Select Masterpieces of Biblical Literature Part 16

Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

And the LORD hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown; out of the house of thy G.o.ds will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

3

Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! Keep thy feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows: for the wicked one shall no more pa.s.s through thee; he is utterly cut off.

He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: Keep the munition; watch the way; Make thy loins strong, Fortify thy power mightily.

For the LORD bringeth again the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.

The s.h.i.+eld of his mighty men is made red: The valiant men are in scarlet: The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, And the spears are shaken terribly.

The chariots rage in the streets, They justle one against another in the broad ways: The appearance of them is like torches, They run like the lightnings.

He remembereth his worthies: They stumble in their march; They make haste to the wall thereof, And the mantelet is prepared.

The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved: And Huzzab is uncovered; she is carried away; And her handmaids mourn as with the voice of doves, Tabering upon their b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water; Yet they flee away: 'Stand, stand'-- But none looketh back.

Take ye the spoil of silver, Take the spoil of gold; For there is none end of the store, The glory of all pleasant furniture.

She is empty, and void, and waste: And the heart melteth, and the knees smite together; And anguish is in all loins, And the faces of them all are waxed pale.

4

Where is the den of the lions, And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion and the lioness walked, The lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, And strangled for his lionesses; And filled his caves with prey, And his dens with ravin.

5

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

Woe to the b.l.o.o.d.y city!

It is all full of lies and rapine; The prey departeth not.

The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels; And pransing horses, and jumping chariots; The horseman mounting, and the flas.h.i.+ng sword, and the glittering spear;

And a mult.i.tude of slain, and a great heap of carcases: And there is none end of the corpses; They stumble upon their corpses:

Because of the mult.i.tude of the wh.o.r.edoms of the well-favoured harlot, The mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her wh.o.r.edoms, And families through her witchcrafts.

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. And it shall come to pa.s.s, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say:

6

Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her?

Whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate among the rivers, That had the waters round about her; Whose rampart was the sea, And her wall was of the sea?

Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers: Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets;

And they cast lots for her honourable men, And all her great men were bound in chains: Thou also shalt be drunken, thou shalt be hid; Thou also shalt seek a strong hold because of the enemy.

All thy fortresses shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: If they be shaken, They fall into the mouth of the eater.

Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; The gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; The fire hath devoured thy bars.

Draw the water for the siege; Strengthen thy fortresses: Go into the clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln: There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off.

It shall devour thee like the cankerworm: Make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust; Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: The cankerworm spreadeth himself, and flieth away.

Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of gra.s.shoppers, Which camp in the hedges in the cold day, But when the sun ariseth they flee away, And their place is not known where they are.

7

Thy shepherds slumber, O king of a.s.syria, Thy worthies are at rest: Thy people are scattered upon the mountains, And there is none to gather them.

There is no a.s.suaging of thy hurt; Thy wound is grievous: All that hear the bruit of thee clap the hands over thee: For upon whom hath not thy wickedness pa.s.sed continually?

RHAPSODY

OR

PROPHETIC DRAMA

JEREMIAH'S RHAPSODY OF THE DROUGHT

Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they sit in black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

And their n.o.bles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the pits, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty: they are ashamed and confounded, and cover their heads.

Because of the ground which is chapt, for that no rain hath been in the land, the plowmen are ashamed, they cover their heads.

Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh her young, because there is no gra.s.s. And the wild a.s.ses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.

REPENTENT ISRAEL

Though our iniquities testify against us, work thou for thy name's sake, O LORD: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee. O thou hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in the time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name: leave us not.

THE PROPHET