EZEKIEL CHAPTER 29 - 35

EZEKIEL 29

1 In tenth year, in month number ten,
In the month’s twelfth day, then again
The word of YHWH came to me saying
2 “Son of man, now set your face swaying
Against Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
And prophesy against his crypt,
Against all the land of Egypt.
3 “Speak and say ‘So says the Lord YHWH,
“Behold I now come against you,
Pharaoh king of Egyptian crew,
The great dragon that quietly
Lies in the middle of streams’ glee,
Who says ‘My river is my own,
I’ve made it for myself alone.’
4 “But I shall put hooks in your jaws,
And make you rivers’ fish like paws
Stick to your scales, and I shall bring
You up out of your rivers’ spring,
And all the fish of your streams there
Will stick to your scales for your share.
5 “I’ll leave you in abandonment
In the desert, you and the spent
Fish of your rivers; you shall fall
Upon the open fields for stall;
You shall not them be gathered up
Together: I have given to sup
To the beasts of the field and to
The birds of the sky to eat you.
6 “And all the dwellers of Egypt
Will know that I am YHWH unchipped,
Because they’ve been a staff of reed
To Israel’s house come in their need.
7 “When they took hold of you by hand,
You broke and tore their shoulder band,
And when they depended on you,
You broke and set their loins in view.”

I’ve seen the Nile lap clear beside the way
The Coptic museum in Cairo’s sway
Sinks to the waterside before the sun
Describes the Ramadhan now has begun.
But I saw no dead fish, not even one.
The black stream flows into the greater part
Of the Euphrates, at last before cart
Drew on the dam to close the garden wall.
And there I saw a gasping fish in thrall
Upon the silted sands. I put it back
Into the stream, but saw it just go slack,
Turn on its dorsal fin and show the white
Of dying stomach and the coming night,
The ravage of disease or age or fright.

8 “'And therefore says the Lord called YHWH,
“See, I shall bring a sword on you,
And cut of man and beast from view.
9 “And Egypt’s land will be a waste
And desolate and so effaced,
And they will know that I am YHWH,
Because he said ‘The river’s mine,
And I have made it for my kine.’
10 “So that is why I’m against you,
And against your rivers in view,
And I shall make of Egypt’s land
A waste complete, desolate stand,
From the tower of Syene up to
The border of Ethiopian crew.
11 “No foot of man will pass through it,
Nor foot of beast shall pass though fit,
Nor shall it be established till
Forty years there come to fulfil.
12 “And I shall make of Egypt’s land
A desolation in the band
Of countries that are desolate,
And her towns among town and state
That are laid waste will be the rate
Of forty years; and I shall spread
Egyptians among nations led,
And shall disperse them through the world.”
13 “’Moreover so says the Lord YHWH,
“At end of forty years in view
I shall gather Egyptians’ crew
From the folk they’ve scattered unfurled.
14 “And I shall end captivity
Of Egypt and make them come free
Back to the land of Pathros, to
The land of their dwelling in crew;
And they will be there to remain
A weak kingdom for their domain.
15 “It shall be weakest as a land;
Neither shall it exalted stand
Above the nations; for I’ll make
Them diminished, and they will take
No more rulership in the stake
Of nations under their command.
16 “And it shall no longer remain
The confidence of Israel’s fane,
Bringing to mind iniquity,
When they shall look to them in fee;
But they’ll know that I’m the Lord YHWH.”’”

In Ephrata the count of forty years
Took on the mystic signal of the fears
Of humankind to find the wedded mate,
The bride of Wisdom at the marriage plate.
But never in the count did any know
Of forty years on Egypt and not slow.
The Scriptures make of forty years a test,
A generation’s generation’s best,
And give the sum a meaning and a zest
Not meant for merely counting unconfessed.
Beloved, the forty years in punishment
That You gave the Egyptians to consent
Has long gone by, and yet my heart is sly
To know the reasons of the earth and sky.

17 In twenty-seventh year it came
In the first month, the first day’s claim,
The word of YHWH came to me saying
18 “Son of man, hear where you are staying,
Nebuchadrezzar who is king
Of Babylon and everything
Made his army to do a thing
Great against Tyre; every head lay
Bald, and every shoulder in sway
Was broken, yet he had not pay,
Nor his army, for Tyre for all
The thing he did against its wall.
19 “That’s why,” so says the Lord called YHWH,
“See, I shall give Egypt’s land to
Nebuchadrezzar who is king
Of Babylon and everything,
And he will take her multitude,
And take her spoil and take her brood;
And it shall be for salary
So he can pay his own army.
20 “I’ve given Egypt’s land to him
For the work that he did in grim
Against it, because they worked rue
In My service,” says the Lord YHWH.
21 “In that day I shall cause the strength
Of Israel’s house to bud at length,
And I will give you opening
Of the mouth in midst of their wing;
And they will know that I am YHWH.”

For centuries the house of Israel sat
Beneath the table on the Pharaoh’s mat
And ate the crumbs of Egypt dropped in store
Since Joseph build the houses and before.
You ask them to leave custom and the chance
Of knowing where their bread is for a dance,
And claim that in that turning they shall know
That You are YHWH alone in history’s show.
Beloved, the judgement on each nation spoke
To make them know as such a pagan folk
That You are YHWH, but in another stroke
The judgement on Egypt comes to reveal
Not to Pharaoh the word of woe and weal
But to Israel alone that You are real.

