EZEKIEL CHAPTER 17 - 22

EZEKIEL 17

1 The word of YHWH came to me saying
2 “Son of man, set riddles relaying,
And speak a parable unto
The house of Israel in pew.
3 “And say ‘So’s saying the Lord YHWH,
“A mighty eagle, wings in view,
Long of wing, full of feathers too,
In many colours, came unto
Lebanon and perched on the height
Of the cedar shining in light.
4 “It broke of the top of its new
Twigs and carried it into view
Of a market place, and it set
It in a city merchants met.
5 It also took seed from the land
And planted it on fruitful strand,
It placed it by great waters and
Set it as a willow tree’s stand.
6 It grew spreading as a low vine,
Whose branches turned toward the sign
Of it, and the roots of it stayed
Under it, and so it was made
A vine and sprouted branches out,
And shot forth sprigs and round about.
7 There was another eagle too,
A great one with great wings in view,
And many feathers, and see, this
Vine did not bend her roots to kiss
Toward it, nor shot forth branches to
It so it might water with dew
The furrows of her planting too.

Another eagle! My, what visions fine
Come to Ezekiel without any wine!
Rarely have I seen any eagle, and
The sight of one is truly vision grand.
An eagle perched on cedar tree to pluck
The topmost twig, and plant it in the muck
And see come up instead of cedar willow:
The vision beats all that rests in my pillow.
Beloved, I dance to cantillate the words
That describe these beautiful, noble birds.
The feathers shine and scintillate before
My wondering eyes set out once to explore
The treasures of Your Book. I find the pattern
Of eagle feet overprints that of slattern.

8 It was set in good soil beside
Great waters that under its tide
It might bring forth branches and bear
Fruit, and be a fruitful vine there.
10 Say then, so says the Lord YHWH, “Shall
It prosper? Shall he in cabal
Not pull up the roots of it and
Cut off the fruit from off its stand
So that it withers? It shall soon
Wither in all the leaves of noon,
Even without great strength or yet
Many people to pick it set.
10 Yes, see, though planted shall be
Prosperous? And not utterly
Wither when the east wind will touch
It? It will wither in the clutch
Where it came up to grow and be.

The Bible finds the east wind often rough
And withering to every plant not tough
Enough to stay the dryness and the heart.
The east wind in the Book is rarely treat.
The east wind rarely touches me and mine
Here on the tundra prospering and fine.
I look toward the east wind and the pine
That stretches out across the versts of space
And let my spirit and my wonder race
Across the woodlands that go on to trace
The world to further shore many days hence.
The east wind brings wonders to nomad tents
And to the single soul perched on the rock
Of granite that remains my home and stock.

11 Moreover the word of YHWH came
To me saying, “Tell as in blame
The house rebellious, ‘Don’t you know
What these are? Tell, see, the king’s show
In Babylon will come to blow
Jerusalem, he’s taken out
Its king and princes and led them
All out with him to Babylon.
13 He’s taken of the royal seed
And made a treaty in his need,
And made him swear to him indeed,
And also taken the great land,
The mighty and the holy band.
14 So that the kingdom might be weak,
That it might not rise up and peek,
But that by keeping of his pact,
It might remain to stand and act.
15 But he rebelled against the fact
In sending men into Egypt,
To find him horses, and folk clipped.
Shall he prosper? Shall he escape
When he does such things in a scrape?
Or does he break his treaty and
Fall in destruction on the land?
16 “And as I live” says the Lord YHWH,
“Surely in that place where the king
Lives whose treaty he broke and the sting
Of whose oath he despised, with him
In Babylon’s centre and grim
He’ll die. 17 “Neither shall Pharaoh and
A mighty army and a grand
Company help him in the war
By building mounds and making score
Of forts to cut off folk and more.

Your word to prophet here is quite amazing.
It deals in honesty about its phrasing,
Affirms the promise made and all that jazz,
When in fact it’s politics that he has
In recommending Egypt’s on the wane
And Babylon, though upstart’s bound to gain.
You follow suit with every politician.
They too point out how honest’s their position,
Not that the way they go is just to win
Forgetting justice in the face of sin.
I’m not sure I should be convinced or sad
That You join with those who know good and bad
As simple tools to get them where they’re going.
I leave You to the wild oats You are sowing.

18 Since he despised the oath and broke
The treaty when he’d in faith spoke,
And has done all these things, he’ll not
Escape but be put on the spot.”
19 Therefore so says the Lord YHWH, “As
I live, indeed my oath he has
Despised and my pact he has broken,
Revenge is on his own head’s token.
20 And I will spread my net on him,
And he’ll fall into my snare dim,
And I’ll bring him to Babylon
And deal with him there and anon
For his trespass against Me shone.
21 And all his fugitives with all
His band there by the sword shall fall,
And who remains shall be spread out
By all the winds that blow about,
And you shall know that I am YHWH
And I have spoken and I’ll do.
22 So says the Lord YHWH, “I’ll also
Take the tall cedar’s highest twig
And will set it, I’ll cut off so
From the top of his youngest twig
A tender one, and plant like fig
Upon a high mountain for show.
23 In the mountain of Israel’s height
I’ll plant it to bring into light
Boughs and bear fruit and be delight
For cedar, and under it might
Live all the kinds of birds that fly,
Under its branches they shall lie.
24 All the trees of the field shall know
That I YHWH’ve brought the tall tree low,
Exalted the short tree, and dried
Up the green tree, and made the dried
Tree flourish, I YHWH speak, decide.’

