Till I could enter the holy house of the Lord
And see more clearly these last events.
For their devious sins, you have struck them down,
Entrusting them to evil for their deep deceit.
For their worldly wickedness, you have cast them out. 40
For their greed and graft, you have rightfully given them
A grim reward when they thought they were saved,
Delivered from doom. Now they are destroyed,
Razed and ruined for all their injustice,
The darkly malicious deeds they have done. 45
They walk as if waking from a heavy sleep.
They flaunt their idols in the Lord’s city,
But you could reduce them to nothing in a flash,
Like disappearing images in the mind of God.
The thoughts of my heart are pure and clean, 50
But my heart falters and my feelings are numb.
Now I am brought down to nearly nothing,
Like a blind beast, dumb to his doom—
Yet I know in my soul I am always with you.
You have held me firmly by the right hand, 55
Leading me down this difficult road,
Guiding me with your will, receiving me in glory.
What can resist my hopes in heaven?
And what did I want from you here on earth?
My flesh is weary, my bone-house bent— 60
My heart is heavy, my spirit spent.
My soul’s desire is the Lord’s protection
And an eternal portion of heaven forever.
Those people shall perish and pass away
Who take no pleasure in you, O Lord, 65
Who set their hearts on other things.
You will destroy those who have forsaken you
And drag them to doom. They will know deserving.
My heart adheres to almighty God.
I set my hopes in the Lord God forever 70
And hold fast to him in my heart’s homeland.
I will sing praise-songs to you, O Lord,
And to the daughters of Zion at their own doors.
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Why would you want to drive us away
At last from you, O eternal God?
Why would you cast us off forever?
Is your anger so fierce at your own flocks,
Your terror so strong for your own sheep? 5
Remember the congregation you created, Lord,
The assembly you shaped back in the beginning.
You freed your people, the rod of your inheritance,
The stronghold of Zion, that glorious place
Where you came to dwell. Raise up your hands 10
Against your enemies and crush their arrogance.
Your fierce foes have inflicted heavy abuses
On your holy followers. The hostile ones hatch
In their malicious hearts evil schemes,
Those who live in the heart of your fortresses. 15
They boast and brag of their wicked ways
And set up their signs everywhere in your stronghold.
How could they know on their long journey
That they were destined to design those strange symbols,
The strange portents that they hewed from the wood? 20
Then they hacked down the doors of your holy house
With their sharp hatchets and double-edged axes,
Savagely striving to destroy everything
With their mighty adzes. The wicked ones
Boldly burned to the ground your splendid house, 25
Desecrating the earth, profaning the place
That is religiously assigned rightly to your name.
Then they said to themselves in their evil hearts,
“Let’s gather together in a great assembly
With all of our kinsmen and utterly destroy 30
All the festive days of this Lord on earth.
We do not see any known signs here,
Any of our icons, or any of the old prophets
Who might offer us some truth, some understanding.”
How long, O Lord, will you endure this abuse 35
From your malicious enemies? How long will you suffer
This merciless mockery as your old adversaries
Hatefully slander your name without end?
Why do you turn your face away from us,
Your glorious presence? Why do you hold back 40
Your powerful hand, the right hand of judgment,
And keep it tucked in, close to your heart?
Our God and King, our almighty Maker,
Before the world was brought into being,
Your shaping spirit established abundance, 45
Shelter and salvation, in the heart of creation.
In your divine strength you set up the seas,
Shattering the hard-headed skull of the dragon
Who haunted the deep, turning the monster
Into a feast for the sun-baked Ethiopians. 50
You split the springs, destroyed the streams,
And dried up the roaring rivers of Ethan.
You established the day and the dark night,
And the sun and moon to brighten the skies.
You shaped the seasons, spring and summer, 55
And set up all the boundaries of the earth.
Remember your shaping the children of men,
The wonder of creation you made for yourself.
Only hostile enemies would reproach the Lord,
Fools who would never recognize your name. 60
Remember the innocent—never deliver the souls
Of the guiltless to beasts, the wretched and poor
Who acknowledge you and confess their sins.
Do not forget them forever, eternal Lord.
See for yourself that your truth is proclaimed, 65
Your righteousness is known, your covenant kept.
Your testimony is fulfilled that the dark days
Would arrive on earth for those who pursue
Injustice and iniquity. Turn back the proud,
Not the humble and poor who fervently desire 70
To praise your name. Rise up, Lord God,
Plead your cause and render your judgment.
