 The stars shone in their sequences,
And were glad, he called them to whiz,
And they said, “Here we are!” They shone
With gladness for Him on His throne.
35 This is our God, no other can
Be compared to Him come to stand!
36 He found the whole way to wisdom,
And gave her to Jacob His rum
Servant and to Israel who He
Loved. 37 Afterward she came to be
On earth and dwelt among men free.

Beloved, You gave to Israel the way,
The life and truth in the commandments’ sway,
Imprinted them upon the fleshly heart
Of prophet and of people in their part,
And some have been humble and faithful too
To represent the good path and the true,
And some have failed to keep their eye and crew
Beneath the law that led like light of day.
Beloved, I thank the folk who kept alive
The knowledge of Your law, though You deprive
Them of their honour, when they failed to strive
To keep it in faith and in all they do.
Thanks to them, whether they retain or not
The rewards of the earth and heavenly plot.

BARUCH 4

1 She’s the book of God’s commandments
And law enduring to ascents
Of all eternity. All who
Hold her fast will live, and those who
Forsake her will die with their crew.
2 Turn, O Jacob, and take her, walk
Toward her light shining on the rock.
3 Don’t give your glory to another,
Your benefits to a strange brother.

The law that Your prophet says is for ever
Has met its end in Christ by those who sever
Our lives from that great benefit You gave.
Make human sacrifice of god or slave
Atonement for the breaking of Your law
Save such who break it without love or awe
Makes me forget to rejoice at Your word.
Come now, Beloved, atonement is absurd.
Eternal life, if life there be, is met
Loving Your law and living in its set.
Why test the waters of the Gospel bet
Against truth of experience heart stirred?
I shall not turn my glory to another
Nor walk away from law’s light for a smother.

4 Blessèd are we, O Israel,
For we know what is pleasing well
To Ælohim. 5 Take courage, folk,
Memorial of Israel’s stroke!
6 It was not for destruction that
You were sold to the nations flat,
But you were handed over to
Your enemies because that you
Enraged Ælohim in your pew.
7 For you provoked Him who made you,
By sacrificing in the view
Of demons and not Ælohim,
8 Forgot eternal Ælohim,
Who brought you up, and so you grieved
Jerusalem, who unreprieved
Reared you. 9 For she saw that the wrath
That came upon you in your path
Was from Ælohim, and she said
“Listen, neighbours of the fortress,
Ælohim has brought great distress
On me, 10 for I’ve seen outspread
My sons and daughters hopeless led
Into captivity, which He,
The Eternal brought on their head
11 With joy I nurtured them to be,
But saw them go out grievingly.
12 Let no one rejoice over me,
A widow and bereaved I be,
Let desolate because of sins
Of my own children without wins,
Because they turned away from law
Of Ælohim to meet the claw.”

Jerusalem’s bereaved to find the way
That Jews have forgotten the light of day.
Beloved, there’s hardly one on earth to stay
Who’s not worse than the Jews in force to pay
In sacrifice to gross idolatry.
Jerusalem may grieve, and yet be free
In knowing that if some are bad to see,
They are not as bad as the Catholic stars
Who bow to images and count their bars,
Or Baptists who engage in false prayer to
Their Trinity and the atonement’s cru.
Let the town weep, if weep she must, but know
That Jewish arms and Jewish idols’ show
Are briefer than the rest of heathen glow.

13 “They did not regard His laws right,
They did not walk in ways of light
In Ælohim’s commandments, nor
Tread the paths of discipline’s shore
In righteousness. 14 “Let neighbours come
Around the fortress, mind in sum
The capture of my sons and daughters,
Which the Eternal brought to slaughters.
15 “For He brought against them a folk
From far off, shameless in their stroke,
Of a strange language, with respect
For no elder nor pity checked
For a child. 16 “And they led away
The widow’s most loved sons as prey,
Bereaved the lonely woman here
Of her daughters. 17 “But I, how can
I help you? 18 “For He who brought span
Of these calamities on you
Will deliver you from the crew
Of your foes. 19 “Go, my children, go,
For I have been left lone and slow.
20 “I’ve taken off the robe of peace
And put on the sackcloth’s release
Of my supplication, I’ll cry
To the Eternal as I sigh.
21 “Take courage, my children, and cry
To Ælohim, and He will save
You from the power of the grave
And the hand of the foe to rave.
22 “For I have put my hope at last
In the Eternal to save you,
Rejoicing has come to me fast
From the Holy One, because of
The mercy which soon from above
Will come to you at the hand of
Your everlasting Saviour’s love.
23 “For I sent you out with grief and
With weeping, but Ælohim’s stand
Will give you back to me with joy
And gladness for ever in ploy.