The fact is everyone simply does not
Know You are God alone because the plot
Against Egypt and allies fell through when
Babylon rose to rule the world of men.
I know that You are God and You alone
As I come here before Your awesome throne
Stretched up invisibly against the sky
Beyond the quartzite boulders of my sty,
Set on the reedy shore beside the lake
That still remains a mirror for Your sake.
Beloved, let me know You are one and that
You remain one no matter who else sat
Beside You on Your throne to show the earth
The majesty and glory of your worth.

EZEKIEL 18

1 The word of YHWH again came to
Me saying 2 “What does this mean you
Repeat in proverb of the land
Of Israel, to understand,
‘The father ate sour grapes and now
The children’s teeth on edge somehow?’
3 “As I live” says the Lord YHWH, “you
Will nevermore use this word true
In Israel. 4 “See all souls are mine, as the soul
Of the father so also soul
Of the son’s mine, the soul that sins
Is the one that shall die in grins.

All souls are Yours, Beloved, and so I stake
My soul upon Your will and for no rake
Of father or for son come to my wake.
All souls are Yours and mine too in Your hand
To cast in hell or on the promised land,
Where I shall gnash my teeth or ever stand
To play my harp to Your glory with band
Of the damned or the saved as You propose.
Beloved, propose what You will for a rose
Or for a thorn, Your verdict must be borne
In happiness or woe, in praise or scorn,
Until eternity is filled with praise
Of You beyond the momentary craze
Of human life of whirling in the maze.

5 “But a just man and one who’s right
And lawful, 6 “And upon the sight
Of mountains has not eaten nor
Has lifted up his eyes in store
To idols of Israel’s house, nor
Defiled his neighbour’s wife, and not
Come near a monstrous woman’s lot,
7 “Has not oppressed any, instead
Has restored to the debtor led
His pledge, and spoiled none in the way
Of violence, and given bread
To the hungry, covered from day
The naked with clothing to stay,
8 “Who’s not lent on interest, nor taken
Any increase, but has forsaken
Iniquity, and executed
True judgement between two refuted,
9 “Has walked in My statutes and kept
My judgements to deal truly ept,
He’s just and he shall surely live”
Says the Lord YHWH verdict to give.
10 “If he sires a son thieving, one
To shed blood and to anyone
Does the like of these things, 11 “and not
Doing any of those things taught,
But ate upon the mountains and
Defiled his neighbour’s wife in band,
12 “And has oppressed the poor and those
In need and in violence rose,
Has not restored the pledge and yet
Lifted his eyes to idols met,
Committing his abomination,
13 “Has lent to interest for a ration
And taken increase, shall he live?
He shall not live: what he may give
In abominations will sieve
His life out and his blood shall be
Upon himself and wickedly.

The eating on the mountain is a thing
That seems so innocent, especially
When the motive's to engage happily
In needed cult of some fertility,
Which digging in the neighbour's wife implies.
The prophet stays in a word suggesting
Such worship results in a social wing
Oppressing the poor beneath the blue skies.
Beloved, let me keep sex and worship well
Distinct from each other and never tell
The meeting to oppress or play pell-mell.
Abominations seem a cosy way
To make the meeting relevant in sway
And make a buck besides from the poor pay.

14 “But see, he may sire a son too
Who sees the sins his dad may do,
Considering not to construe
The like, 15 “not eating on the hill,
Nor lifting up his eyes to fill
With idols of Israel’s house nor
Defiling his neighbour’s wife’s store,
16 “Nor oppressing any, and not
Withholding the pledge when it’s sought,
Nor spoiling one by violence,
But giving his bread in the tents
Of the hungry, and covering
The naked with a garment’s right,
17 “Who’s lifted his hand from the poor,
Not receiving the interest sure,
Nor the increase, but stablishing
My judgements and so then walking
In My statutes, he shall not die
For the sin of his father’s sty,
But he shall surely live thereby.
18 “As for his father, since he was
Oppressing in cruelty’s claws,
And spoiled his brother by the strength
Of violence, and did at length
What is not good among his folk,
See, he’ll die in his sins a stroke.

To die in sins is the fate of all men
Except Your grace come in and once again
Create life in the soul that merely breathes,
While heart seeks wickedness and the tongue seethes.
To die in sins is where all humankind
Is heading unless You, Beloved, take mind
To grant a mercy that works overtime
To resurrect the dead in sin and rhyme.
Beloved, I breathe today by that kiss You
Place on my lips in a live-giving hue,
And with that breath I beg a boon in pew.
Create that life eternal that Your sent
One promised to those who come to prevent
The dawn with prayers and supplications lent.

19 “But you say ‘Why? Does not the son
Bear the sin that the father’s done?
When the son’s done what’s lawful, right,
And kept all my statutes in right,
And done them he’ll surely live tight.
20 “The soul that sins, that soul shall die.
The son shall not carry the pie
Of wickedness done by his dad,
Nor shall the father bear the bad
Done by the son, the righteousness
Of the righteous is his address,
And wickedness of wicked lies
Upon himself under the skies.
21 “But if the wicked turns away
From all his sins he did one day,
And keep all My statutes and do
What is lawful and right and true,
He’ll surely live, and he’ll not die.

Repentance You have given to the one
Ordained to life eternal and its fun.
I praise You for Your grace unmerited
That falls upon the lucky villain's head.
Forsaking sin by the grace that You give
Provides the cadre of new life to live.
Let me forsake the evil of my way,
Hypocrisy as well as downright stay
Of wickedness, until that life from You
Is all in all in me and in my view.
Beloved, I turn from fathers' trust and right,
I turn from the inheritance of fright,
And stand alone on the grace of Your might,
Before Your throne, Beloved, and in Your sight.