EZEKIEL 30

1 The word of YHWH again to me
Came saying 2 “Son of man, agree
To prophesy and say ‘So Lord
YHWH says “Howl, woe the day its sword!”
3 “Because the day is near, the day
Of YHWH is near, a cloudy day,
To be the time of heathen sway.
4 “The sword shall fall on Egypt’s land,
Great pain upon Cush and its band,
When those killed in Egypt shall fall,
And they take off abundant wall,
Foundations shall break in the stall.
5 “Cush, Libya, Lydia, all the folk
And Chub, and the land’s men in yoke,
Shall fall with them by the sword’s stroke.”
6 So says YHWH, “They also that hold
Up Egypt shall fall, and the bold
Pride of her power come tumbling down,
From the tower of Syene they found
They fall there by the sword to ground,”
Says the Lord YHWH with fearsome frown.
7 “And they will become desolate
Among all countries, every state,
Her towns shall be among those that
Are wasted in a desert flat.
8 “And they will know that I am YHWH,
When I’ve set Egypt on fire too,
And all her aids fail from in view.
9 “On that day messengers will go
Out from Me in ships and not slow
To make Ethiopians fear,
And great pain fall upon their ear,
Like when days of Egypt appear.”

Beloved, Egyptians of today know well
That You are YHWH, they can stand up and tell
The truth of Your name and Your oneness now
Despite the many gods that crowned the brow
In times of Jeremiah and the one
Who saw the vivid visions on the run.
The Copt and Muslim both report belief
In You, Beloved, after Egyptian grief.
Your methods seem long and irrational,
And I could think of better arsenal,
And yet today there’s hardly any man
In Egypt who does not know of Your plan.
They all sweetly admit Your blessèd name
And bow in acknowledgement of Your fame.

10 So says the Lord YHWH, “I will make
The multitude in Egypt’s wake
Disappear by the hand and sake
Of Nebuchadrezzar the king
Of Babylon and everything.
11 “He and his armies, the great fear
Of nations, shall come and appear
To destroy the land: and they’ll draw
Their swords against Egyptian claw,
And fill the land with the slain here.
12 “And I will make the rivers dry,
And sell the land into the sty
Of the wicked: and I will make
The land lie waste and all in wake
By the hand of strangers: I YHWH
Have spoken of what I shall do.”
13 So says the Lord YHWH: “I’ll also
Destroy the idols in the show,
And I will make their idols cease
Out of Noph; and no more release
A prince in Egypt’s land: and I
Will put fear in Egypt’s land’s sky.
14 “I will make Pathros desolate,
And set fire to Zoan, in rate
Execute judgement in No’s state.

Great Babylon is gone with all its fame,
With all its kings and gardens and the claim
Of world renown. But Egypt still stands fast
Before the breath of history and its blast.
The pyramids stand still in monolith,
The River Nile, though harnessed from its myth,
Laps at the banks of Cairo. Everywhere
Egypt remains unmoved beneath the air.
Beloved, Egyptians sweetly say Your name
Before and after prayers, always the same,
And though most do not keep Your law entire,
They have survived Babylon’s striking ire.
Your hammer lies crushed on the burning sand,
While Egypt stricken blooms beneath Your hand.

15 “I’ll pour My fury upon Sin,
The strength of the Egyptian bin;
And I’ll cut off the multitude
Of No and all its living brood.
16 “I’ll set fire in Egypt, and Sin
Shall have great pain and No shall win
No place but be rent in two, and
Noph shall be daily in woe’s stand.
17 “Aven’s and Pibeseth’s youth fall
By the sword: and these cities all
Shall go captive and into thrall.
18 “At Tahephnehes too the day
Shall be darkened, when I shall stay
To break there the yokes of Egypt:
And the pomp of her strength unzipped
Shall cease in her: as for her then
A cloud shall cover hill and glen,
Her daughters captive go again.
19 “So I will execute judgements
In Egypt: and they’ll know with sense
That I am YHWH named among men.”

The centuries, millennia that hold
Egyptian history swallow up cold
The fires and degradations that are told
In pages of Ezekiel for the bold.
Like battleships sunk in the lonely reach
Of ocean nevermore to hit the beach,
The armies came and conquered and at last
They disappeared before the weight of past
And present bearing on the watered soil.
Egyptians hardly glanced up from their toil.
Beloved, like on my heart as does the sun
Upon the glistening pyramids where the run
Of time stops and awaits the garnered foil:
My eyes engraved, unseeing when it done.

20 It happened and it came to be
In the eleventh year to see,
In the first month, the seventh day
Of the month, YHWH’s word came to say,
21 “Son of man, I’ve broken the arm
Of Pharaoh king of Egypt’s harm;
And see, it shall not be set to
Be healed, but in a splint in view
To make it strong again to hold
The sword as does a strong man bold.
22 “Therefore so says the Lord YHWH: See,
I’m against Pharaoh who’s the wee
King of Egypt, and I will break
His arms, the strong, and when I take
I’ll cause the sword to fall in wake.
23 “And I will scatter the Egyptians
Among the nations with conniptions,
And will disperse them through the earth.
24 “And I will strengthen the king’s power
Of Babylon, and put the shower
Of My sword in his hand; but I
Will break Pharaoh’s arms from the sky,
And he shall groan before him too
With groanings of a dying crew.
25 “I’ll strengthen power of Babylon’s
Crown, and Pharaoh’s strength as of pawns
Shall fall; and they’ll know I am YHWH,
When I put My sword out to hew
In hand of Babylon’s king too,
And he’ll stretch it out on the view
Of Egypt’s land and Egypt’s crew.
26 ”And I’ll scatter Egyptians in
The nations and disperse their bin
Among the countries; and they’ll know
That I am YHWH and on the go.”

