EZEKIEL CHAPTER 36 - 41

EZEKIEL 36

1 Also, you son of man, now speak
A prophecy to Israel’s peak,
And say “You hills of Israel,
Hear the word of YHWH and hear well.
2 “So says the Lord YHWH, ‘Since the foe
Has spoken against you to show,
See, ancient high places are still
In our possession on the hill.’
3 “So prophesy and say ‘The Lord
YHWH says this to the unrestored,
“Since they have made you desolate,
And swallowed you in every strait,
So you would be a thing possessed
To the rest of the heathen blessed,
To be taken on talkers hips,
An infamy of the folk’s rips,
4 “Therefore, you hills of Israel,
Hear the word of the Lord YHWH well,’
So says the Lord YHWH to the hills
And to the uplands and the rills,
And to the valleys and the wastes,
And to the towns’ forsaken tastes,
Which are a prey and thing derided
To the rest of heathen resided
That are round about undecided,
5 “So says the Lord YHWH, ‘Surely in
The fire of My jealousy’s din
I’ve spoken against all the rest
Of the heathen and have oppressed
All Idumea, who have set
My country as the thing to get
With joy in all their heart, with such
Despiteful minds to cast as much
Out for a spoil that they have met.
6 “So speak a prophesy about
The ground of Israel in rout,
And say to the mountains and to
The hills and rills and valleys due,’
So says the Lord YHWH, ‘See, I’ve spoken
In My own jealousy for token
Of fury, because you have borne
The shame of the heathen for scorn.
7 “That’s why’ says the Lord YHWH, ‘I’ve lifted
My hand, surely heathen ungifted
That are around you, they shall bear
Their own shame around everywhere.

Catastrophe that falls from Your raised hand,
Beloved, is not the wrath of the unfanned,
Is not the fortune of invading band,
Is not the rage of greed upon the land.
The dire in consequence of rising up
Is just results of drinking from the cup
Of love entwined with rose and mint to sup.
It’s jealousy of love that turns the tup.
Beloved, rise in Your jealousy and see
That I return from every idol’s spree
To join my heart and breath to You in fire
Of love and its extinguishing desire.
Raise up Your hand against both shame and claim,
But I shall not stop reciting Your name.

8 “But you, O hills of Israel,
You’ll sprout forth your branches a spell,
And bear your fruit to My folk well
Of Israel; for they’re in hope.
9 “For see, I’m for you and to cope,
And I’ll turn to you and you will
Be sown after coming to till.
10 “And I will multiply on you
Men of all Israel’s house in crew;
And the towns shall be filled with folk,
The wasted built up at a stroke.
11 “And I shall multiply on you
Both man and beast, and in their due
They shall increase and bring forth fruit,
And I will settle you in root
Of your old lands, and will do then
Better than at the start again,
And you’ll know I am YHWH to boot.
12 “Indeed, I’ll make men walk on you,
My people Israel and true,
And they shall keep you and possess,
And you will be their own address,
And you will no more grieve and guess.’
13 “So says the Lord YHWH, ‘Because they
Say to you, “You consume in sway,
And have bereaved nations that way,
14 “Therefore you shall consume no more,
Nor grieve your nations on the shore,’
Says the Lord YHWH to even score.
15 “‘So I will not make people hear
In you the shame of heathen fear
Any longer, neither shall you
Bear the reproach of people’s crew,
Neither shall you make nations fall
Any more,’ says Lord YHWH of all.”

I’ve seen the towns in Israel today
Filled with folk coming there or not to pray.
I’ve seen the busy wagons on the street,
The transport of both vegetables and meat,
The marketing of every kind of treat.
Your promise is fulfilled at least the while,
Whether or not fulfilment without guile
Took place before the crucifixion of
Your towns throughout the Roman iron glove,
Or when the caliphs reigned in every place
The sacred ground passed out the holy race.
The promise is fulfilled, and yet I see
The populations growing faithfully
In every place, both sacred and set free.

16 And the word of YHWH came to me
And said 17 “Son of man, when the house
Of Israel lived then freely
In their own land with their own spouse,
They defiled it by their own way
And by the doings in their sway,
Their way came up before My eyes
Like menstruation to despise.
18 “That’s why I poured My wrath on them
For the blood they had shed on hem
Upon the land, and for the reach
Of their idols, polluted each.
19 “And I spread them among the folk
Of heathendom, and for a stroke
They were scattered though all the lands,
According to their way’s demands,
And by their doings’ judgement stands.
20 “And when they came to heathen lands,
Where they went, they profaned My name
Of holiness, when they told them,
‘These are YHWH’s folk gone from His hem.’
21 “But I had pity for My name
Of holiness, when in their claim
The house of Israel had profaned
Among the heathen where they gained.

Your calling menstruation the defiled
Sounds in the ears of some a thing as wild
As any on the march. And I suppose
That is the effect of the rows and rows
Of Palestine’s patrimony that froze
The land of patriarchs instead of mild
And graceful matriarchs at least self-styled.
The patriarchal bias of Your word
Expressed by prophet to both men and bird
Is something that strikes matriarchal ear
With sorrow and a wiping of the tear.
It contrasts with the ten commandments’ blow
That does not include the wife in the row
Of man’s subordinates. That’s a good show.

22 “So say to Israel’s house, ‘It’s so
Says the Lord YHWH, ‘not for your glow
Do I do this, O Israel’s house,
But for My holy name and blouse,
Which you’ve profaned among the folk
Of heathendom, where you had stroke.
23 “I’ll sanctify My name greatly,
Which was profaned among the spree
Of heathen, which you have profaned
Among them all and where they reigned,
And heathen will know I am YHWH,’
Says the Lord YHWH, ‘when I’m in view
Sanctified in you before them.
24 “For I will take you from among
The heathen and gather you strung
Out from all lands, and I will bring
You to your own land and your spring.

If You have sanctified a folk among
The heathen and called Israel on the rung,
Then why do all men share the promises
Fulfilled at least in populations’ fizz?
The only thing I see the people bear
In blessing is the keeping of their share
Of revelation safe and in good care.
The Tanakh is spread out beneath the glare
Of infidelity and doubting where
The ten commandments shine upon their heart.
The people set apart have done their part.
But I have yet to see how benefit
Comes to them for having served to save it.
It’s more a liability to sit.