22 “All his transgressions he has done,
They shall not be mentioned when done
To him, and in his righteousness
That he’s done he shall live and bless.
23 “Have I any pleasure at all
That the wicked should die and fall?”
Says the Lord YHWH, “and not that he
Should turn back from his ways to be
Alive? 24 “But when the righteous turns away
From his righteousness in the way
Of wickedness and does all by
Abominations of the sly,
Shall he live? All his righteousness
That he’s done shall be counted less,
In his trespass that he’s trespassed,
And in his sin come in to last,
In them he shall die an outcast.

The paradigm of the Arminian
Appears to be that each and every man
Is judged in righteousness before the span
Of the last act that he fries in the pan.
The life of justice that Your give him now
Is nothing, only the deathbed in vow.
The human act will save, or anyhow
Condemn the bugger who slips up from scow.
Beloved, I do not depend on my ways,
My doings and my own perfection's praise,
But only trust in Your ordained for me,
And turn to live as You mark out to be.
Let me turn from each man's theology,
From the abominations of the free.

25 “Still you say ‘The Lord’s way is not
Equal.’ Hear now, O Israel’s house,
Is not my way equal to spouse?
Are not your ways unequal grouse?
26 “When a righteous man turns away
From his righteousness in the sway
Of wickedness, and dies therein,
For what bad he’s done he shall die.
27 “Again when the wicked turns fin
Away from wickedness to lie,
And does what’s lawful and what’s right,
He’ll save his living soul from fright.
28 “Since he thinks about it and turns
Away from his transgressions’ earns
That he’s committed, he shall live
And not die as a fugitive.
29 “The house of Israel will say still,
‘The way of the Lord’s not equal.
O house of Israel, are not My
Ways equal, and yours crooked, sly?
30 “That’s why I’ll judge you, Israel’s house,
Each one according to his grouse,”
Say the Lord YHWH. “Repent and turn
From all that your transgressions earn,
So wickedness not be your ruin.
31 “Throw out all your wicked acts by
Which you have transgressed on the fly,
And make yourselves a new heart and
A new spirit, for why remand
To death, O house of Israel’s band?
32 “For I’ve no pleasure in the death
Of those who die,” says in one breath
The Lord YHWH, “so repent and
You may keep living in the land.

Your prophet says to make myself a heart,
A new heart that will do the heavenly part.
The surgeons of today can just do that,
And put a new heart in the chest and vat.
But none can make a new heart to do right
After the wrong before Your divine sight
But You alone, Beloved, and so the word
Of prophet needs to be a little stirred
With understanding of the wherewithal
Of grace and grace alone upon the ball.
Only He who made the old heart can make
A heart that's sinless at the human stake.
And so I beg that heart of You alone
That can for every sin of life atone.

EZEKIEL 19

1 “Moreover raise a lamentation
For the princes of Israel’s nation.
2 “And say ‘What is your mother but
A lioness who lay down shut
Among the lions to nurse her young
Among young lions to lick with tongue.
3 ‘And she brought up one of her whelps,
It grew as a young lion with helps,
It learned to catch the prey and then
It came to slay, devouring men.
4 ‘The nations also hear of it,
It was taken into their pit,
And they brought it with chains into
The land of Egypt all in crew.

Which of the four wives of Jacob is here
Described as lioness and without fear?
Rachel was not afraid to come out to
The well with sheep to meet her prince when new.
Leah was willing or not to retreat
Behind the wedding veil to hide her feet.
Bilhah was sure of love in loving one
Who grew up at her side the chosen son,
The loved and loving Joseph without care
Until she died to see his fate and share.
Zilpah perhaps comes with the lion’s spoil
To shed the silver tassel and the coil.
Beloved, which of the four gates veils the face
Of lioness come out with form and grace?

5 “Now when she saw that she had waited,
And her hope lost, mercy conflated,
She took another of her young,
And made of him a lion young.
6 “And he went up and down among
The lions, he became a young
Lion and learned to catch the prey,
And came devouring men to slay.
7 “He knew their palaces desert,
He laid waster their cities inert,
And made all the land desolate,
And everything upon its plate,
By the noise of his roaring’s rate.
8 “Then the nations set against him
On every side from province dim,
And spread their net right over him,
He was taken in their pit grim.
9 “They put him in prison in chains,
Brought him to Babylon’s king’s thanes,
They brought him into dungeon hold,
That his voice should no more be bold
Upon the hills of Israel cold.
10 “Your mother’s like a vine in blood,
Planted by the waters in flood,
She was fruitful and full of limbs
Because of many waters’ rims.
11”She had strong rods for those that rule
Bearing sceptres instead of tool,
And her height was increased among
The thick branches and she was sung
Appearing in her height with all
Her many branches great and small.
12 But she was plucked up in the wrath
To be cast down upon the path,
And the east wind dried up her fruit,
Her strong rods were broken in suit
And withered, the fire burned their root.
13 Now she’s planted in wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty address.
14 And fire’s gone out of her limbs’ rod,
Devoured her fruit, she’s got no rod
Of strength as a sceptre to rule.
It is a lamentation’s tool
And shall be for lamenting’s stool.