I do not see this prophecy fulfilled
Among Egyptian people starred and billed
In every country of the earth as skilled.
That is because at school the masters chose
To ridicule diffusion in its rows,
And say that Egypt’s spreading round the earth
Was just a myth of idle talk and mirth.
I find Egyptians plenty in the crowd
Of London and other countries allowed,
But not to the extent that others ride,
And not for all the centuries of pride.
Beloved, in Your prophet has got it wrong
In the hyperbole of dance and song,
The words are still singable to the strong.

EZEKIEL 31

1 It happened in eleventh year,
In the third month, first day of fear,
The word of YHWH came to me saying
2 “Son of man, speak to Pharaoh swaying
Ruler of Egypt and his brood:
‘Who are you like in magnitude?
3 “See, the Assyrian was a cedar
In Lebanon, in branches leader,
And cast a shadow like a shroud,
And was taller than all the crowd,
And his top reached with thick boughs loud.
4 “The waters made him great, the deep
Set him up on high, and to creep
With rivers running round about
His plants, and so then to send out
Her rivulets to all the trees
Of the field blowing in the breeze.
5 “That’s why his height was high above
All the trees of the field for love,
And his boughs increased and his branch
Became long where waters unstanch,
When he sprouted up from his knees.
6 “All the birds of the sky made nests
In his boughs, and under his crests
Did all the beasts of the field bring
Forth their young and under the spring
Of his shadow lived everything.
7 “So he was fair in greatness and
In the length of his branches’ band;
For his roots by the waters stand.
8 “The cedars in the garden great
Could not hide from him in their state,
The fir trees were not like his boughs,
The chestnut trees’ branches arouse
Not like him nor does any tree
In the great garden for beauty
Vie with him in his majesty.
9 “I’ve made him beautify to see
By the number of branches free:
So all the trees of pleasure ground
In the great garden all around
Were jealous of him as they found.’”

The prophets have a stock of metaphor
Comparing kings to beasts upon the floor
And trees upon the mountains and the hills.
The prophets say a thing and it fulfils.
The tree is planted by the hidden streams
Beneath the desert sands, beneath the dreams
Of human envy and of human power.
The kingdom’s nourished by a secret hour.
Beloved, I mind the days of long ago
When I a mere lad came to see the row
Of fig trees and of olives in the sand
Of Wadi Natroun rising up to stand.
I watered them with fossil waters that
In later years their roots would reach in vat.

10 That’s why so says the Lord YHWH, “Since
You lifted up yourself to wince,
And he has shot up his top to
The thickness of branches in view,
And his heart’s lifted above crew;
11 “I have therefore delivered him
Into the hand of mighty grim
One of the heathen; he’ll surely
Deal with him: I’ve driven to flee
For all his wickedness in spree.
12 “And strangers like horrors of folk
Have cut him off and left by stroke;
Upon the mountains and in all
The valleys his branches must fall,
And his boughs are broken by all
The rivers of the land in thrall;
And all the people of the earth
Have fled from his shadow of dearth,
Abandoning him and his worth.
13 “Upon his carcass all the birds
Of heaven shall come to light with turds,
And all the animals abroad
Shall creep on his branches in sod.

It sounds as if the punishment that’s let
On Egypt is conversion to the set
Of Parsees who maintain the silent towers
Seducing birds to come down on the flowers
Of human flesh and enjoy what devours.
I do abhor the choice of most today,
Cremation after leaving earthly fray.
The grave seems cold, at least here where I stray
Among the reindeer herders on their way.
Perhaps providing banquets for the birds
Is the best fate to look for beyond words.
To be stuck in some craw is nothing new.
I find that is my normal spot of stew.
At death I’ll just return upon my screw.

14 “So in the end none of the trees
All planted by waters in breeze
Shall lift themselves in height nor shoot
Up their top among boughs to boot,
Neither their trunks stand in their height,
All that drink water flowing light;
For they are all given up to death,
Piled in the lowlands without breath,
Among the children of men and
With those to enter the pit’s band.”
15 So says the Lord YHWH, “In the day
When he went to the grave in prey
I caused a mourning: I put spray
Upon the deep for him and I
Restrained its floods, and waters stayed:
And I caused Lebanon to cry
For him, and all the trees’ parade
In the field fainted for his aid.
16 “I made the nations tremble when
They heard his fall, and I cast then
Him into hell with those who go
Into the pit: and all the show
Of Eden’s trees, the choice and best
Of Lebanon, all drink with zest,
Shall have their comfort when they come
Into the lowlands and to hum.
17 “They also went down into hell
With him, slain by the sword and fell;
They were his power and came to dwell
Under his shadow for a spell
Among the heathen before knell.
18 “Who are you like in glory and
In greatness with the trees to stand
In Eden? Still you will be brought
Down with the trees of Eden sought
Into the lowlands of the earth:
You will lie in the midst and berth
Of the uncircumcised and those
Struck down by the sword in their rows.
This is Pharaoh and all his train,”
Says the Lord YHWH, the One to reign.