25 “I’ll sprinkle clean water on you,
And you’ll be clean from residue
Of all your filthiness, and from
All your idols, I’ll cleanse in sum.
26 “A new heart too I’ll give to you,
And a new spirit put in you,
And I’ll take out the stony heart
Out of you flesh, and with a start
Give you a heart of flesh as due.
27 “I’ll put My spirit among you
And make you act according to
My statutes, and you’ll keep my laws
And do them ever without pause.
28 “And you’ll live in the land I gave
To your ancestors; you’ll be brave
To be My people, and I’ll be
Your Ælohim eternally.
29 “I’ll save you from your uncleanness,
And I’ll call for the grain and bless,
Lay no famine on your address.
30 “I’ll multiply your trees in fruit,
And increase of the fields to boot,
And you’ll have no more in reproach
Of famine among heathen coach.
31 “Then you’ll mind your own evil ways,
And your doings and without praise,
And shall loath yourselves in your sight
For your iniquities and spite.
32 “Now for your sake too I act now,”
Says Lord YHWH, “be known anyhow
To you, be ashamed and confounded
For your own ways, O house unhounded
Of Israel before impounded.”

Most beautiful of promises, I trow,
Is this, and I don’t mean the watered prow,
But that law set on tables of the heart,
In fleshing places and by divine art.
I do not covet lands and fruits to spare,
I do not covet all the worldly share
You promise in a grace piled on the air.
I covet that law set in mind and hand,
And do not have desire for promised land.
Beloved, if You can extend power and grace
For heathens also multiplied in space,
Then You can fairly give me too my place
Among the ones whose heart is struck by pen
And wrinkled with Your scribblings there again.

33 So says the Lord YHWH, “In the day
That I have cleansed you from the sway
Of your iniquities to pay,
I’ll also make you stay to live
In the cities, and the wastes give
To be built up in the right way.
34 “The desert shall be tilled that lay
Desolate in the sight of day
Before all who passed by that way.
35 “And they shall say ‘This desolate
Land has become like Eden’s rate,
And the waste and desert and spoiled
Citied are fortified, gargoyled,
Filled with inhabitants in state.’
36 “The heathen that are left around
About you shall know I am found
YHWH to build the spoiled and in ground
Plant what was desolate, and I
YHWH spoke and I will do and cry.”
37 So says the Lord YHWH, “I will yet
Be enquired for this thing to set
By Israel’s house, to do for them,
I’ll multiply them in My hem
With men like a flock of sheep met.
38 “As the holy flock, as the flock
Jerusalem in celebration
Of solemn feasts takes in her dock,
So shall the desert towns be filled
With flocks of men, and they unstilled
Shall know I’m YHWH to give their ration.”

I know that You are YHWH, Beloved, indeed,
Though I am one of awful pagan seed,
Descended from the cannibals of yore,
Barbarians that knocked on Roman door,
The pageant of the red man now of fame
Upon the continent of turtle’s claim.
And yet I know that You are YHWH and true,
That You build up the spoiled and give the crew
A planted place appropriate to eat
The grape or the black current for a treat.
Jerusalem is filled with those who cast
Their days and years in sacred feasts to last.
The flocks disperse in autumn and in spring
And come before the great throne of the king.

EZEKIEL 37

1 The hand of YHWH was upon me,
And carried me amazingly
By YHWH’s wind and set me down free
In the middle of the valley
Which was full of bones silently.
2 He caused me to pass over them
And all around abundant gem
On the surface of valley’s hem,
And it was very dry pro tem.
3 And he said to me “Son of man,
Can these bones live here that you scan?”
And I replied then, “O Lord YHWH,
You know what You can plan and do.”

If I had been taken by gust of wind
Into a field of bones after I’d sinned,
And asked if they could live again, I think
I would have scoffed and said no chance to wink.
The prophet is a careful man, I see.
After that ride he thought the thing might be,
And if You could carry him in the clouds
You might as easily raise up the crowds
To praise and blasphemy once more on earth,
After the lack of rains, after the dearth.
Beloved, I know the sampling’s limited
That teaches that a hard blow on the head
Results in death eternal, so instead
I join the prophet to doubt I am led.

4 Again He came to say to me,
“Prophesy on these bones freely,
And say to them, ‘O you dry bones,
Hear the word of YHWH for your groans.’”
5 So says the Lord YHWH to these bones,
“See, I will make breath enter you,
And you shall live and stand in view.
6 “I’ll lay you sinews in your due,
And I’ll bring up flesh upon you,
And cover you with skin and put
Breath in you to live hand and foot,
And you shall know that I am YHWH.’”

I am commanded to preach to the birds
That perch upon my windowsill with turds,
And to the shy and flousy beasts that stalk
About the forest paths I come to walk.
Ezekiel’s commanded to tell the dead.
We both have easy rows to hoe unfed.
Most preachers have to face the human crew
Alive and breathing in the common pew.
That is a challenge I would hate to try
Beneath the threatening of human sky.
Beloved, I thank You that I come to share
The easy task Ezekiel had to bear,
And preach to those who do not answer back,
Or if they do, it’s just a beak they pack.

7 So I prophesied by command,
And as I prophesied at land,
There was a sound and shaking there,
The bones came together to share,
Each bone came right back to its pair.
8 And as I looked, sinews and flesh
Came up on them and the skin fresh
Covered them from above, but there
Was no breath in them to forbear.

In all the stories I have heard from youth
And childhood in the Iroquoian truth,
The resurrection always seems to come
After the hero shakes a tree in sum.
The clacking branches of the tree perhaps
Awaken all his relatives in caps.
I’ve seen the rate of Palestine and know
Some places trees are rarely in a row.
No doubt You are too merciful and slow
To wrath to deprive them of life to grow
Just for the reason that no trees are there.
So there is resurrection everywhere.
Beloved, I lay hold on the hope that sat
Too hard for Sadducees to come to bat.

9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy
Unto the wind and prophesy,
O son of man, and tell the wind,
‘So says the Lord YHWH to the binned,
“Come from the four winds, O breath, and
Breathe on these slain to live and stand.”’”
10 So I prophesied by command,
And breath came into them and they
Lived and stood on their feet to sway,
A very great army’s array.