Remember how the faithless and foolish people
Heap scorn and shame on you all day long.
Remember the voices of the true and faithful 75
Who spend their days seeking you out.
Strike down the proud who persecute you,
The hostile ones who have always hated you.
Afterwards the faithful will ascend to you.
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We acknowledge you, our eternal Lord;
All peoples acknowledge and praise you,
Calling out your name in their deepest need.
Let me sing the story of your wondrous works
With measured words, a testimony of truth. 5
Everything on earth is melting away.
Decades will dissolve, faces fade,
But I will fortify the pillars of earth,
Its firm foundation, now and forever.
I have said to the sinners not a few times: 10
“Put down your pride, leave off boasting,
Give up evil plots and wicked works.
Do not hurl your curses up at heaven,
Heaving your evil words against God.”
No one will come from the east or the west, 15
No one from the wide wilderness or the wasteland,
The moors or the mountains—for God is their judge.
Some he lifts up, some he lays down,
Some he accepts, some he discards.
The wine-cup in God’s hand is filled— 20
He picks it up and pours it out.
One shall receive only what he bestows.
The wicked will drink the eternal dregs
W
hich are never emptied, a bitter cup.
Yet I will hold fast to the world’s pleasures, 25
Rejoice and sing to the God of Jacob.
I will boldly break the battle-horns of the wicked,
But those of the righteous shall be raised up.
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Long ago God was known among the Jews—
His name was renowned among the Israelites.
His homeland is truly preserved in peace—
He abides in Zion where he bends firmly
His horn-shaped bow and wields his sword 5
And shield in battle. Lord, your glory
Gathers in the hills, your wonders shine
From the eternal mountains, enlightening us.
The foolish who cherish reckless thoughts
And heedless desires in their angry hearts 10
Have slept a long sleep, untroubled, unknowing.
Those who sought wealth in worldly terms
Hold a fistful of nothing in their greedy hands,
For it’s hard to grasp the goodness of God.
At your stern rebuke, O God of Jacob, 15
The bold riders who galloped out
To conquer the world have fallen asleep
On their gallant horses. They dream of dread.
Who can resist your righteous anger?
When you hurl a judgment from heaven to earth, 20
Then the world trembles, its inhabitants shake.
Then the Lord rises up in judgment
To save the meek and rescue the merciful.
The mind of man must acknowledge your power
And gladly contemplate all that remains. 25
So let me prepare a festival for you.
Let everyone keep a covenant with God
And worship him both faithfully and fervently,
For he is goodness unmatched, power unparalleled.
Let those who live anywhere around the earth 30
Bring gifts to him of goodness and purity,
Approaching his presence in awe and dread,
For he is the Lord who wields the lives
And summons the souls of everyone.
His terror abides for the kings of the earth. 35
76
I cried out with my voice to my beloved Lord,
Who heard me and heeded my plaintive prayer.
In my day of distress, I stretched out my arms,
Earnestly seeking my eternal Lord;
At night I lifted up my entreating hands, 5
Eager to enter into his presence.
I was never deceived on that difficult journey,
But I denied my soul its true relief.
Only when I firmly remembered God
Could I find at last my greatest hope. 10
I was sorely disturbed—my soul was despondent.
My eyes were weary with the long night-watch;
In my sleepless torment, I spoke few words.
Then I often thought about the days of old,
Having fully in mind the eternal years. 15
At night I began to commune with my heart,
But my soul wandered in a restless state.
Then I said to myself: “I know in truth
That the eternal God in his loving kindness
Would never want to cut us off, 20
Cast us out, or punish us without cause—
Never unfairly withhold his gracious favor
From the race of mankind forever in this world,
Never be unmindful of our deepest needs,
Never hoard his pity in a guarded heart, 25
Never keep from us his love and compassion
Or withdraw in anger his care for mankind.”
And meditating more, I said to myself:
“Now I have finally come to consider
The matter of the immutability of our holy Lord, 30
Mindful of the marvels he created at the beginning,
Recalling the words that shaped his handiworks.”
Then I began to meditate on his glorious works,
Remembering how I had humbled myself,
Conducting myself with proper restraint. 35
I thought about all of your glorious works
As if I were looking through your own eyes—
For in my working, I abide in your watching.
The God of hosts walks a holy pathway.
Who is a great god but our glorious God? 40
You are the only God who could make the world
And all of its wonders, the craft of creation.