The promises are great, but as I view
How they’re fulfilled in history and pew
Of Maccabee and Bar Kochba in sight,
My heart quakes with the grief of doom and night.
As far as centuries may light the path
Some plague falls on the town, and falls some wrath.
More can be said, perhaps even today
Come Israel on Jerusalem to play,
Encouraged by the guns its children sway.
Live and let live, if even that were score,
Where is the great delight promised in store?
Against millennia of grief and pain,
Incitement of peace and more war in vain,
Nothing attempted yet assuages gain.

24 “For as the neighbours of the fort
Have now seen your capture’s report,
So soon they’ll see salvation too
By Ælohim, which comes to you
With great glory and splendour due
Of the Eternal. 25 “My children,
Endure with patience the wrath then
That’s come on you from Ælohim.
Your enemy has crossed the stream
And overtaken you, but you
Will soon see their destruction and
Will tread upon their necks in band.
26 “My tender sons travelled rough roads,
They were taken like flock by goads
Carried off by the enemy.
27 “Take courage, my children, and cry
To Ælohim, for you’ll come by
To be remembered by Him who
Also has brought this upon you.
28 “For just as you purposed to go
Astray from Ælohim below,
Return with tenfold zeal to seek
Him. 29 “For He who brought these in peak
Calamities on you will bring
You everlasting joy with spring
Of your salvation on the wing.”

Endure with patience wrath. Indeed, that part
Of prophecy’s fulfilled to the last dart.
The world’s a slaughter ground and happiness
Impossible in such a gross address,
But as I whirl with Your name on my lips
Despite the Rabbis’ disapproving hips,
I take comfort before death on the wail
That You too have words that come to avail
In service of remembrance as You turn
In Your unchanging habitat and burn
Without quenching, without consuming leaf.
I take comfort in You before my grief,
And find above the shoah the relief
Of everlasting joy I shall not earn.

30 Take courage, O Jerusalem,
For He who called you once a gem
Will comfort you by stratagem.
31 Wretched will be those who afflict
You and rejoiced when you were kicked.
32 Wretched will be the cities where
Your children served as slaves in share,
Wretched will be the city which
Received your sons out of the ditch.
33 Just as she rejoiced at your fall,
Glad for your ruin and its pall,
So she will be grieved at her own
Desolation upon the stone.
34 And I will take away her pride
In her great population’s stride,
Her insolence turns into grief.
35 For fire will come upon her chief
From the Eternal many days,
And long she shall tread in the maze
Of demons whirling in the haze.
36 Look toward the east, Jerusalem,
And see rejoicing that has come
To you from Ælohim in sum!
37 Indeed, your sons are coming, whom
You sent away, back from their doom,
Gathered from east and west, at word
Of the Holy One who was stirred,
Rejoicing in Ælohim heard.

I have a heart of vengeance that is great
Enough to rejoice that the coming state
Of Hitler is a wretchedness to be
Condemned and doomed for all eternity.
But such is not enough to heal the wound
Of hopelessness the world transcends harpooned.
Such cannot carry me in flight to be
A spark of light upon paternity.
Beloved, if joy I must, let me rejoice
Through memories too awful to give voice,
And let me see the city lie beneath
The peace of swordlessness and without sheath.
Then I shall come again in my return
With love within to fester and to burn.