Without the wind it is a futile thing
To raise up bones to stand before the king.
The magic of the sun and stars is still,
There is no rustling of a mouse on hill,
As long as wind does not enter the nose,
It is no use the scattered bones arose.
Beloved, I too have seen the battered way
So many bags of bones go in their way
To shop after the job is done a day,
And go home to the TV set in sway.
Beloved, breathe in my nostrils a fine wind
And take me from the place where I have sinned
To find a glory and a rushing full
Of fire and breath upon the rope I pull.

11 Then He said to me “Son of man,
These bones are the whole house in span
Of Israel, see how they say
‘Our bones are dried and hope’s astray,
We’re cut off each one from the way.’
12 “So prophesy and say to them,
‘So says the Lord YHWH’s stratagem,
“See, O My people, I shall show
Your grave opened and make you go
Up from your graves and bring you to
The land of Israel in view.

This promise that after the resurrection
The bodies are brought back without selection
To Palestine and to Jerusalem
Has led to hopes astounding to an em.
Some have believed the bodies roll beneath
The soil and water to pop up in wreath
On the last day when You come down to judge
The living and the dead and pass out fudge.
Beloved, I really care not for the sake
Of future resurrection from the lake,
If You just breathe in me the while to do
According to the ten commandments true.
Then I shall raise a voice in single song,
Or if You will, eternally and long.

13 And you will know that I am YHWH,
When I’ve opened your graves for you,
O my people and brought you out
Of your graves with a word and shout,
14 And I’ll put My spirit in you,
And you will live and I shall place
You in your own country and trace,
Then you shall know that I YHWH spoke
And did it,” says YHWH, “on the stroke.’”

Who knows what spirit now employs my speech
And limbs and heart and hand to gather peach
And apple and the black current to reach
The level I’ve attained to here to preach?
Be that as may, Beloved, but now I pray
That if and when Your promise not astray
Results in resurrection from the grave
Of my soul’s body to rise up Your slave,
Let me live by Your spirit and not mine,
Nor by the teaching of another wine
Poured out unmixed betwixt the earthly vine,
And I’ll net no more country to repair
My living with the modesty I share
Among the starlings with whom I now dine.

15 The word of YHWH came once again
To me and spoke there in my den.
16 “Now son of man, take you one stick
And write upon it for a trick:
‘For Judah, and for Israel’s folk
As his companions,’ then in stroke
Take one more still and write on it,
‘For Joseph, stick of Ephraim fit,
And all the house of Israel
And his companions in a spell.’
17 “And join them each to each in one,
They’ll be united in hand done.
18 “And when the children of your folk
Shall speak to you and say in yoke,
‘Will you not show us what you mean?’
19 “Say to them, ‘So says the Lord YHWH,
“See, I shall take the stick of crew
Of Joseph, which is in the hand
Of Ephraim, and the tribes stand
Of his fellows of Israel,
And shall put them with him in spell,
Even with Judah’s stick in sway,
And make of them one stick, and they
Shall be one in My hand to stay.”’
20 “And the stick that you write upon
Shall be in your hand in sight drawn.
21 “And say to them, ‘So says Lord YHWH,
“See, I shall take out Israel’s crew
From among the heathen where they
Have gone, and shall gather to stay
On every side, and bring them to
Their own land and heritage due.

The Russian folktale tells the story better
Than old Ezekiel in Hebraic letter.
Grandfather tells two brothers who are fighting
To break a stick, which each one then alighting
Can do with ease. And then he takes the two
Sticks in a bundle and lets them anew
Try in vain to break them: they cannot do.
So when together men work in a crowd
They have more strength than just one is allowed.
Beloved, like You, I am one and not three,
And that is why perhaps men in the spree
Think I’m an easy target, one to shoot
Down and crush quickly under weight of boot.
Beloved, join me and we shall raise a hoot.

22 “And I shall make them one folk in
The land, on Israel’s mountains’ bin,
And one king shall be king to all,
And they’ll be no longer in thrall
As two nations, neither shall they
Be separated in that way
Anymore in two kingdoms’ sway.
23 “Neither shall they defile again
Themselves with idols in their ken,
Nor with abominations’ rise,
Nor with their transgressions in guise;
And I shall save them out of where
They have been living in despair,
Where they have sinned, and shall cleanse them
So they will be My folk in hem
And I will be their Ælohim.

Two sticks together will prevent the wail
Of gross idolatry is promise hale.
Three sticks upon a comb one said to me
Was proof enough of lovely Trinity,
For with one stick alone one combs no hair,
But three tines left will make a comb as rare
The functions to keep toupee well aware.
That was an argument that burst my gale.
Beloved, I thank You that the crowd that came
At last from the loins of Israelite game
Eschewed idolatry and still their fame
Is now and ever always to proclaim
That You are One and no one shares Your name.
So much for two sticks and a Russian tale.

24 “David My servant shall be king
Over them, and they’ll have one wing
Of shepherd over all of them,
And they’ll walk in My judgements way,
Observe My statutes every day.
25 “And they will live in the land that
I’ve given to Jacob when he sat
As My servant, where your ancestors
Have lived, and they will stay as questers,
They and their children and the spawn
Of their children eternal dawn,
And My servant David shall be
Their ruler for eternity.
26 “I’ll make a covenant of peace
Or Islam with them for release,
It shall be an eternal pact
With them, and I will set their act,
And multiply them and will set
My sanctuary where they’re met
For ever and ever exact.
27 “My tabernacle is with them,
Indeed I’ll be their Ælohim,
And they shall be My folk in cream.
28 “The heathen will know I am YHWH
To sanctify Israel in crew
When My temple in holiness
Is ever among their address.”’”

Beloved, I take in faith eternal king
David to reign in my heart’s sacred ring.
I live in the land with my children and
My children’s children in a faithful band.
I take hold of Islam, such peace with You
Obeying Your commandments, all ten true.
I enter in Your temple here on earth
Reflection of the heavenly halls of worth,
Build of the sounds of Psalm arising in
The Hebrew verses that we sing in din.
Beloved, I mark Ezekiel’s word and know
That David still reigns though I see no show
Of pageantry, of palace, or of church
But only red of pine and white of birch.