The trees of Egypt, Lebanon, and late
Those of Edenic beauty for their fate,
All pause before the awful brink of hell
With one last longing glimpse of water well.
The shadows of the wait lurk in the past.
The tinkle of the bucket that was cast
Upon the sole reflection of the sky
Beneath the wings leviathan in try
Still sound upon the ear to hesitate
Before the plunge into the yearly rate.
Beloved, I’ve spoken once before or twice
To tell You cutting trees is just not nice,
And all the more when You make trees to be
The symbol of human eternity.

EZEKIEL 32

1 It happened in the twelfth year, in
The twelfth month, in the month’s first bin,
The word of YHWH came to me, saying
2 “Son of man, take up lament’s praying
For Pharaoh king of Egypt, and
Say to him ‘You are like a young
Lion of the nations unstrung,
And you are like a whale upon
The seas: and you came out at dawn
With your rivers, and with your feet
Stirred up their waters’ muddy fleet.’
3 “So says the Lord YHWH, ‘I’ll therefore
Spread out My net over Your floor
With many people in a crowd,
You’ll be brought in My net allowed.
4 “Then I’ll leave you upon the land,
I cast you out on open strand,
And cause all the birds of the sky
To stay on you, And I will try
To fill the beasts of the whole world
On your flesh slaughtered and uncurled.
5 “And I will lay your flesh upon
The mountains, and fill valleys drawn.
6 “I’ll water also with your blood
The land in which you swim the flood,
Up to the mountains; and the streams
Shall be full of you in their teams.
7 “And when I shall put you out, I
Will cover the entire sky,
And make the stars dark; and I will
Cover the sun with a cloud-fill,
The moon will not shed her light’s till.
8 “All the bright lights of heaven will I
Make dark over you, and set dark
On your land,” says the Lord YHWH stark.
“And I’ll vex hearts of many folk,
When I shall bring destruction’s stroke
Among the nations you’ve not known.
10 “Indeed, I’ll make many folk shown
Amazed at you, and their kings too
Shall be in horror’s grip for you,
When I shall brandish My sword’s rue
Before them, and they’ll tremble too
At every moment, every man
For his own life in that day’s span.’”

I did not speak at all when my grandson
Retorted that I’d never seen the sun
Upon a whale beached, dead, and off the run.
My memory turned back to see the day
Beside the breakers north of Monterey
Where the Pacific wanders through the bay.
A whale turned up upon the greying sand,
Before the greyer waters on the strand,
Covered in cords of kelp. A sombre sky
Was all the dirge the whale had to go by.
And so it loomed upon the shore three days
To rot until a higher sea for praise
Washed it back to its own eternal grave.
But for that short time I crouched in its nave.

11 For so says Lord YHWH “The sword of
The king of Babylon above
Shall come on you and make a shove.
12 “By the swords of the mighty I
Shall cause your multitude to fly,
All horrors of the nations and
They’ll spoil the pomp of Egypt’s stand,
And all its crowds shall be destroyed.
13 “I’ll also strike all beasts employed
Beside the great waters, so foot
Of a man never more will put
Them to grief, or the hoof of beast
Trouble them there nor in the least.
14 “Then will I make their waters deep,
And cause their rivers running steep
Like oil,” says the Lord YHWH in leap.
15 “When I make desolate the land
Of Egypt, and the country stand
Destitute of its plenty, when
I shall strike all them in their den,
Then they’ll know I am YHWH again.
16 This is the lamentation they
Shall keen upon her; and the prey
Of nations shall lament her day;
For Egypt and for all her folk,”
Says the Lord YHWH and at a stroke.

You seem to have a wish as full and strong
As any in the universe for song
That puny men in some old place and time
Should know that You are YHWH and on the climb.
Catastrophes of nature and of war
Seem to be just graffiti on the shore
Of Your eternity, an idle stroke
In case a man should read, or even folk.
The desolation of a company,
A tribe, a nation, or a family,
Is just a scratch upon the cosmic wall
To say that You are Sovereign over all.
The insight that my childish inclination
Gives of Your heart and mind’s my comfort’s ration.

17 It happened too in the twelfth year,
In fifteenth day of the month near,
That the word of YHWH came to me,
Saying 18 “Son of man, wail for those
Who live in Egypt, and in throes
Cast them down, even her, and rows
Of famous nations’ daughters’ shows
Into the lowest parts of earth,
Who go into the pit for berth.
19 “Whom do you surpass in your beauty?
Lie with uncircumcised in booty.
20 “They’ll fall among those killed by sword,
She’s handed over to its ward,
Draw her and all her crowds adored.
21 “The strong among the mighty speak
To him out of the hell they peek
To help him, they have all gone down
And lie uncircumcised in town,
Killed by the sword or by a frown.
22 “Asshur is there and all her band:
His graves around him for the stand
Of all killed by the sword’s command.
23 “Their graves carved in sides of the pit,
Her company comes round to sit
About her grave; all of them slain,
Felled by the sword that brought the pain
Upon the land of living hit.

You think it is enough You say to wail
In lamentation for the deathly tale.
You think that forty days of grief is spent,
And then the human soul must rise, relent
And go on with the market and the strife.
You think that sorrow is a part of life.
Beloved, You’re wrong. The quiet grief that goes
Beneath the everyday in after shows
Is buried but not dead. It’s only death
That is your mercy after human breath.
No grief dies this side of the barren tomb,
But shares with life its decades in the womb,
And then sinks still-born to the shades of gloom,
Eternal as the soul of myth and room.