BARUCH 5

1 Take off the garment of your grief
And your affliction for relief,
Jerusalem, and clothe you in
Beauty of glory in the din
Of Ælohim’s eternity.
2 Put on the robe of righteousness
From Ælohim, put on address
The diadem of the glory
Of the Eternal One to see.
3 For Ælohim will show your splendour
Everywhere under heaven’s surrender.
4 For your name will for ever be
Called by Ælohim to be free,
“Peace of righteousness and glory
Of godliness.” 5 And so arise,
Jerusalem, stand under skies
And look toward the east, and see
Your children gathered from the west
And from the east, at the word’s hest
Of the Holy One, rejoicing
That Ælohim’s minded the sting.
6 For they went forth from you on foot,
Led away by their enemies down-put,
But Ælohim will bring them back
To you, carried in glory’s stack,
As on a royal throne for lack.
7 For Ælohim has ordered that
Every high mountain and the flat
Of everlasting hills be made
Low and the valleys filled and stayed
To make a level ground, so that
Israel may walk safely on flat
In the glory of Ælohim.
8 The woods and every fragrant team
Of trees have shaded Israel
At God’s command beneath His spell.
9 Ælohim will lead Israel
With joy, in the light of His glory,
With mercy and righteousness’ story
That come from Him and His to tell.

The many miles of forest in the track
Of Finland landscape at my front and back
Show shade indeed upon the white nights where
I wander or remain among the fair.
But rarely does this forest shade the few
Of Israel among the righteous crew.
It mostly shades the Lutherans who call
Your law impossible, a pact in thrall,
And hope instead for grace to disobey
And to oppress the poor in their own way.
Beloved, the forests that surround the town
Jerusalem shade no one from the frown
Of blistered sun. Beware what You recite
To prophets with a quill with which to write.

BARUCH 6

1 A copy of what Jeremiah
Sent to those who as a pariah
Were taken out to Babylon
As captives by their king when done,
To give them the word Ælohim
Had commanded him at full beam.
2 Because of the sins that you’ve done
Before Ælohim, you will be
Taken to Babylon in fee
As captives by Nebuchadnezzar,
The king of Babylon, a geezer.

If this is punishment for all the sins
Of the ancestors in idols free bins,
Then why the constant simpering to make
The people conform to the sheer mistake
Of politics? If breaking every treaty
With Egypt would amend Judaean sweetie,
Then where’s the punishment for former sin?
And if not, why so prophesy in din?
Faithfulness to Pharaoh more than undue
In disobeying Your law cooked their stew.
Beloved, the bind hypocrisy I find
Even in Your own prophets is unkind.
The fact is most folk did not obey You,
And what came on them had nothing to do.

3 So when you come to Babylon
You’ll stay there for a long time drawn,
As many as seven generations,
And after that I’ll bring your stations
Away from there in peace and free.
4 In Babylon you will see gods
Made of silver and gold and clods
Of wood, which are carried upon
Men’s shoulders and inspire fear drawn
Upon the heathen. 5 So take care
Not to fall in to such a snare
Like the aliens or let
Fear of these gods then come to get
A hold on you, and when you see
The crowd in front and back freely
Worshiping them. 6 Say in your heart,
“It’s You, O YHWH, we owe the part
Of worship only.” 7 For I’ll send
My angel with you not to bend,
And he is watching what you do.
8 Their tongues are smoothed by craftsman true,
And they themselves are laid with gold
And silver, but they’re false when sold
And cannot speak. 9 People take gold
And make crowns for the heads of gods,
As they would for a girl who prods
A love of ornaments, 10 sometimes
The priests secretly take gold rimes
And silver from their gods and spend
It on themselves, 11 and even rend
Some of it to the harlots in
The brothel. They deck their gods’ bin
With clothing like that made for men,
These gods of silver, gold again
And wood, 12 which cannot save themselves
From rust and ruin on their shelves.
When they’ve been dressed in purple robes,
13 Their faces are wiped of microbes
Because of the dust from the temple,
Which is thick on them like a stemple.

Though I do not live in fair Babylon,
I’ve seen gods made of gold and silver drawn,
And seen how awful Trinities with spawn
Entice the crowds to every kind of wake,
To every seal of sin and every stake.
I’ve seen the priestly claw caught in the till,
And gift brought to the harlot for the spill,
And turned from every church and synagogue,
And from the holy mosque to make my log
Of single soul to serve You on Your throne,
While every man remains brother of stone.
Without a binding to the church to share
I’m citizen of the world, so I bear
My kinship to adherents everywhere.