EZEKIEL 38

1 The word of YHWH came down to me
And said 2 “Son of man, turn to see
Gog and the land of Magog’s spree,
The chief prince of Meshech and more,
Tubal, prophesy at his door.
3 “And say ‘So says the Lord YHWH, “See,
I come against you, O Gog, see,
You chief prince of Meshech and more
Of Tubal and all of their store.
4 “And I will turn you back and put
Hooks in your jaws, and bring on foot
Out with all your army in band,
Horses and cavalry men’s stand,
All of them clothed with every sort
Of armour, a great crowd in sport
With bucklers and with shields and all
Armed with their swords to kill in stall.
5 “Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya
With them, all of them still in awe
With shield and helmet for the draw.
6 “Gomer and all his bands, the house
Of Togarmah with northern spouse,
And all his bands, and crowds in thrall.
7 “So be prepared and ready, you
And all your companies in crew
And be a guard and keep in view.

The simple name of one of Japheth’s sons
After the centuries of wicked runs
Becomes the title of a folk in store,
A king of evil weight and northern bore.
And yet the wanderer upon the earth,
No matter how far he goes from his berth
Toward the north and east to find the fame,
Finds nothing left of Gog and Magog’s claim.
Assyrian raiders with their northern crew
I guess were meant in Ezekiel’s view.
Beloved, I find the two-horned past and hope
Within my own heart and two ways to cope,
One moving mountains and one blocking all
The hordes of the invasion on my stall.

8 “After a long time you’ll be head,
In later years you will be led
Into that land brought back from sword,
Gathered from many peoples’ ward,
Against the mountains of the folk
Of Israel laid waste in stroke,
But brought forth out of all the lands
To stay in safety, all their bands.
9 “You’ll go up coming like a storm,
Like a cloud covering the land warm,
You and all your companies round
And many people on your ground.”

The return from great Babylon is meant
Perhaps, or then the later coming sent
From every part of earth and city lent
To built again Jerusalem and stay
In Canaan’s land and so there to bear sway.
A long time indeed has passed and I say
I find the Jewish state is here today.
But unless Antiochus is named Gog,
I do not yet find the accomplished cog.
The future waits with rushing and with fire
For the accomplishment of all things dire.
But let the heathen church take warning now
That You, Beloved, are not here to allow
The trampling on Your law written on brow.

10 “So says the Lord YHWH, “On that day
It will also happen to stay,
At the same time things come to mind,
And evil thought will come to bind.
11 “You’ll say ‘I shall go to the land
Of open villages to stand,
I’ll go to them at rest in peace,
All living without walls to crease,
With neither bars nor gates in bands.’
12 “To take the plunder and the spoil,
To turn your hand upon the soil
Of desolation where now live
The people gathered from the sieve
Of nations, who have cattle and
Goods, that are living upon the land.
13 “Sheba, Dedan, merchants that scan
Tarshish, with all young lions’ span,
Will ask you, ‘Have you come to take
The spoil, did you come for the sake
Of taking prey, to bear away
Silver and gold, to take as may
Much cattle and goods as by plan?’”’

Though these words are ambiguous to write
And hard to understand without the light
Of history and a fulfilling might,
It seems to me that future things to come
Are meant by prophet in his rantings’ sum.
Being that’s so, then those who think the church
Has replaced Your folk once left in the lurch
Are simply wrong. And I bring argument
That church is not replacement of the sent
In the fact that the church has never been
Strong to preserve Your commandments from sin.
Instead she tramples on the divine law,
Keeps neither God nor Sabbath in her awe,
But only status quo and strength of claw.

14 “So son of man, go prophesy
To God, ‘So says the Lord YHWH nigh,
“In that day when My folk and blessed
Of Israel stay safe at rest,
Will you not know as though confessed?
15 “And you will come from your place out
Of the far north, you without doubt
And many people with you, all
Riding on horses, a full stall,
And an army of might and stout.
16 “And you will come against My folk
Of Israel like a cloud in stroke
To cover up the land like oak.
So in the latter days I’ll bring
You against My own land and spring,
So that the nations may know Me,
When I am sacred in your plea,
O Gog, before their eyes to see.”
17 “So says the Lord YHWH, “Are you he
Of whom I’ve spoken long ago
By My servants in prophecy
In Israel, who spoke in show
In those days many years ago
That I would bring you to attack?
18 “And it shall happen and not slack
At the same time when Gog comes back
Against the land of Israel,”
Says the Lord YHWH, “My fury’s spell
Will show My face and not My back.
19 “For in My jealousy and fire
Of My wrath I have spoken dire,
‘Indeed in that day there will be
A great commotion on the lee
Of Israel. 20 “So that the fishes of the sea
And the birds of the sky, the beast
Of the field and creeping things least
That creep upon the earth, and all
The men upon the earthly ball,
Will tremble at My presence, and
The mountains be thrown down in band
And the steep places come to fall
Upon the ground with every wall.’
21 “I’ll call for a sword against Gog,”
Says the Lord YHWH, “and all agog
Each man’s sword shall be drawn for gall.
22 “And I will judge him with the plague
And with blood, and will rain in ague,
And great hailstones, fire and brimstone.
23 “So I shall magnify My throne
And sanctify Myself, and I
Will be knows in each nation’s eye,
And they will know that I am YHWH.’”

The man of sin who magnifies his throne
Against Your Sabbath and against the stone
Of ten commandments You will meet alone
With great destruction, fire and sulphurous heat,
With hail and blood upon both head and feet.
Beloved, raise a sword against Magog now,
Wherever he may be, and raise a row
Against God for opposing of Your law,
For scratching Israel with a bloody claw.
Beloved, come magnify Your throne above
All nations in the marketplace and shove
Of military intervention’s glove,
And I shall see You once more sanctified
Above the relicts of both sin and pride.

EZEKIEL 39

1 So, son of man, speak against Gog
In prophecy and lay the smog:
“So says the Lord YHWH, ‘See now, I
Come against you, O Gog, with cry
Against the prince of Rosh, Meshech
And Tubal for a pound and peck.
2 “And I shall turn you back and leave
Only a sixth of you to cleave,
And shall cause you to come up from
The northern places, bring in sum
To Israel’s mountains to bereave.
3 “I’ll knock the bow from your left hand,
Make fall your arrows where you stand
From your right hand, faint to receive.