Jehoiakin was made and born to be
A lion of Judah eternally,
And yet the fate of wickedness prevailed
And brought him to Babylon stripped, unmailed.
A prophecy aborted then was he
Of Jesus the Messiah faithfully
And Ali ibn abi Taleb who made
His death by the sword that was raised and laid
Upon the man in prayer in the mosque's shade.
Beloved, I see the prophecies of old
And touch their love entranced in sparkling gold
And take to heart the very things they've told.
The warnings of the rising and the fall
Of men and princes take my heart in thrall.

EZEKIEL 20

1 It happened in the seventh year,
Fifth month the tenth day to appear,
Some elders of Israel came to
Enquire sitting by me of YHWH.
2 Then came the word of YHWH to me
Saying 3 “Son of man, speak freely
To Israel’s elders and tell them,
‘So says Lord YHWH and to contemn,
“As I live” says the Lord YHWH, “I
Will not answer when you ask why.
4 “Will you judge them, O son of man,
Will you judge? Let them know the span
Of evil their fathers outran.
5 “Say to them, ‘So says the Lord YHWH,
“On the day when I chose the crew
Of Israel, lifted My hand
To the seed of Jacob’s house spanned,
And made Myself known in the land
Of Egypt to them lifting up
My hand to them, saying like tup,
‘I am YHWH your Ælohim grand.’
6 “In the day I lifted My hand
To them to bring them from the land
Of Egypt to a land that I
Had chosen for them on the sly,
Flowing with milk and honey there,
The glory of all lands to share,
7 “Then I said to them, ‘Throw away
Each of you the wicked thing’s sway
From his eyes, and defile no more
Yourselves with idols of the store
Of Egypt, I am YHWH your God.

Some might think it improvement to this day
The ancient gods of Egypt that held sway
No longer have the power to walk the way.
It does not matter much that things have changed
And the old gods at last become estranged.
Their counterparts are live and well to see
In every church and synagogue and tree.
Beloved, I cast out every idol here
And came out of Egypt’s country and fear
To find You in the desert way at last
Without a golden calf, without one brassed,
In hope of mornings without smoke of prayer
To any but You only on the stair,
To any but You among all the fair.

8 “But they rebelled against My rod,
And would not obey Me, but they
Did not each of them cast away
Abominations of their eyes,
Neither did they forsake the guise
Of Egypt’s idols, then I said
‘I’ll pour out My wrath on them spread,
Accomplish my anger on them
In the land of Egypt’s broad hem.’
9 “But I did for My own name’s sake
That it should not by heathen take
Pollution among whom they sat,
In whose sight I revealed My fat
To them to bring them from the land
Of Egypt and to make them stand.
10 “That’s why I made them all go out
Of Egypt’s land and brought them out
Into the wilderness. 11 And I
Gave them My statutes and so I
Showed them My judgement, which if one
Does them, he’ll live under the sun.
12 “Moreover also I gave them
My Sabbaths to be sign and gem
Between them and Me, so they’d know
That I YHWH sanctify their show.

Some say that Moses gave the Sabbath law.
Such do not recognize the divine paw.
There is no Sabbathless without the rail
Of false gods and idolatry in pale.
There is no way to be free of the crust
Of idol worship on the earthly dust
Except the Sabbath sanctify the bust.
The ones who claim to worship only You
And yet forget the Sabbath are not true,
But secretly, unconsciously give due
To idols of the human heart and pew.
Beloved, though I’m a donkey in the gate
Of Israelite, I take kindly the fate
Of rest and respite at the Sabbath’s rate.

13 “But Israel’s house rebelled from me
In the desert, not faithfully
Acting by My statutes and they
Despised My judgements, which if one
Does them he’ll live right under sun,
And My Sabbaths they defiled greatly,
And I said ‘I’ll pour out my lately
Wrath on them in wilderness
To consume them and their address.’
14 “What I did for My own name’s sake,
Not to pollute it in the wake
Of heathen in whose sight I brought
Them out and with mighty hand fought.
15 “So I raise up my hand in oath
Also to them in desert growth,
That I would not bring to the land
That I had given them in band,
Flowing with milk and honey there,
Glory of all the lands to share,
16 “Because they despised My judgements,
And did not walk by the good sense
Of My statutes, but defiled My
Sabbaths, for their heart went to buy
Their idols in their idols’ tents.
17 “Yet My eye spared them from destruction,
Nor did I make an end’s deduction
Of them in the wilderness fluction.
18 “But I said to their children in
The wilderness and for their sin,
‘Don’t walk the way your fathers do,
Don’t keep their ordinance in view,
And don’t defile yourselves with gods
In idols they worshipped in clods.
19 ‘I’m YHWH your Ælohim, so walk
In My statutes, and keep the talk
Of My judgements and do their stalk.
20 ‘And sanctify My Sabbaths well,
They shall be a sign of the spell
Between Me and you, so you may
Know that I’m YHWH your Ælohim.’
21 “And yet the folk rebelled from Me,
They did not behave faithfully
By My statutes, nor did they keep
My judgements to do them though deep,
Which if one does them, he shall live
In them, and they defile like sieve
My Sabbaths, then I said ‘I’ll pour
Out My wrath on them at the door,
And finish My anger on them
In wilderness, on desert hem.

I’m waiting to see wrath at once poured out
On Sabbath-breakers with a broken spout.
Instead I see that many who forget
The sacred hours are well and better met.
The lovely and the fair keep Sunday or
No day at all before celestial door,
While most of those who claim to love Your law
And meet the Sabbath Queen come at the draw
Are stinkers to say least about their claw.
I am myself a stinker and a mate
To view the church and state with ample hate.
You have a lot to do, Beloved, to make
The Sabbath-keepers sweet and come and take
The others out and burn them at the stake.