24 “There’s Elam and her multitude
Around her grave, all of their brood
Slain, fallen by the sword, who’re gone
Down uncircumcised to the drawn
Parts of the earth, which brought their fear
In the land of the living peer;
But they have borne their shame with those
That go down to the pit in rows.
25 “They have set her a bed among
The slain with all her crowd unsung;
Her grave are round about him there,
All of them uncircumcised slayer
And slain by the sword; through their fear
Was caused in land of living shear,
Still they have borne their shame with those
That go down to the pit in rose,
He’s set among the slain and near.
26 “There’s Meshech, Tubal, all her crowd,
Her graves are round about him soughed,
All of the uncircumcised, slain
By the sword, though their fear had lain
In land of every living wain.
27 “They’ll not lie with the mighty who
Fell of the uncircumcised crew,
Who have gone down to hell with their
Weapons of war; they’ve laid the share
Of their swords under their heads, but
Their sins shall be on their bones shut,
Though they were in fright of the strong
In the land of the living long.
28 “See, you’ll be broken there among
The uncircumcised, and lie young
With the slain of the sword unstrung.
There’s Edom, her kings, every prince,
Who by their power are laid to wince,
Killed by the sword: so they shall lie
With the uncircumcised and by
Them who go down into
The pit to stay there all in crew.
30 There are the princes of the north,
All of them, and all who go forth
From Zidon, and who have gone down
With the slain, with their terror’s frown
Ashamed of their power; and they lie
Uncircumcised with those who die
By the sword, and bear there their shame
With those gone down to the pit’s flame.
31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be
Comforted for all his degree,
Even Pharaoh and all his army
Slain by the sword, says the Lord YHWH.
“For I’ve laid My fear on the land
Of living; and he’s set to stand
Among the uncircumcised band
Of those slain with the sword in hand,
Even Pharaoh and all his crowd,”
Says the Lord YHWH and says aloud.

The foreskin of man’s sorrow is not brief.
Each soul is one original in grief,
Eternal in despair, while joy’s relief
Is just a moment on the good and fair.
Uncircumcised, unburied, I may lie
Beneath the blades of an embittered sky,
But where I find no solace to make right,
Nor strength to rise above the sore and fight,
I still find that existence in the night,
The small and piecing breath that is my might,
Suffices. Though no purpose and no right
Atone, condone, attain, yet in Your sight
I bear such burdens that You, though You be
Creator, have not loaned eternity.

EZEKIEL 33

1 Again the word of YHWH came to
Me, saying 2 “Son of man, speak to
The children of your people’s crew,
And say to them, ‘When I shall bring
The sword upon a land for sting,
If the folk of the land will take
A man of their parts for the sake
Of watchman, 3 “if when he sees sword
Approach on the land and gored,
And blows a warning trumpet horde,
4 “Then everyone who hears the sound
Of the trumpet and takes no bound,
If the sword comes and bears him off,
His death is his own fault to scoff.
5 “He heard the trumpet sound and took
No warning; his blood’s on his crook.
But the one who takes warning then
Shall save his life in den and glen.
6 “But if the watchman sees the sword
Approach and no warning word
Gives, and the people are not stirred,
If the sword comes and takes a man
From among them, and he in scan
Of his sin is taken away,
I’ll make the watchman come to pay.’
7 “So you, O son of man, I’ve set
As a watchman to Israel’s pet
House, so you’ll hear the word and get
At My mouth and warn them that day.
8 “When I say to the wicked man,
’O wicked one, you’ll die by plan;’
If you do not tell him and warn
The wicked from his way in bourn,
That wicked one shall die in sin,
But I’ll hold you in account’s bin.
9 “But if you warn the wicked one
Of his way to repent when done,
And he does not repent, then he
Shall die in his iniquity,
But you’ve saved yourself from the fee.’

I am no watchman on Your wall below.
My lip is chapped, my steps have become slow,
And sleep grasps at my soul and at my row.
I am no watchman at the trumpet sound
To raise a cry or standard on the ground.
And yet the circle that my cumbered feet
Make on the slaughter ground of my retreat
Takes in the loving words I hear You speak,
The warnings and the promises I seek.
While some rush to repentance or to sale,
I turn before the breath of summer hale
To find the acilea’s shield and mail,
The buttercup in spreading vine a snare,
The goatweed still a sword that I can bear.