The truth is no one knows today at all
Who Rosh is sitting on the northern wall,
Or even who Gog and Magog in sprawl
Include among the nations still in thrall.
The thought that Rosh is Russia is too quaint
For me today or any kind of saint,
And that the ten lost tribes of Israel glow
Beneath its wings is too ludicrous show.
But if the words of prophet and of fane
From ancient times bear nothing now but vain
In speculations, still the melody
Of Hebrew words continues to feed me.
The bow has no doubt long been knocked off free,
The arrows long since ended sudden pain.

4 “You’ll fall on Israel’s mountains, you
And all your bands and people too,
I’ll give you to the hungry fowl
Of every kind, and to the growl
Of wild beasts to be put in jowl.
5 “You’ll fall upon the open view,
For I’ve spoken,” says the Lord YHWH.
6 “I shall send a fire on Magog,
Among them without care and shod
Among the islands, and they’ll know
That I am YHWH, and it is so.
7 “I’ll make My holy name be known
Among My people Israel lone,
And I’ll not let them profane My
Holy name more under the sky:
The heathen shall know I am YHWH,
The Holy One of Israel’s crew.

Some think You make Your holy name known best
By sacred name movements come in the quest
Of Russelites and others You know best.
Such quaint conceits arise because a land
Is destitute of native tongue at hand
And has a lingua franca come to stand
In market and in business bill and band.
Because Americans have lost the touch
Of native language, they come to make much
Of sounds exotic taken from the stall
Of Hebrew and of Greek over in call.
If they just cantillated of Your word
In Hebrew, then their own hearts would be stirred
Without the need of barked at and the purred.

8 “See how it comes and will be done,”
Says the Lord YHWH; “this day begun
Of which I’ve spoken in the sun.
9 “Inhabitants of Israel’s towns
Will go out and set fire like crowns
And burn the weapons, shield and armour,
With bows and arrows, and from farmer
The hand staves and the pikes as well,
Burn seven years with fires of hell.
10 “They’ll not bring wood out of the field
Nor cut down wood of forest yield,
But burn their weapons with the fire,
And spoil those that spoiled their desire,
And rob those that robbed them,” replies
The Lord YHWH of the earth and skies.
11 “And it will happen in that day,
I’ll give to Gog a place to stay
There in the graves of Israel,
One valley of travellers in well
On the east of the sea; and it
Will stop the passengers with fit,
And they will bury Gog and all
His multitudes of folk in thrall,
And they’ll call the name of the place
The valley of Gog’s crowd in trace.
12 “And seven months shall Israel’s house
Be burying them like a mouse,
So they might clear the land and dowse.
13 “Yes, all the people of the land
Will bury them, and come to stand
In fame that day I’m glorified,”
Says the Lord YHWH and to abide.
14 “They’ll choose out men to go about
The land full-time in travelling scout
To burying those that still remain
Upon the surface of demesne
To clear it; at seven months’ end
They’ll search them out in dividend.
15 “The searchers will pass through the land,
And when they see a bone at hand
Of any human, then will he
Set a mark by it so to see,
Till those who bury come and take
It to the valley for the sake
Of Gog’s great crowd and company.

If I were buried in the shadow of
Jerusalem the city that I love,
Even though I’m a Gentile just like Gog
And Magog, I should joy in peaceful cog.
I’d wait the coming of the reign of power,
The Messianic day and judgement hour,
Where law and justice meet with mercy’s kiss.
I’d lie me in a grave in perfect bliss.
But I am like to lie instead along
With my own northern ancestors in song,
Beside the lakeshore, by the birch and strong
Pines wakened from the winters cold and long.
But whether in the sunny city’s arms
Or on the tundra, I’ll sleep without harms.

16 “The city’s name shall be Hamonah.
So they will clear the land of boner.
17 “And you, son of man,” so has said
The Lord YHWH, ‘speak to every spread
Fowl and to ever beast of field,
“Gather together for the yield,
Come from all directions so you
May eat the flesh, and drink blood too.
18 “You’ll eat flesh of the mighty men,
And drink blood of princes again
Of the earth, of rams and of lambs,
And of goats and bullocks, all shams
Of the fatted of Bashan’s slams.
19 “You’ll eat the fat till you are full,
And drink the blood till drunk like bull
Of sacrifice that I have slain
On your behalf and for your pain.
20 “You’ll be satisfied at My feast
With horse and chariot increased
With might men and with all men
Of war,”’” says the Lord YHWH again.
21 “And I’ll set My glory among
The heathen and all them unsung
Will see My judgement that I’ve brought,
And My hand that I’ve laid on lot.
22 “So the house of Israel shall know
That I am YHWH their God to go
From that day forward in the show.

Who knows what that great glory is You set
As sign to Israel as well as net
To all the heathen in judgement to get?
Each one may tender what he will before
That glory shines affirming in its store.
I think myself, Beloved, it is the Psalms
Left empty and bereft among the palms,
That shall be one day restored without qualms,
A temple and a tabernacle built
Of human voices and the quiet lilt
Of angels singing David’s lays again
In hearing of both heathen and of men.
Beloved, until that restoration day
I sing the Psalms of David without pay.

23 “And so the heathen then shall know
That Israel’s house was never slow
To go into captivity
For all of their iniquity;
Because they trespassed against Me,
So I hid My face not to see,
And gave them over in the hand
Of their foes to fall at sword’s band.
24 “According to their uncleanness
And by the transgressions’ address
I’ve dealt with them to hide My face.”’
25 “That’s why so says the Lord YHWH, ’Now
I shall bring back captives somehow
Of Jacob, and have mercy on
All the house of Israel in spawn;
And I shall be jealous about
My holy name before the rout.
26 “After that they have borne their shame,
And all their transgressions of fame
By which they have trespassed on Me,
When they lived in land of safety,
And no one made them fear to be.
27 “When I’ve brought them back from the folk
And gathered them from their foes’ yoke,
And I’ve been sanctified in them
Before many nations in gem,
28 “Then they will know that I am YHWH
Their Ælohim, who made them do
In captive state among the crew
Of heathen, but I’ve gathered them
Into their own land and its hem
And left none outside of My view.
29 “Neither shall I hide My face then
Any longer from them again,
For I’ve poured out My spirit on
Israel’s house,” says the Lord YHWH drawn.”