14 Like a local chief the gods hold
A sceptre, though they are not bold
To destroy anyone offending.
15 It has a dagger and portending
In its right hand, and has an axe,
But it cannot save from the tracks
Of war and robbers till it cracks.
16 That’s why it’s evident that they
Are not gods, do not fear their sway.
17 For just as a dish is worth nought
When it is broken, so the taught
Gods of the heathen when they’re set
Up in their temples to be met.
Their eyes are full of the dust raised
By the feet of those who are crazed
To enter there. 18 And just as gates
Are shut on every side and pates
Of those who have offended king,
As though sentenced to death and sting,
So the priests lock their temples fast
With doors and bars against the blast
Of robbers’ plundering the thing.

The axe may break an idol made of stone
Or wood and leave the splinters without groan,
And may have done so in the heathen past,
But now we are too civilized to last.
The idol is a thing of art, and so
Is preserved from the sacred head to toe,
Which means the argument the prophet made
Is never seen these days upon parade.
Beloved, You must come now and intervene
Yourself to make us know what You may mean:
You’ll have to raise the axe Yourself to show
Idols so well protected do not glow
With more divinity than is Your own
In the sky on an invisible throne.

19 They light lamps, even more than they
Light for themselves, though their gods may
See none of them. 20 They are just like
Abeam of the temple, but strike
Men in their hearts with fear,
When worms from the dark earth appear
Consuming them and their clothes sere.
21 They do not notice when their faces
Are blackened by temple smoke traces.
22 Bats, swallows, and birds light on them,
On bodies and heads, as do cats.
23 From this you’ll know that they in hem
Are not gods, so do not fear them.
24 As for the gold they wear in vats
Of beauty, they don’t shine unless
Someone wipes off the crust with zest,
For even when they’ve being cast
They have no feeling of the blast.
25 They are bought at any cost, but
There is no breath in lung or gut.

The bird poop on the statue of the god
Apollo proves that he’s made of mere sod,
And nothing of the glory of the sun,
And nothing of the story myth has spun.
The bird poop on the head of Ashtoreth
Proves that she never lived to draw a breath,
And all is empty, all but hope and fear,
And prayer for rain and guidance how to steer.
Beloved, if You could humble shrines of old
By rat and criminal fowl in the fold,
We theologians have got round the trick:
No bird can poop on Trinity, we’re slick.
The fact no bird poop lies on Father-Son
And Ghost must mean they’re divine to a ton.

26 Having no feet, they must be borne
On human shoulders, being shorn
Of worth in sight of all men born.
27 And those who serve them are ashamed
Because through them these gods are claimed
To stand, lest they fall to the ground.
If any one sets one of them
Upright, it can’t move from its hem,
And if it’s tipped over, it can’t
Straighten itself, yet gifts not scant
Are placed before them as before
The dead. 28 The priests sell then the store
Of sacrifices that are set
Before these gods, use what they get,
While their wives preserve some with salt,
But give not to the poor for fault.

Beloved, You’ve caught the pagan gift for shame
And brought them all down to a better claim.
It used to be the sacrifices made
A tidy sum for priest when they waylaid,
And what they could not sell or eat that day,
Their wives salted to save and put away.
But You have spoiled their fun by changing that.
The sacrifice has hardly any fat,
And is a wafer so thin that the whole
Lies on one tongue to keep it at the goal.
The wine is left fore priest alone to drink
And keep him on drunkenness’ brink.
He does not even have a wife with salt,
Though brothels provide all without a fault.

29 Sacrifice to them may be touched
By menstruous women or those clutched
With childbirth. Since you know by these
Things that they are not gods to please,
Do not fear them. 30 For why should they
Be called gods? Women serve array
Of meals for gods of silver and
Of gold and wood, 31 and in a band
In their temples the priests sit down
With their clothes rent and with a frown,
Their heads and beards shaved, and their heads
Uncovered. 32 They howl at the spreads
And shout before their gods as some
Do at a funeral feast’s hum
For a man who has died. 33 The priests
Take some of the clothing of feasts
Of their gods to clothe wives and spawn.
34 Whether one does evil out-drawn
To them or good, they will not be
Able to repay it in fee.
They cannot set up a king or
Depose one. 35 They cannot give wealth
Or money, if one makes in stealth
A vow to them and fails to keep,
They cannot hold to account’s sweep.