10 “Therefore, O you son of man, speak
To Israel’s house, so you shall speak,
And say ‘If our transgressions peak
And our sins are on us and we
Succumb to them, how shall we be?’
11 “Say to them, ’”As I live,” says YHWH
The Lord, “I have no joy in brew
Of wicked people dying too;
But rather that the wicked turn
From his way and live so to earn;
Repent, repent your evil ways;
For why will you die in your stays,
O house of Israel for praise?”’
12 “So then, you son of man, say to
The children of your folk in crew,
“The righteousness of righteous one
Shall not save him in the day done
Of his transgression; and as for
The wickedness of wicked store,
It shall not make him fall the day
He repents of his wicked way;
Neither shall the righteous be saved
By his good on the day he graved
To commit sin upon the paved.
13 “When I say to the righteous folk
That he will surely live a stroke,
If he trusts his own righteousness,
And commits sin, his righteousness
Shall not be called to mind’s address,
Because of the sin that he did,
So he’ll die for it without bid.
14 “Again, when I say to the bad,
You’ll surely die for what you had,
If he repents from his sin sad,
And does the lawful and the right;
15 “Restoring the pledge and in sight
Returning what he robbed for plight,
And act by the statutes of life,
Committing no violent strife,
He’ll surely live, not die outright.
16 “None of his sins that he has done
Shall be mentioned in course of run;
He’s done the lawful and the right,
He’ll surely live on in My sight.
17 “Yet the sons of your folk reply,
The Lord’s way is not just foreby.
But it’s their way that’s unjust try.
18 “When the righteous turns from his good,
And does the sin for what he should,
Then he’ll die too because he would.
19 “But if the wicked does repent
From his wickedness in his tent,
And does the lawful and the right,
He shall live because of his flight.
20 “But you say “The Lord’s way’s not just.”
O house of Israel in the dust,
I’ll judge you every one that day
By what he does and how’s his way.’”

Beloved, do not judge me, I say, do not!
I have done nothing here in all the plot
To merit Your forgiveness or the spot
Of condemnation. In the day I live
All men, or almost all, are just a sieve.
It’s rare to find a saint and rarer still
To find a worthy sinner on the hill.
The most of men are merely mediocre
As artists in the swill or in the poker.
Let me be saint or sinner to subscribe
To great deeds, then You may come in to bribe
Or judge me with injustice or a will.
Until then, see, I merely grow beneath
The shade of pine, prickle of a fir wreath.

21 It happened in the twelfth year of
Our captivity, the fifth of
The tenth month, that one had escaped
Out of Jerusalem and scraped
Along to me and said “The town
Is struck and it has fallen down.”
22 YHWH’s power came on me at the dusk,
Before the escapee in husk
Came to me but my mouth was closed
Until he arrived when morn posed,
And then my mouth was opened and
And was no longer dumb to stand.
23 And YHWH’s word came to me and said
24 “Son of man, those who dwell instead
On those waste places of the land
Of Israel speak by command,
‘Abraham was just one and he
Inherited the land for free,
But we are many so the land
Is given to all the heirs in band.’
25 “That’s why say to them,” so says YHWH
The Lord, “You eat the bloody brew,
And raise eyes to your idols’ crew,
And shed blood, and will you have still
The land from plain to stream and hill?
26 “You stand upon your sword and do
Abomination in your pew,
Defiling each his neighbour’s wife:
And shall you have the land for life?
27 “Tell them this:” So says the Lord YHWH,
“As I live, surely all the crew
That lives in the waste places too
Shall fall by the sword, and the one
In the open field on the run
I’ll give to the beast to devour,
And those in the forts and caves’ power
Shall die of the plague in an hour.
28 “And I’ll make the land desolate,
Astonishment in every rate,
The glory of her strength shall cease;
And Israel’s mountain like a fleece
Be desolate so none pass through.
29 “Then they shall know that I am YHWH,
When I have laid the desert land
For their abominations’ hand.

What You call defiling the neighbour’s wife
Some that I know claim is just part of life,
Expression of the love that You have given
To ease the human lot that we must live in.
What You call gross idolatry some I
Know call the quintessence of life’s poetry,
Expression of the best in art and beauty,
And nothing evil, dirty or gone sooty.
Beloved, can You not understand the free
And hopeful expression by earth and sky?
With love and beauty here beneath my paint,
I know a human law beyond Your quaint.
Go in a gallery, appreciate
The trace of human hand, learn not to hate.

30 “And you, son of man, the sons of
Your people still talk and they shove
Against you by the walls and doors
Of their own houses and their floors,
And speak to each other, each one
To his brother, saying for fun
Please come and hear what crazy thing
Has come down from YHWH on the wing.
31 “They come to you as people come,
And sit before you like the sum
Of My folk and they hear your words,
But they will not do them for turds;
For with their mouth they show much love,
Their heart is in covetous glove.
32 And see you are to them as one
Who sings a love-song on the run
With a nice voice and can play well
On any instrument a spell,
For they hear your words, but they do
Not do them in secret or view.
33 And when this happens, and it will,
Then they shall know come to fulfil
A prophet is among them still.

And that’s exactly what I said before.
Appreciation of man’s art in store
Ought to have some merit in judgement score.
I hear the Hebrew words Ezekiel rose
To rant in comely verses and in pose.
Of course it is an exquisite primrose,
Delight to ear and heart, comfort to toes.
Some cannot now repent, it’s sad and true,
But they at least can love the sound of new
And favoured art expressing human grief
And happiness, it’s art that brings relief.
Just stop, Beloved, and listen to the tune
Ezekiel sings, even if ancient rune,
And love the melody, if not the boon.