It makes no sense to blame the Jewish mate
For punishment he thinks is his own fate,
And at the same time fail to keep the law
By which that punishment acquired its claw.
The one who would despise Rabbi
For failing to keep Your law on the sly,
And then fail himself of the Sabbath Day,
And worship pagan trinities at bay,
Is a colossal hypocrite, I say.
Beloved, keep me from that beam in the eye,
And from the eager grasping of the sty.
Then I shall cantillate Your law until
The gleaming of Your glory on the hill,
The reconciling of the words made still.

EZEKIEL 40

1 In the twenty-fifth year that we
Abode in our captivity,
At the start of the year, upon
The tenth day of the month to dawn,
In the fourteenth year after that
The city was attacked out flat,
That very day the hand of YHWH
Was on me and brought me in view.
2 In great visions He brought me in
The land of Israel to win,
Setting me high upon a hill,
By which was framed the city still
Toward the southward argentine.
3 He brought me there and see, a man,
Appearing like a brazen pan,
Having a line of flax in hand,
A reed to measure, and to stand
In the gate which he kept and manned.
4 The man said to me, “Son of man,
See with your eyes, hear with your ears,
And set your heart upon the gears
That I shall show you, for my plan
To bring you here was to that end,
And publish all you see, commend
To Israel’s house of all you scan.”

After the vision of deliverance
From Gog and Magog I now come to dance
About the views of city and the street
That leads into the temple, leads my feet
Along the streams of silver sands to greet
The glories of Your spires in drink and meat.
Beloved, I look out from the stricken hills
Toward Jerusalem where the sun fills
The morning at my back, and stage ascent
From Kidron to the place without relent.
I tremble and anticipate the score
Of sounds to rush upon me from the door
Still fastened by the miracle of hope:
I merely pause to raise my telescope.

5 See there was a wall outside there
Around the house, and in the care
Of the man was a measuring reed
Of six arm lengths and a span’s need;
So he measured the width one reed,
And the height of the house, one reed.
6 He came to the gate toward the east
And went up the stairs there unpieced,
Measured the threshold of the gate,
One reed broad, and the other mate
One reed across and to relate.
7 Each gate chamber was one reed long,
And one reed wide, between along
The little rooms were five arm lengths,
And the threshold of the gate strengths
By the porch of the gate within
Was one reed in measure to win.
8 He also measured out the porch
Of inner gate, one reed to scorch.
9 Then he measured the gate porch too,
Eight arm lengths, and its posts in view,
Two arm lengths, and the gate porch stood
Inward. 10 And the little rooms that
Were in the gate eastward there sat
Three on this side and three on that,
All three were the same size for good,
The posts were equal as they should.
11 He measured the width of the gate
At going in, ten arm length’s rate,
And the length of the gate thirteen
Arm lengths. 12 The space also between
In front of the small chambers clean
One arm length, so to on the other
Side, and the small chambers like brother
Were six arm lengths on every side.
13 He measured the gate to abide
From the roof of one little room
To the roof of another loom,
The width was twenty-five arm lengths,
Door facing door sure of their strengths.
14 He also made posts of threescore
Or sixty arm length set in store,
To the post of the court around
About the gate so safe and sound.

I measure with my eye the eastern gate.
I see the grey domes of Al-Aqsa wait
The coming of the folk to noon-tide prayer,
And know the reed is busy for its share.
I measure out the reed length where I lay
My own prostration on the marbled way,
And sit a while to hear the teaching met
Among the pillars where the children get
Instruction from the turbaned and the wise.
I move among worshipers in disguise:
A man with thinning hair and a grey beard,
I do not strike beholders as one weird.
When I have done my prayers I leave the house
To find the western gate and regain spouse.

15 From before the entrance gate to
The front of the porch inner view
Of gate were fifty arm lengths too.
16 And there were barred windows in sight
Of the little chambers as right,
And to their posts within the gate
Around about, likewise in state
To the arches, and windows round
And inward, and on each post bound
Were palm trees graved in fronds around.
17 He brought me to the outward court,
And see the chambers there in sort,
And paving made for the court round,
Thirty rooms were upon the ground.
18 The pavement by the side of gates
Over against the length of gates
Was lower in paving’s estates.
19 Then he measured the width before
The lower gate unto the fore
Of the inner court and without,
A hundred arm lengths eastward out
And northward coming to the store.

The inner court from where I stood one day
Held Aqsa and the golden dome at bay,
And offered in a sunken sort of way
A place for the ablutions of the crew.
The startled guard called down to tell me how
To wash my forearms dripping from my brow
Instead of downward as I thought my treat.
I shouted up to him in his defeat
Not to worry since I followed the style
Of Shi’ites in the washing of my guile.
The fifty men about froze in their cracks,
The guard in shock turned to look from their backs,
And then gave me the smile and go-ahead
To pray in the delight of marble spread.

20 And the gate of the outward court
Facing the north, measured for sport
In length and width, and so he did.
21 The little chambers were not hid,
Three on this side and three on that,
Their posts and arches after sat
In the measure of the first gate,
Its length was fifty arm length’s rate,
Its width twenty-five more to state.
22 Their windows, arches, palm trees too,
Were after the measure in view
Of the gate that faces the east:
They went up to it by at least
Seven steps; the arches in front.

The earthly temple is a thing of stone,
But that palace of Ezekiel alone
Was never build except in vision rare
And it the cantillations of the air.
The tabernacle fallen from the share
Of David, who was not aloud to lift
The cedar walls and gold, but had to shift
With walls invisible of heavenly hue,
The spires of song and notion up to You,
Turns out to be eternal, though the sound
Within a moment disappears from bound.
Beloved, I leave the great halls and retire
Within the little chambers of desire
And there I find eternity on fire.

23 The inner court gate stood across
From the gate to the northward toss,
And toward the east; and he paced off
From gate to gate a hundred proff.
24 After that he brought me back to
The south, and see a south gate’s view,
And measured its posts as well
As the arches of it a spell.
25 And there were windows in it and
In its arches around to stand
Like those windows before it and
The length was fifty arm lengths and
The width twenty-five arm lengths grand.
26 There were seven steps to go up
To it, and the arches like cup
Were there in front of them, and it
Had palm trees one on this side fit,
Another on the other side
Upon its posts there to abide.