22 “And yet then I withdrew My hand
And doing for My name’s sake’s stand,
That it might not be defiled in
The sight of the heathen for sin,
In whose sight I brought them from bin.
23 “I raised My hand to them also
In the desert, I’d not be slow
To scatter them among the row
Of heathen and disperse them through
The countries of the world in crew,
24 “Because they had not done the right
By My judgements, but in My sight
Despised My statutes, and defiled
My Sabbaths, and their eyes were wild
After their father’s idols guiled.
25 “That’s why I also gave them such
Statutes as were not good to touch,
And judgements by which they could not
Continue living in their plot.
26 “And I declared them unclean in
Their own gifts, in that they by sin
Caused to pass through fire the first born,
That I might make them all forlorn,
So that they might know in the end
That I am YHWH their Lord and Friend.”’
27 “So Son of man, speak to the house
Of Israel, both man and spouse,
And tell them ‘So says the Lord YHWH,
“Your fathers have blasphemed Me too
In this, that they’ve committed sin
Against Me. 28 “When I brought them in
The land of which I lifted hand
To give it to them and their band,
Then they looked at every high hill
And all the thick trees where to fill
Their offerings and the sacrifice,
And there they set the insult twice
In their offering, and their incense,
And poured out their drink offerings’ pence.

You multiplied the statutes of the Jews
Because of the way they did once abuse
Your Sabbath day. That’s why the Qur’an states
Their law became more stringent on their pates.
It was not fair, Beloved, to treat them so
And let the rest of earthly rabble go
On in the law of jungle for a show,
Depriving man and beast of Sabbath rest
And even wench and bairn of all the best
That You gave on the Sabbath to invest.
Beloved, I seek eternal Law’s great grace,
The simple statute before divine face,
The Decalogue for every time and place.

29 “Then I told them, ‘What’s the high place
To which you go?’ The name and trace
Of it’s called Bamah to this day.”’
30 “That’s why say to Israel’s house, ‘So
Says the Lord YHWH, “So do you show
Defilement as your fathers did?
And commit whoredom by their bid?
31 “For when you offer your gifts, when
You make your sons pass through again
The fire, you defile with all your
Idols, even to this day’s door,
And shall I answer your request,
O house of Israel? My behest,”
Says the Lord YHWH, “I will not be
Enquired of by you wickedly.
32 “What comes to your mind shall not be
When you say ‘We’ll be wickedly
As the heathen, as family
Of the countries to serve gods of
Wood and stone, such as people love.’
33 “As I live” says the Lord YHWH, “truly
With a strong hand and an unduly
Stretched out arm and with fury poured
Will I rule over you as Lord.
34 “And I’ll bring you out from the folk,
And gather you out at a stroke
From the countries where you are scattered,
With a strong hand and when you’re battered
With a stretched out arm, and with wrath
Poured out upon the sinful path.

So Sabbath-breaking’s not idolatry
Alone, but also pure adultery.
The one who ignores Sabbath finds his bun
Upon the high place in whoredom to run,
Inexorably caught in fleshly faith,
The fables and the myths of earthly wraith.
Beloved, I meet the judgement day each week
As Sabbath draws near to my pallid cheek,
And see the failures of my life and hand
Forgiven and erased from promised land.
I meet the Sabbath newly baptized in
The miqwe of clean waters for my sin,
And rise from that grave new and clean to be
Filled with the blessings of the Sabbath free.

35 “I’ll bring you to the wilderness
Of the folk and there I’ll confess
Pleading with you then face to face.
36 “Just as I pleaded with your dads
In land of Egypt’s desert pads,
So I’ll plead with you” says YHWH God.
37 “I’ll cause you to pass under rod,
And I’ll bring you in to the bond
Of covenant. 38 “I’ll purge out donned
Rebels among you, and those that
Transgress against Me, on the mat
I’ll bring them out from where they’re at,
And they shall not enter the land
Of Israel, and you in band
Will know that I am YHWH and stand.
40 “As for you, house of Israel,”
So says the Lord YHWH, “Go and serve
Every one his idols and swerve
After this, if you’ll not obey
Me, but defile the holy way
Of My name no more with your gifts
And with your idols in their shrifts.
40 “For in My holy mountain, in
The mountain of Israel’s high win,”
Says the Lord YHWH, “there shall they all
In house of Israel at My call
In all the land, serve Me, there will
I accept them and there I will
Require your offerings and first fruits
Of your oblations with the suits
Of all your holy things in boots.
41 “I’ll accept you with sweet incense,
When I bring you out from the tents
Of the people and gather you
Out of the countries wherein you
Have been scattered, and I shall be
Sanctified among you, holy
Before the heathen as they see.
42 “Then you will know that I am YHWH,
When I shall bring you into view
Of Israel’s land, into the land
For which I’ve lifted up My hand
To give it to your fathers’ band.

Only the meeting of the Sabbath day
Reiterates that You alone may stay
Before the eye and heart of those who pray.
Seek out, Beloved, rebellion in my heart
And cast it from me as I do my part,
And cast it from the world in which I live,
So that I may enjoy Sabbath You give.
Beloved, I come to greet the Sabbath Queen
And find the mirage of her form is seen
Upon the shimmer of the day once blessed
To disappear before the vision quest
Revealing You are God alone to me
And to all worlds and for eternity,
To all the universe I cannot see.