EZEKIEL 34

1 YHWH’s word came to me and He said
2 ”Son of man, prophesy as led
Against Israel’s shepherds and say
To them in prophecy today,
‘So says the Lord YHWH in His sway
To the shepherds, “Woe be to those
Shepherds of Israel in their rows
Who feed themselves! Should they not feed
The flocks, those shepherds in their greed?
3 “You eat the fat and dress in wool,
You kill those whom you should make full,
Not feeding the flock in their need.
4 “You did not strengthen the diseased,
Nor healed the sick, nor have you pleased
To set the broken bone, nor brought
Back those gone astray from the lot,
Nor have you sought the lost, instead
With force and cruelty you’ve led.
5 “And they were scattered without one
To be a shepherd on the run.
They became the meal to each beast
Scatter in the fields and increased.
6 “My sheep have wandered through he hills,
On every high hill that fulfils;
Indeed My flock was scattered wide
Upon the face of the earth’s pride,
With none to search and find beside.”’”
7 That’s why, you shepherds, hear the word
Of YHWH, 8 “As I live,” says the Lord
YHWH, “surely because My flick came
To be a prey, and my flock’s fame
The meat of every beast in claim
Upon the fields, because there came
No shepherd, neither did My own
Shepherds seek after my flock flown,
But fed themselves instead when grown.”
9 Therefore, O shepherds, hear the word
Of YHWH and let your hearts be stirred.

So far I’ve been as anti-clerical
As I can and not be hysterical.
Your words, Beloved, go further than my own.
In fact, I’ve wearied standing by Your throne
To cast a spell against the Trinity,
Idols in stone, idols in poetry,
Idols in churches and theology,
Priests and priest-craft, of all I am weary.
Remove idolatry from just my heart,
The pope from belly, and the priest apart,
And I’ll be grateful and let others be.
The shepherds of Israel were scavengers
Twenty-five hundred years ago. My stirs
Of life are too short to complain a wee.

10 So says the Lord YHWH, “Now behold
I am against the shepherds’ hold,
And I’ll require My flock from them,
And make them stop being the hem
By which to feed the flock, and so
The shepherds shall no longer show
To feed themselves, for I will save
My flock from their mouth like a grave,
So they may not be meat to eat
By any of them like a treat.”

I guess You must have saved me from the claw
Of shepherds that raise up a voice and paw.
There is no shepherd Protestant or Catholic
Who would let me stay in the church for drastic
In measures. No, I am the kind thrown out
Before I even open mouth to shout.
They see the danger in my eyes, I guess.
There is no churchly place for my address.
Beloved, I share the fate of Your own son,
Who had no place to lay his head when done,
Or Your Mahdi, who roams around the world
Incog without address or flag unfurled.
The synagogue, the church, the mosque close doors,
But I plunge in the ocean of Your shores.

11 For so says the Lord YHWH, “Behold,
I even I will come as bold
To search for My sheep and seek out.
12 “As a shepherd seeks without doubt
His flock when his sheep scatter out,
So I will seek my sheep and save
Them from all places where may rave
The clouds and darkness of the grave.
13 “And I’ll bring them out from the folk,
And gather them from countries’ yoke,
And I’ll bring them to their own land,
And feed them on the mountains’ strand
Of Israel by its flowing streams,
And in all the campsites and dreams
Of the land wherever it seems.
14 “I’ll feed them in a meadow fine,
Upon the high mountains to shine
In Israel; there they shall lie
In a good fold, in a fat sty,
They’ll feed upon the mountains of
Israel, all the sheep that I love.
15 “I’ll feed My flock, and I will make
Them lie down, says Lord YHWH in stake.
16 “I’ll seek the lost and bring again
Those driven out away from den,
And I’ll bind up the broken and
Strengthen the sick in all the band,
But I’ll destroy the fat and strong,
I’ll feed them with judgement on wrong.

Be careful what You promise, One divine!
The shepherds of all the world’s faiths combine
To let me starve to death and hope I do.
I only have a shelter left in You.
But I give warning now that I’ve a paunch
That cannot be filled up, not by a launch.
That’s why I could no longer preach for those
Baptists who paid the preacher on his toes
In Sunday dinners. All the week in fasting
Made me too thin to preach to flabbergasting.
Feed me the hidden manna that You train
On those caught in the desert sort of plain,
And I’ll complain the fare’s too sweet to eat,
And too one-sided to turn out a treat.

17 “And you, My flock,” so says Lord YHWH,
“See, I will judge between the crew
Of cattle and others in view,
Between the rams and he goats’ rue.
18 “Is it a trifle that you eat
Up the good pasture, with your feet
Trample what’s left of meadow sweet,
That you drink up the waters deep,
And foul the rest in your feet’s sweep?
19 “My flock, they eat what’s trodden down,
They drink muddy waters and brown
Fouled with your feet, and so they weep.
20 “That’s why the Lord YHWH says to them,
‘See I, even I’ll judge the stem
Between the fat cattle and lean.
21 “Because you’ve pushed with side and bean,
Gored with your horns the sick and keen,
Till you’ve scattered them to careen.’

The word is for the judgement of the few
Who read it, not the livelier in crew
Who go to work without a pause to see
What Scripture has to say today in fee.
So let me hear the judgement on my own
Head for the things that I have done alone.
I may have trodden down a place to drink
And left it muddy for the ones to sink
Who come after me to the shady brink.
But I have surely not used horn to slow
Another from the watering hole to go
On my way with the elbow sort of show.
You can’t pin that on me, Beloved, I know.
If You judge me, You’ll take another think.

22 “Therefore I’ll save My flock and they
Never more shall become a prey;
And I’ll judge between crow and jay.
23 “I’ll set one shepherd over them,
And he shall feed them in his hem,
My servant David, he shall feed
Them and be their shepherd agreed.
24 “And I YHWH’ll be their Ælohim,
And My servant David the cream
Of princes among them; I YHWH
Have spoken it and so I’ll do.
25 “I’ll make them a pact of Islam,
And cause the evil beasts to calm
Out of the land, and they shall stay
In safety in the desert way
And sleep in the woods after day.