Upon the south today Al-Aqsa sits,
While enter its seven steps with wits
About me for the reign of terror flits
In lightness of the rifles at the gate,
The hanging bodies where the memories wait.
Upon the south tomorrow who can know
What greater visions enter on the show
Despite the guards, policemen on the go,
The hopeless, helpless watching of the found
Who beg a penny on the sacred ground.
I touch a mother dressed in black with eye
Of Sabbath passing here beneath the sky
That still waits for David to raise a cry.
The swallows twitter as voices resound.

27 A gate was in the inner court
Toward the south, and he for sport
Measured from gate to gate toward
The south a hundred arm lengths floored.
28 He brought me to the inner court
By the south gate, and stood to take
The measure of the south gate’s wake
According to these lengths’ report.
29 Its little chambers and its posts,
And its arches by these lengths’ host,
And there were windows in it too,
And in the arches round in view,
Fifty arm lengths in length and yet
Twenty-five arm length in width set.
30 And the arches made round about
Were twenty-five arm lengths and stout,
And five arm lengths in width and spout.
31 Its archways faced the outer court,
With palm trees on its posts for sport,
Ascending by eight steps’ support.
32 He brought me to the inner court
Towards the east, measured the gate
According to these measures’ rate.
33 Its little rooms, its posts and yet
Its arches by their measures set,
And there were windows there and in
The arches all around within,
Fifty arm lengths in length and still
Twenty-five arm lengths broad to fill.
34 Its arches faced the outward court,
And palm trees on its posts resort,
On this side and on that side too,
Ascending by eight steps in view.

Beneath the fifty arm lengths of the ground
Of Ali’s garden with the palms around
I wander square to square and touch the green
With sweetness of the things that I have seen.
The springs burst forth to fill the pool and show
The way to light and faith that I must go.
The while I hear the supplications rise
From throats of Shi’ite faithful in disguise.
Beloved the arches of the date plans near
My heart go out beyond the fifty here
Into the inner sanctuary’s fold,
Out of the heat into the hidden gold.
The winders of my temple far from sight
Open toward eternity in light.

35 And he brought me to the north gate,
And measured by these measures’ rate:
36 Its little rooms, its posts and more,
Its arches and windows in store,
In length fifty arm lengths to rise,
And twenty-five arm lengths in guise
Of width. 37 And its posts faced the court
Toward the outside in transport
Of palm trees on its posts on both
This side and that as though in growth,
Ascending by eight steps’ comport.
38 Its rooms and entryways were by
The posts of the gates to comply
With washing of burnt offerings’ sort.

The north is safe at last after the siege,
After the slaughter of Magog and liege,
After the passing of the age to bear
The chills of my idolatry and glare
Into forgetfulness of divine claim,
Beyond the brightness of the living flame.
The north is safe at last, though silence there
Remains upon the forest and the lake.
There is no prayer set even for the sake
Of You, Beloved, the quietness in wake
Broods but eternity without a cloud,
No storm at all forever is allowed.
I skip from stone to stone shot from Your heart,
And disappear here where the ripples start.

39 In the porch of the gate were two
Tables on this side and yet two
Tables on that side where to slay
The burnt offerings at time to pray,
And sin offering, trespasses too.
40 On the outside as one goes up
To the north gate in entry’s cup,
There were two tables, and upon
The other hand, the gate porch drawn
There were two tables as to sup.
41 Four tables on this side and four
Tables on that side to make more,
By the side of the gate makes eight
Tables in all for slaughter’s rate.
42 Four tables of faced stone stood there
For the burnt offering, each a stair
Of one and one-half arm lengths’ share,
And in width the same as length’s care,
And one arm length high, whereupon
They laid the tools of death when drawn
To slay burnt offering, sacrifice.
43 Inside were hooks to take a slice,
A handbreadth wide and fastened round,
And on the tables there was found
The flesh of the offering unbound.

Provision for the flesh is always made
By humankind set out in the parade
Of faith and marketry among the staid
As well as among savage nations laid.
Provision for the flesh is set to ride
Upon the stony tables at the side,
And there the blood drips down at last to guide
The runaway in earthen ditches’ hide.
Beloved, I too provide for flesh to wait
Upon the marble altars at Your gate,
And touch the bloody mess and see it quiver
Under the dead weight of my iron sliver.
The caldron’s ready for the chunks of meat
To cook a temonosful of priests’ treat.

44 Outside the inner gate were rooms
Of singers in the inner blooms
Of the court, which was at the side
Of the north gate, and so their ride
Was toward the south, one at the side
Of the east gate and facing toward
The north and not the sunny sward.
45 And he said to me, “This room here,
Which faces toward the southern tier,
Is for the priest and those who keep
Charge of the house and not to sleep.
46 “The room that faces southward is
For the priests and keepers whose biz
Is charge of the altar; these are
The sons of Zadok for a star,
From Levi’s sons, those who come near
To YHWH to serve Him without fear.”
47 He measured of the court and it
Was one hundred arm lengths long fit,
A hundred arm lengths wide, foursquare;
Altar in front of the house there.
48 He brought me to the temple porch,
And measured each post of the porch,
Five arm lengths on this side and five
Arm lengths on the other contrive,
And the width of the gate was three
Arm lengths on this side and yet three
Arm lengths on the other degree.
49 The length of the porch was twenty
Arm lengths and the width came to be
Eleven arm lengths: he brought me
By the steps going up to see:
And there were pillars by the posts,
One on this side and in their boasts
One on the other referee.

A square, an altar, post and pillar find
Me turning to You, my Beloved, as blind
As incense, smoke of holocaust unwined
To lift me in the supplications’ rind.
A hundred arm lengths make a lofty quire
Where angels twitter on the eastern pyre,
And all the white-clad pilgrims ambulate
About the altar in a fitting state.
Beloved, watch out for pick-pockets come late
Into the temenos to take their rate!
Your wealth of universe will fail before
The robbers and the poor even the score.
Keep eye before and left shoulder on guard,
But do not leave Your purse unlocked, unbarred!