One argument that idols are not true
Is that their offerings can be touched by crew
Of menstruous women and still hold their rue.
The opposite must be the holy case
Of offerings brought to You under the mace.
Maybe that’s why the priesthood in Your book
Is made of males alone with healthy hook.
The argument to me seems one contrived
In circular through laws that have survived.
Can we not just imagine that the shame
Of such impurity entails no blame,
And unwashed sacrifices are as good
For Baal and Ashtoreth met in the wood
As lambs and rams are in Your temple hood?

36 They cannot save a man from death
Or rescue the weak from the breath
Of the strong. 37 They cannot restore
Sight to a blind man, nor the more
Rescue a man who’s in distress.
38 They take no pity on address
Of widow nor do they do good
To an orphan. 39 These things of wood
And overlaid with gold and siller
Are like stones from the mountain’s filler,
And those who serve them will be put
To shame. 40 Why then must any foot
Come to them as gods, or should any
Call them gods? Besides, for a penny
Even the Chaldeans themselves
Dishonour them, 41 for when like elves
They see a dumb man, who can’t speak,
They bring him and pray Bel to seek
The man’s healing, as though Bel could
Understand any speakinghood.
42 Yet they themselves cannot perceive
This and abandon such gods’ weave,
For they have no sense to receive.

They bring a dumb man to the dumb go so
The dumb idol might make the man not slow
To speak, and yet see nothing in the show
Of inconsistent on the earth below.
All faiths are filled with inconsistencies
And quaint and superstitious scores to please.
The Christian knows that Jesus is a God,
And knows the command not to picture prod,
And yet makes icons of the son of man.
The Muslim who does not know deity
Rests on the humble form will never see
A picture made of him, though he’s by plan
As human as a human being can.
It ought by right to be opposite tree.

43 And the women, with cords tied on,
Sit under colonnades from dawn
To burn bran for incense, and when
One’s led off by one of the men
And copulated with, she then
Mocks the woman next to her, for
She was not seductive in score
And her cord was not broken more.
44 Whatever’s done for them is false.
Why then must any one come waltz
Think that they are gods, or then call
Them gods? 45 They are made in the hall
Of carpenters and goldsmiths, they
Can be nothing but what the sway
Of craftsmen wish them to be prey.
46 The men who make them surely will
Not live very long on their hill,
So how can what they make be gods?
47 They have left only lies and prods
For those who come upon the sods.

The sacred prostitutes of then and now
Have two things in common on harlot’s brow:
The calling is holy and to confess,
And all are in competition’s address.
In older times they only had to sit
With cord revealed and ready with the kit.
But now they must be advertised with care
Of writhing to rock music for their share.
The crooning of the nightclub and the fame
Of church are of a similar acclaim,
But the poor girl without make-up and tape
To accompany her to sacred rape
Is left to sit upon abandoned pew,
Perhaps with naught to comfort her but You.

48 For when war or calamity
Comes on them, the priests consult fee
Together as to where they can
Hide themselves and their gods by plan.
49 How then can one fail to see that
These are not gods, for they out flat
Cannot save themselves from war or
Calamity upon the shore.
50 Since they are made of wood and set
Over with gold and silver debt,
It will after be known that they
Are false. 51 It will be clear as day
To all the nations and kings they
Are not gods but work of men’s pay,
And there’s no work of Ælohim
In them. 52 Who then can fail in beam
To know that they are not gods’ way?
53 For they cannot set up a king
Over a country or give wing
Of rain to men. 54 They cannot judge
Their own cause or save if to budge
One who is wronged, for they’ve no power,
They are like crows between tower
Of heaven and earth. 55 When fire breaks
Out in a temple for the sakes
Of wooden gods covered with gold
Or silver, their priests flee the hold
And they escape, but the gods will
Be burnt in two like beams and fill.
56 Besides, they can give no resistance
To a king or to foes’ persistence.
Why then must any one admit
Or think that they are gods and fit?

The argument that gods are put in store
Of safety during every time of war,
And thus show they’re incapable of being
Divine before every human that’s seeing,
Is proof at least their priests do not believe.
It is not proof for certain they don’t grieve.
It’s possible the wooden face may hide
The feelings of a lover to abide.
It’s possible in theory, yes indeed,
But never to be trusted for a seed
To bear fruit on the final day of greed.
No doubt that’s why the priesthood stands erect
In doubt before infidel and elect,
In hope of further benefits’ respect.