Alright, alright, the text said peace and not
Islam, but they are both spelled with the slot
Of the same letters in the order too.
Islam and peace should be the same to You,
And perhaps are the same. And yet I see
Full many of the ones who claim to be
On the right path turn from the way to go
Against the full commandments and not slow.
You say that You’re one God, and that they get,
But when You say keep Sabbath and not set
A snare to kill another on the way,
They sometimes forget to take night from day.
And even Jews Your chosen know to slay.
Beloved, let me have peace and Islam’s way.

26 “I’ll make them and the places round
About My hill a blessing found,
And I will cause the shower to pour
Down in its season on the shore,
And there’ll be showers of blessing more.
27 “The tree of the field yields her fruit,
And the earth increase from the root,
And they shall be safe in their land,
And know that I’m YHWH, when I stand
To break the bands of their yoke, and
Save them out of the power and hand
Of those who served themselves to boot.
28 “And they shall no more be a prey
To the heathen, nor shall the sway
Of the beast of the land betray,
But they shall dwell in safety there,
And no one make them troubles bear.
29 “And I will lift to them a plant
Of fame and they shall have no want
In the land, nor bear any shame
On the part of the heathen game.
30 “So they shall know that I am YHWH
Their Ælohim with them in view,
And they, the house of Israel,
Are My folk,” says the Lord YHWH well.
31 “And you My flock, My pasture’s flock,
Are men, I’m your Ælohim rock,”
Says the Lord YHWH of Israel.

I’m glad that doing a good turn also
Reveals that You are YHWH and on the go.
I’d got the idea in my pate to show
That only evil events could teach men
That You are Sovereign of the field and glen.
The trees grow and produce the soughten fruit,
The buds turn into blossoms and the root
Enquires among the hidden streams to find
That You are there to nourish humankind.
Beloved, the good and evil in the draw,
All things that happen in both hand and claw
Proclaim beyond the pain and long past joy
That You are YHWH alone and no decoy.
My leaf claps with the knowledge You employ.

EZEKIEL 35

1 And the word of YHWH came to me
And said 2 ”Son of man set your wee
Face against Mount Seir and say
A prophecy against its way.
3 “And say to it, ‘So says Lord YHWH:
“Behold, Mount Seir, I’m in a stew
Against you, and I’ll stretch My hand
Out against you, and make your land
A desolation and a stand.
4 “I’ll lay your cities waste and you
Shall be a desolation’s view,
And you will know that I am YHWH.
5 “Because you had continued hate,
And killed Israel’s people of late
By the hand of the sword in time
Of their calamity for crime,
When their sin came to consummate.
6 “That’s why, as I live,” says Lord YHWH,
”I will prepare you for bloods spew,
And blood shall follow against you,
Since you have not abhorred blood’s view,
Against then blood shall pursue.
7 “So I shall make Mount Seir a waste,
And cut of from it the misplaced
And the one to return in view.
8 “I’ll fill his mountains with his slain:
In your hills and in valleys lain,
And in all your rivers, shall they
Fall that are killed by the sword’s sway.
9 “I’ll make you continued wasteland,
And your cities shall not in band
Return, and you will know that I
Am YHWH, on that you can rely.

I’ve seen the land of Edom lie beneath
The torch of sun and wrapped within the wreath
Of red and purple tints upon the hills.
I’ve seen the land of Edom pay her bills.
The turn and twist of shadow marks the ways
Of wandering among the rocks and craze
Where there may be a bush or leaf to greet
The new day, but hardly in that a treat.
Beloved, the beauty of the land laid bare
Is still upon the mountains everywhere
That Edom pastured flocks and Esau knew
The love and hope and disappointment too.
The night may catch me in the favoured view
Of Edom’s passion and its mystic air.

10 “Because you said ‘These two lands and
These two countries are in my hand,
And we’ll possess it’ but the stand
Of YHWH was there still to command.
11 “That’s why, as I live,” says Lord YHWH,
“I’ll even do according to
Your wrath, and by your envy too
Which you have held out in your wrath
Against them, and I’ll bring My path
Among them, when I have judged you.
12 “And you will know that I am YHWH,
And I’ve heard all your blasphemies
Which you have spoken in the breeze
Against Israel’s highlands to say
‘They are laid desolate today,
They’re given to us upon a tray.’
13 “You’ve opened your mouth then to boast
Against Me, and make words in host
Against Me, I have heard the most.
14 “So says the Lord YHWH, “When the whole
Earth rejoices, I’ll take the toll.
15 “As you rejoiced at Israel’s lot,
Because it was desolate spot,
So I shall do to you also:
You will be desolate in show,
O Mount Seir, and all Idumea,
Even all of it to convey her:
And they’ll know I am YHWH below.”’”

If Idumea joyed to see the sword
Fall on the folk of Israel, of the Lord,
It does not mean that one more fatal stroke
Will put things right again under the oak.
Beloved, sometimes I think You share the meal
Of the idolater who comes to feel
That sacrifice of blood upon the sand
Makes right all wrongs and purifies the land.
Let not Your hand strike Edom for the smile
Of vain rejoicing at the fall and guile
Of Israel. There’s been enough of blood
Shed since You spoke to prophets on the mud.
Let Edom and Judaea live in peace,
Whether Islamic or Jewish release.

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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