EZEKIEL 41

1 He brought me to the temple then,
And measured the posts and again
They were six arm lengths wide on each
Side, the width of the temple’s reach.
2 The width of the door came to ten
Arm lengths, and the door sides again
Five arm lengths on each side; and he
Measured the length of its degree
To forty arm lengths, half as wide
At twenty arm lengths on a side.
3 Then he went inside and set rule
To measure the doorpost with tool:
Two arm lengths, and the door at six
Arm lengths, and the width not to mix
Of the door seven arm lengths fix.
4 He measured the length in arm lengths
To twenty, and the width for strengths
To twenty arm lengths there before
The temple. And he said what’s more
To me, “This is most holy store.”

You bring me to the temple, yes, indeed,
Beloved, while I relinquish every creed.
I lay the heathen store of faith aside
And rush into the bracing renewed tide.
The living temple that springs up upon
The cantillation of the Psalms at dawn
Is ever new: no crumbling stones repair
The citadel that floats upon the air.
You bring me to the temple and I find
The drought of nectar sweeter than the wined
Bath of the Roman still. Your bring me where
The Hebrew syllables refresh from care
And beyond arm lengths measured against rain
The tent of David rises up again.

5 He measured the wall of the house,
Six arm lengths, and the width to dowse
The side room, four arm lengths around
The house on every side that’s found.
6 The side rooms were three over each,
And thirty in order to reach,
And they entered into the wall
Which was of the house for the stall
Of side room round about it all,
So they would stand, but they did not
Touch the wall of the temple slot.
7 And going up by winding stairs
To the side rooms and all their lairs,
For it when winding all about
And upward round and round and out,
Increasing as it went from low
To highest room around and slow.
8 I also saw how high the house
Rose round about, foundations’ dowse
From the side rooms were a full reed
Of six great arm lengths, high indeed.
9 The thickness of the wall that stood
For the side chamber as it should
Without was five arm lengths and what
Was left was the place of room shut
At the side, inner rooms for good.
10 Between the chambers was a space
Of twenty arm lengths round the trace
Of temple on each side and face.
11 The doors of the side rooms then faced
The place of prayer, one door was braced
Toward the north, another toward
The south, and what was left and floored
Was five arm lengths around and scored.

Is there no side room in Your house of love
Where I may stand to take the measure of
The shoes the worshippers hand in for glove?
I brave the wail of morning for the chance
To guard the shoes of those who join the dance
Of prayer in Your prostration in advance.
Give me a little room, Beloved, where I
May keep the slippers worshippers are shy
To leave in care of one without a place.
Beloved, give me a room before Your face.
While great ones and the careful of the race
Hasten to prayer when the cry sounds the grace,
I linger at my task, and then I pray
When all the other men have gone away.

12 The house in front of separate way
At the end toward the western ray
Was seventy arm lengths wide to stay,
And the wall of the building reached
Five arm lengths thick around unbreached,
And ninety arm lengths long in dray.
13 He measured the temple to be
A hundred arm lengths long to see,
The separating court and stoop
With its walls a hundred in coop.
14 The width of the front of the house,
And separate courtyard to espouse
Toward the east, a hundred due
Arm lengths and before all the view.
15 He measured the length of the house
Opposite the court to divide
Behind it, and galleries’ blouse
On both sides a hundred arm lengths;
And inner temple for its strengths,
And porches of the court beside.
16 The thresholds and barred windows too,
And galleries around in view
Of their three stories by the door,
Ceiled with wood round about in store,
And from the ground to window-shape,
The windows were covered to drape,
17 And even to the inner place
And all around outside the space
Within and out by measured trace.

Take note, Beloved, the threshold’s counted by
The man angelic who with reed for why
Remains to measure everything on earth
To see if anything’s of heaven’s birth.
Three stories in the temple and the ark
Of Noah raise them both above the park,
And yet within the range of storm and dark.
Beloved, I too take note of threshold bare,
And lay my head upon it as to wear
The foot of wondered Ali where I bow
In my prostration here upon my brow.
The leisure at the threshold’s where I take
My sacrifice of head and heart to make
My pilgrimage before my sacred vow.

18 And it was made with cherubim
And palm trees, so that a palm’s rim
Was between cherub and another,
And each cherub face had its brother,
19 So the face of a man was turned
Toward the palm tree it discerned,
And the face of a lion stayed
Toward the palm tree on parade
Against the other side waylaid:
And so it was through all the way
And round the house in every stay.
20 From the ground to above the door
Were cherubim and palms in store,
And on the temple wall some more.

The cherubim are countless and displayed
From Eden to the temple unafraid
Of good Ezekiel, as were on parade
In desert tent and Solomon’s fair glade.
The cherubim are winged, I guess, and come
With a gazelle-like shadow and a hum.
The breath of Babylon and Persia wafts
The air where cherub idol comes to shafts
Of the iconoclastic fathers’ wrath.
I turn for refuge in untrodden path.
Beloved, this is a vision of the right,
And needs no sop of frightened to the might
Of pagan deities. Why then do You
Call cherubim and such-like into view?

21 The posts of the temple were squared,
The front of the temple as paired,
In like fashion and so declared.
22 The wooden altar rose to three
Arm lengths in height, and so to be
The length of it two arm lengths and
Its corners, length and walls to stand
Were made of wood. He said to me,
“This is the table of decree
Set before YHWH and there to be.”
23 The temple and the sanctuary
Had two doors entering and chary.
24 The doors had two leaves each as two
Turning leaves, two for one door too,
And two leaves for the other’s view.
25 Cherubim and palms were carved there
On the doors of the temple fair,
Like those made on the walls to share,
And there were thick planks on the face
Of the porch outside on the trace.
26 And there were barred windows and palms
On the one side and without qualms
On the other side and beyond
On the sides of the porch in frond,
And on the side rooms of the house,
And planks there too thick for a mouse.

The posts of the temple were squared perhaps
To form a contrast with Egyptian lapse
Of monolatrous faith, the Grecian burn
That crowns acropolis still out to earn.
The square posts flaunt the pillars and the lust
Of every heathen form of faith and trust,
And call the folk to prayer to bow in dust
Before Your throne, Beloved, and all men must.
Beloved, the planks are thick, too hard to cut
With iron tool though sharpened in the rut,
And so they square forever and anon
As evening turns to darkness and to dawn,
Until the walls that glisten there in gold
Have turned to powder, lost, bartered and sold.

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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