43 “And there you’ll remember your ways,
And all your doings without praise
In which you’ve been defiled, and you
Will loath yourselves in your own sight
For all your wicked acts unright.
44 “And you shall know that I am YHWH,
When I have dealt My name with you,
And not according to your ways
Of wickedness, nor by your days
Of corruption, O Israel’s house,”
Says the Lord YHWH to Israel’s spouse.
45 Moreover YHWH’s word came to me,
Saying 46 “Son of man, now let be
Your face toward the south and drop
Toward the south and do not stop
Prophesying against the wood
Of the south field for ill and good.
47 “And say to southern forest, ‘Hear
The word of YHWH, ‘So does appear
The Lord YHWH, “See, I’ll kindle fire
In you, surely it will devour
Every greet tree in you and each
Dry tree, the burning flame shall reach
And not be quenched, and every face
From the south to the north shall trace
To be burned in that awful place.
48 “All flesh shall see that I am YHWH,
And set it not to fail from view.”’”
49 Then I said “Ah Lord YHWH, they say
Of me, ‘Does he not speak astray
Of parables in the wrong way?’”

I do remember, Lord, the Sabbath day
And come to whirl upon it in my way.
I then remember every task I’ve done
As well as what I failed to seek or shun.
I take on memory Your holy name
And whirl about the syllables of flame
And catch the message and the greater claim
That You are YHWH and You only are God.
Beloved, I bend beneath the Sabbath rod
And find it bloom and blossom on the sod
And last bear fruit of almonds and the date,
The sweetness of creation never late.
And so I turn my weekly path from wrong
And end as I begin in divine song.

EZEKIEL 21

1 The word of YHWH came to me saying,
2 “Son of man, set your face to swaying
Toward Jerusalem and drop
Toward the holy places’ crop,
And prophesy against the land
Of Israel and Israel’s band.
3 “And say to Israel’s land, ‘Says YHWH,
“See I’m against you and I drew
Out My sword from its scabbard true
To cut off you from righteous and
The wicked here in your own land.
4 “Since I will cut off from you both
The righteous and the wicked growth,
Therefore My sword shall go out from
Its sheath against all flesh to come
From the south to the north in sum.
5 “So all flesh may know I am YHWH
And have drawn out My sword in view
From its scabbard and it shall not
Return again into its slot.

Beloved, I think at least I know that You
Are God alone, without the awful view
Of Your sword in the pestilence and wake
Of plague and war and famine that You make.
Does anyone believe, truly believe
That You are God alone when they receive
The stroke of wickedness or evil sum
Of a catastrophe upon them come?
I doubt, Beloved, that pain inspires true faith
Any more than the human works of wraith
Or any sense or feeling of the hand
Of human being standing on the land.
No, faith in You is product of the grace
That comes from Your hand and before Your face.

6 “So sigh now, son of man, and break
Your heart with bitterness and make
Your sighing before their eyes’ stake.
7 “It shall be when they say to you,
‘Why are you sighing so?’ Then you
Will answer, ‘For the news in view,
Because it comes, and every heart
Will melt, and every hand will start
To be feeble and every spirit
Shall faith, and all knees that come near it
Shall be weak water, see, it comes,
And shall be brought to pass as hums,’
Says the Lord YHWH for His own part.”’”

All flesh know You are YHWH, all flesh that breathes.
The fire of human cells boils up and seethes,
And from the gasping lung comes out the breath
That keeps the living spirit until death.
There is no breath but sings Your holy name
And bears a greater witness to the same
Than word of human tongue or vision’s start
That comes illuminating human heart.
Beloved, all flesh knows that You are the One,
The only God of universe to stun
The stars with presence of Your battles done.
Beloved, all flesh knows that You greet the day
With justice of the night in Your array
Of things made in creation’s light and stay.

8 Again the word of YHWH came to
Me saying, 9 “Son of man, say to
Them prophesying, ‘So says YHWH,
“Say, a sword, a sword, it is sharp,
And also polished like a harp.
10 “It’s sharpened for a mighty slaying,
And polished to a gloss arraying,
Should we then celebrate despising
The sceptre of my son devising
And every tree in its arising?
11 It’s handed over to be polished
To be handled on the demolished,
This sword is sharpened and is polished,
For the hand of slayer abolished.
12 “So cry and howl then, son of man,
For it’s on My people a span,
Upon all Israel’s princes too,
Terrors by the sword come in view
Of My people, so smite the thigh.
13 “See it’s a test, if it despise
Even the sceptre, shall it rise?”
So’s saying the Lord YHWH on high.
14 “You then, O son of man, speak up
In prophecy and strike like tup
Your hands together and let sword
Be doubled, and third time award,
The sword of the slain, it is the sword
Of the great slain that enters in
Their inner chambers and to win.
15 I have set the point of the sword
Against all of their gates adored,
So the heart faints, and ruin vast,
See brightly wrapped for slaughter’s cast.

Your sceptre and Your sword, Beloved, arise
Before the flamatory coloured skies
Of morning where the wee angels appear
To chatter in the waking of my ear.
Your sword and sceptre counter and they flash
Across the meadowed corridors I dash
Toward the morning prayer, prostration’s gash.
Beloved, the mirror of my lake in splash
Destroys the image of creation’s hour
And turns in one fin’s token from the flower
To splinters of first colours in a shower.
I wait for sword or sceptre in my room,
Acquainted and reconciled to my doom,
Submitted to my joys as well as gloom.