Later you made known all your mighty works
To the people on earth. Also, O Lord,
You liberated the children of Israel from Egypt. 45
O God of glory, the waters were watching,
The waves saw you and withheld their power,
The ocean depths were assailed with fear.
Then the sea roared and the waves crashed,
The clouds shrieked as your arrow shot through. 50
Thunder and lightning rolled on the water
Like a wheel of fire, blasting the air,
Blazoning the waves with the hand of God.
The sea shook, the earth trembled—
You agitated the whole orb of the earth. 55
You ripped new roads across the deep,
Shaped new paths through shining waters.
No one can discover your sea-tracks there.
You led your people like a flock of sheep,
Bringing them home through the mighty hands 60
Of Moses and Aaron, all unharmed.
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Pay heed, my people, to my enduring truth,
My immutable law. Incline your ears
To hear devoutly the words of my mouth.
First let me speak in stories and parables
About the things at the beginning of the world, 5
The things we knew according to our ancestors,
Who passed down their wisdom across the years.
They had no thought to hide their sins,
For each age admitted them openly to the next.
They praised their beloved Lord and his powers, 10
Acclaiming the marvels he made for mankind,
A multitude of wonders for many generations.
He set up a testimony, a covenant in Jacob,
A true witness and affirmation of faith,
And established a law for the Israelites, 15
Which he ordered our ancestors to make known,
Passing this down from father to son,
Parent to child, so that each generation
Might hold fast to hope, keep his commands,
And always bear in mind his wondrous works. 20
They should not imitate those unfaithful ancestors,
A perverse people, a depraved race,
Whose hearts were not anchored in trust and truth
But in rage and wrath. No one expected
God to care for their souls with any kindness. 25
The children of Ephraim first entered into battle,
Ready with bent bows and bitter arrows
To keep their covenant in the days of strife,
But their unsteady spirits would not hold true.
They refused to walk in the Lord’s lawful ways, 30
Observe his commandments, or keep his covenant.
They would not worship as the Lord wished,
According to the law of all his creations.
The faithless forgot his good works
And his marvels witnessed by many generations. 35
In their own land of ancient Egypt,
In Campo-tanea (the field of Tanis),
He worked wonders in the sight of men.
He parted the seas, holding back the salt-waves,
So his beloved people could pass through. 40
A great cloud guided them by day
As the Lord had co
mmanded, and by night
A pillar of fire was the blazing sign
That God watched over them, attending to their needs.
He struck stone in the unwatered wilderness 45
And let streams and rivers flow from the rock,
So people could drink in their deep rejoicing—
That surge of water was a sweet gift.
But they forgot their promise and pursued sin,
Provoking the wrath of their God and guardian 50
In that once dry desert. They tested him sorely
With their bent minds and their evil hearts
By demanding the food that they fiercely desired,
Saying severely about him: “If the Lord is so wise,
If his power is so perfect, why can’t he prepare us 55
A great feasting table in this wide wilderness?
He struck the stone and made the streams run,
So we could drink and quench our thirst—
But where is the meal to feed our mouths,
Where is the bread to fatten our bellies?” 60
When the holy Lord heard those words,
Insolent, contemptuous, he hesitated a moment,
Then answered back with an angry fire,
A rush of burning anger against Jacob,
A righteous blaze against the Israelites, 65
Because they would not believe in God’s words.
They disregarded his truth and despised his teaching.
He opened up the wide doors of heaven,
Revealing the dark clouds he commanded
And rained down manna to sustain mankind, 70
Bringing them all the bread of heaven,
The food of angels, a feast of faith,
An abundance of wheat to keep them whole.
And God woke the winds, stirred up the storms,
From Auster and Africus (fierce winds 75
From the south and southwest), so that out of the air
A feast of feathered flesh came down,
As great as the grains of sand on the shore,
As dark as dust—meat on the wing.
Many birds fell in the middle of their camp 80
In great profusion near the tents of men,
So they swallowed the food and were fully sated,
Gobbling down God’s gifts from heaven.
They satisfied their hunger and slaked their desires.
Their Creator had given them what they craved, 85
Depriving them of nothing. They ate abundance,
Devouring flesh. With meat in their mouths,
The wrath of God descended upon them,
And many perished in the throes of sin.
That was surely no place of celebration, 90
For the noble leaders of Israel were lost.
After such grim warnings, they still sinned
And would not believe in God’s great miracles.
Their days were consumed with idle deeds,
The Complete Old English Poems Page 85