57 Gods made of wood and overlaid
With silver and gold on parade
Are not able to save themselves
From thieves and robbers to their shelves.
58 Strong men will strip them of their gold
And silver and of their robes told,
And depart with the spoil, and they
Cannot keep from being a prey.
59 So it’s better to be a king
Who shows his courage in his wing,
Or a household pot with some use,
Than to be such false gods’ abuse,
Better even a house door that
Protects its contents, that such fat
False gods, better a wooden post
In a palace than false gods’ boast.

The prophet says it’s better far to be
A chamber-pot in which a child may pee
Than to sit on a god’s throne in the house
Of temple prostitute and see the mouse
Come out and nibble at the offerings left
In honour of the goddess that’s bereft
Of life and movement for eternity.
The potty argument is full of flavour
And wit to witty folk to love and savour,
But is no argument to pagan dream
Who is enamoured of what fine things seem.
Sophistication lifts idolatry
To art and thought above its sophistry,
While chamber-pots are useful but they’re lowly.

60 For sun and moon and stars that shine
Sent forth to function and combine,
Obey. 61 So also lightning too,
When it flashes, it comes to view,
And the wind also blows on cue.
62 When Ælohim commands the clouds
To pass the whole world in their crowds,
They carry out but His command.
63 The fire sent from above and spanned
Mountains and woods does what it is planned.
But these idols are not compared
With them in face or power shared.
64 Therefore one must not think they’re gods
Nor call them gods, for they are clods
Not able either to decide
A case or to do good to men’s hide.
65 Since you know then that they are not gods,
Do not fear them. 66 For they have prods
Neither curse nor bless their kings,
67 They cannot show signs in the wings
Of heaven and among the nations,
Or shine like the sun or give rations
Of light like the moon. 68 The wild beasts
Are better than they are in feasts,
For they can flee to cover and
Help themselves when danger would stand.
69 So we’ve no evidence at all
That they are gods, though they are tall
Do not fear them standing in stall.

The sun and moon obey the right routine
And can be relied on to count the scene
Of days and years and months before the crowd,
And their obedience, it is allowed,
Show that there is one to whom they still give
Obedience though themselves do not live.
The argument is logical to trace,
And gives a good excuse for claims on grace.
Beloved, You’re ultimate reality,
But who knows if You give command to be
Or not to those things in the world around,
The regularities of sea and ground?
The argument for and against may sound
Good logic, but in the end all is found.

70 A scarecrow in cucumber bed,
That guards nothing before it spread,
So are their gods of wood decked out
With gold and silver laid about.

The truth is that the scarecrow serves the goal,
It is effective in the purposed whole.
So too is human idol worship here:
It keeps the masses easier to steer.
Idolatry’s a necessary way
To keep the state a stable form a day.
If all the gods of city and of state
Were overthrown there would be neither hate
Nor power to cast the human mass in pay.
The king must serve his gods and make them stay
If he would keep his subjects meek and still.
He needs the divine to stay on his hill.
Beloved, I see no hand of power where I
Walk out beneath the empty trembling sky.

71 In the same way, their gods of wood,
Covered with gold and silver hood,
And like a thorn bush in a field,
On which every bird sits in yield,
Or like a dead body cast out
Into the darkness after rout.
72 By the purple and linen that
Rot on them you will know out flat
That they are not gods, and they will
At last themselves rot on their hill,
And be a reproach in the land.
73 Better therefore is a just hand
That has no idols, for he will be
Far from reproach eternally.

Though gods are nothing more than corpses cast
Upon the roadside without sail or mast,
They are as useful as the ghosts that rise
From corpses to rule all men in their guise.
The fear of ghosts is like the fear of gods:
It fosters respect for the elder pods,
The elder statesmen like grandmother’s hand.
There’s no oppression by successful band
Without the fear of gods, though empty show
And without reality in the blow.
Beloved, it is indeed a better thing
To find a just hand in a reigning king
Than idols, but just think of the result:
No profits from the taxes and the cult.

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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