16 Go one way or the other, go
On the right hand or left to show,
Wherever your face meets the glow.
17 “I’ll also strike my hands together,
And let My wrath wait on the weather,
I am YHWH and I’ve set the tether.”
18 The word of YHWH came to me then
Once more saying 19 “Now son of men,
Set yourself two ways, that the sword
Of Babylon’s king in reward
May come, both shall come from one land,
And choose a place, choose it to stand
On intersection city’s strand.
20 Appoint a way so the sword may
Come to Rabbath, Ammonites’ sway,
And to Judah defended by
Jerusalem city on high.
21 For Babylon’s king shall stand at
The intersection of the mat,
At the beginning of two roads,
To use divination in goads,
He made his arrows bright and he
Consulted with images’ fee,
Looked in the liver what to see.

I choose, Beloved, at Your holy command
A place upon the earth where I must stand.
The great and fair choose thoroughfare and road.
I choose the path of hummingbird and toad.
I hear, Beloved, Your voice say stop and tell
The passer-by the coming of the bell.
As I obey, I find the path grow faint
And turn to tundra’s red and purple paint.
Beloved, though I obey Your fashioned word
And speak aloud with hope and harvest stirred,
The corner where I stand is open to
The nightly sky and ptarmigan in view.
The ways the cross beneath my foot and hand
Still clamour to fulfil divine command.

22 At his right hand divining there
Jerusalem, appointing fair
Chiefs to open the mouth of killing,
To raise a voice with shouting filling
To appoint rams against the gates,
To cast a mound, build up the grates.
23 And it shall seem to them as false
A divination in their vaults,
To them with sworn oaths to their faults.
But He will mind iniquity
Of them to find captivity.

Indeed, I’ve noticed that the words I say
In diversion and hopeless sort of play
Are well received by all upon the way.
The myth and fable wakens praise and talk,
And empty words still glisten without chalk.
But if I say the truth and lay it bare
Before the eye of multitude to share,
I see the crowds disperse to find their path
Back to the chambers warm with divine wrath.
Beloved, the voices that You choose to raise
The vale of death before the crowd in craze
Diminish not the rate of those who rush
Into the hells and fires of sinful gush.
I stand and wait without the cunning maze.

24 That’s why the Lord YHWH’s saying so,
“Because you’ve made your sin to grow
In memory, so that your sins
Are revealed and so all you sins
Appear, because you’ve come to be
In remembrance, captivity
Shall take you up and suddenly.
25 ‘And you, profane and wicked chief
Of Israel, whose day like thief
Has come, whose sins fail for relief.
26 ‘So says the Lord YHWH, “Now remove
The diadem, take off crown, prove
This not the same, exalt the low,
And abase the high in the show.
27 “I’ll overturn and overturn,
It shall be no more though it burn,
Until he come whose right it is,
And I’ll give it to him as his.”’
28 “You, son of man, now prophesy
And say ‘So says the Lord YHWH high
About the Ammonites and of
Their reproach, even raise a glove
To say the sword, the sword is drawn,
For slaughter is arranged at dawn
To devour with the glittering gone.
29 While they see vain things in your view,
While they divine a lie for You,
To bring you on the necks of slain,
Of wicked, whose day’s come in vain,
When their in iniquity ends lain.
30 Shall I put it back in its sheath?
I shall judge you upon the heath
Where you were created, and in
The land where you were born for sin.
31 And I’ll pour out My wrath on you,
I’ll blow against you burning rue,
And give you over to the hand
Of brutish men, destruction’s band.
32 You’ll be the fuel to kindle fire,
Your blood flow in the land’s desire,
You shall not come to memory,
For I YHWH say it faithfully.

The place of fire that feeds on stone and flesh
In vision burns up bright and in words fresh.
Put back Your sword if You must till the day
When You find no longer set in bay
The judgement that I see in image way
Upon the Sabbath signs on Friday night.
I sink into the raptures of the sight.
Beloved, give wrath or grace or both when due.
I wait upon unpainted, hardened pew
For moving of the spirit where I spin
And whirl to keep time from the place I’m in.
The slighter melody that goes unheard
Beneath the din of melody and word
At last calls me up from the grassy bin.

EZEKIEL 22

1 Moreover came the word of YHWH
To me saying 2 “Now son of man,
Will you judge, will you be the man
To judge the bloody city’s crew?
Indeed you will show to her all
Abominations in her hall.
3 “Then say ‘So’s saying the Lord YHWH,
“The city sheds blood in the view
Of all, so that her time may come,
And makes idols against her sum
Defiling herself in their stew.
4 “You’ve become guilty in your blood
That you have shed as if in flood
Defiling yourself with your idols
Which you have made, and without bridles
Have caused You days’ end to come near,
And have come to your ends in year,
Therefore I’ve made you a reproach
To the heathen, mockings encroach
From all the countries far and near.
5 “Those near and far from you shall mock
You for infamous and vexed stock.
6 “See, the princes of Israel,
Every one was in you to dwell
In power to shed blood as for hell.
Father and mother they’ve set light
7 “In you they’ve dealt oppression’s night
To the stranger, in you they’ve vexed
Fatherless and widow perplexed.

The failure to acknowledge but one God
Is the seed of the violence in prod
That reigns on earth. The revelation of
The private god worshipped sweetly in love
Opens the door to disdain other folk
Because they don’t worship the same high bloke
Called god by one and not known by the other.
But You are the true God without another,
So there’s no private revelation’s joke.
You are known directly by every soul
That is aware of being I. The toll
Of supporting gods two or three is great:
It adds up at last to violent hate.
Humans lie in one reality’s estate.

8 “You have despised my holy things,
Profaned my Sabbaths in their rings.
9 “In you are men that carry tales
To shed blood, and in you by veils
They eat upon the mountains that
Which is offered where idols sat,
And in your midst lewd acts out flat.
10 “In you they’ve exposed nakedness
Of their own fathers to caress,
In you they’ve lain with those set out
To wait for menstruation’s bout.
11 One does abomination with
His neighbour’s wife, as if in myth
Another lewdly defiled his
Own daughter-in-law, and one is
In you who’s lain with his own sister,
His father’s daughter not to twist her.
12 In you they’ve taken gifts to shed
Blood, you have taken interest bred
And increase, and you’ve greedily
Gained from neighbours extortion’s fee,
And you’ve surely forgotten me,”
Says the Lord YHWH and faithfully.
13 “See, that’s why I have struck my hand
At your dishonest gain in hand
That you have made and at your blood
That is there with you like a flood.
14 “Can your heart endure, can your hands
Be strong in the days My commands
Fall on you? I am YHWH who speaks
And I will do more than such freaks.

When one God is not known but three, results
Are first that a violent act exults.
The second fearful degradation is
The neighbour takes the neighbour’s wife as his.
The third great failure to come after law
Of one God is remanded by the claw
Of no god or goes multiple in grace
Is that the Sabbath is lost from all trace.
Beloved, preserve me from these three great ills
Of heresy that are one mind that fills
The world with faithlessness up to the gills.
Let me stop on the Sabbath day to know
No violence to neighbour or his show,
And that You are God alone on the go.

15 “And I shall scatter you among
The pagan nations and unsung,
And I’ll disperse you in the lands
And will consume your filthy hands.
16 “And you’ll take your inheritance
In yourself in the heathen tents,
And you’ll know I am YHWH for sense.”’”

Beloved, You disperse every song and dance
That comes to fight against Your wondered chance
To give the human heart a melody
Of law and humble breath of harmony.
The great establishments may seem to rise
In power on the horizon of the skies,
But are decked out unseemly in the guise
Of power struggles among weak and wise.
Beloved, You disperse every church and mosque
Among the fields of clover and the bosk,
Till none can lift a hand against Your throne,
And You reign supreme as One God alone.
I find the road to You directly by
Your word, I need no church to multiply.

17 The word of YHWH came to me saying
18 “Now son of man, Israel’s house maying
Has become dross to me, they are
Are brass and tin and iron star
And lead in a furnace, they are
The slag from off the silver bar.
19 “That’s why so says the Lord God YHWH,
‘Because you have all turned into
Dross, see, therefore I’ll gather you
Into Jerusalem in crew
20 “As they gather silver and brass
And iron and lead and tin as crass
In the midst of the furnace there
To blow the fire on it and wear
It down with melting, so shall I
Gather in My anger and fly
In My fury, and I shall leave
You there and melt you, no reprieve.
21 “Indeed I’ll gather you and blow
Upon you in the fiery glow
Of My wrath, and you’ll melt and go.
22 “As silver’s melted in the blast
Of furnace, so you will not last
Its melting, and you’ll come to know
That I YHWH have poured out aglow
The fury that you undergo.”

Melt in Your fury, my Beloved, and wrath
Every departure from the straightened path
That I might be tempted to join to me.
Beloved, keep me hot in fidelity,
And not a minister of Trinity.
Melt every wish and desire in my heart,
Melt out the evil and the better part
Until none stays but willingness to do
Your will alone and only right and true.
Beloved, the heated furnace rises higher
And sends the sacrifice of smoke and fire
Beyond Sinai to Zion in the spire
Of temple and of mosque with golden dome:
Beloved lead me burningly to my home.

23 The word of YHWH came to me saying
24 “Now son of man, tell her waylaying,
‘You’re a land that’s not cleansed nor rained
Upon in the day of wrath stained.’
25 “Her prophets’ treachery is there
Like a roaring lion to share
The prey, they have devoured souls, they
Have taken pressures and the pay
Of precious things, and they have made
Her many widows where she stayed.
26 “Her priests have violated My
Law and profaned My holy awe,
They’ve not distinguished between holy
And the unholy, nor have lowly
Made difference between unclean
And the unclean, and have not seen
To My Sabbaths, and I thus wise
Am profaned among them in guise.
27 “Her chiefs of princes like wolves ranging
After the prey, shed blood exchanging
To destroy souls for ill-got gain.
28 “Her prophets daubed them with untempered
Mortar, with vanity distempered,
Divining lies to them and saying
‘So says the Lord YHWH,’ and so playing
Deceit when YHWH’s not been betraying.
29 “The people of the land have used
Oppression, robbery abused,
And vexed the poor and needy, and
Oppressed the foreigner in band.
30 “So I looked for a man among them
Who would make a wall there that strung them,
And stand in the gap before Me
For the land that I should not be
For its destruction, but found none.
31 That’s why I’ve poured out under sun
My indignation on them, I
Have consumed them with fire of ire,
Their own ways I’ve returned to view
On their heads,” says the Lord God YHWH.

Ah, My beloved, the wall the great Gadeer
That You would raise among the folk to fear
Is not for the time of Ezekiel’s band,
But for another time, another land.
The hedge the binds the world in loving faith
Is all but unknown, to the crowds a wraith,
And for this reason destruction has come
Upon the earth soaked in its blood and rum,
The evils gushing through the breach to fall
Upon the head of perpetrator tall.
Beloved, I bow before you at the gap
And follow the details of revealed map
To find the hidden head and chief to bind
The hands of wickedness, the feet of blind.

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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