And their years wasted with worthless works. 95
After the slaying, many began to seek him,
Returning to their Lord by morning light.
They remembered that God was their great helper,
A friend in need, a trusted protector,
Their holy redeemer. But the praise of their mouths 100
Was a faithless flattery, a web of deceit
To escape destruction. Their tongues were twisted,
Their hearts bent, their lies loathsome.
They knew no loyalty—they felt no fear.
They were all unwilling to keep God’s covenant, 105
But the Lord is merciful, compassionate and kind.
He forgave them all for their evil deeds,
And refused to banish them or bring them to ruin.
In his anger he turned away only evildoers,
Not wanting to unleash his wrath against all. 110
He remembered that they were only flesh and blood,
Formed from the dust by his own hands,
Quickened by his breath. Their lives were brief
As a passing breeze. Their words were wind.
Afterwards they incited him to anger in the wilderness 115
With their devious words and despicable deeds.
They gave him grief in the dry desert,
Inciting him again in that land without water.
Often they tested and tempted their Lord,
Provoking the holy God of Israel, 120
Oblivious of how his powerful hand
Had protected them all in a time of trouble
When he had oppressed all of the Egyptians
With awe and fear, signs and portents,
In Campo-tanea (on the field of Tanis). 125
These manifestations were known to men.
The Lord turned their rivers into blood,
And no one could drink that dark water.
And he sent them a harsh gift of dog-flies
To torment them, biting their flesh, 130
And hideous frogs to feast on them.
The two terrors annihilated them.
And he sent them caterpillars, cruel worms
To chew their crops, and also grim grasshoppers,
Locusts to level their once green land. 135
He sent them a rage of cold, hard hail
To rip their vineyards and ruin their plenty,
And a gift of hoarfrost to touch their trees,
Apple and mulberry, with freezing fingers.
And he gave their cattle to the killing hail 140
And all their goods to the greedy flames.
He unleashed all his anger upon them,
His righteous wrath, his terrible rage,
Through a menacing host of malevolent angels
And sent down an appalling pain upon them, 145
Not even sparing their souls from destruction.
Fierce death stalked and consumed their cattle.
There was no promise of favor or fortune
In the plague he sent. People perished.
He killed all the first-born children in Egypt, 150
The first fruits of the descendants of Ham.
Then he led his people like a flock of sheep
Through the alien wilderness on an unknown road.
God guided them along with high hopes.
Fear of the enemy did not follow them, 155
For the dark waves engulfed their foes.
Then he led them into a place of delight,
A holy sanctuary acquired by his hand,
And for their sakes, he deliberately drove out
Many powerful people from their houses 160
So the Israelites could occupy the deserted land.
They took control and divided it fairly
By casting lots. After the Israelites occupied the land
Of that mighty people, they mocked God,
Refusing to obey his commandments faithfully 165
And keep his covenant. They turned away,
Embracing evil with their bad behavior
Just as their forefathers had once done.
Their minds were muddled, their hearts hostile.
They were sunk deeply in their own depravity. 170
They provoked God’s anger by exalting themselves
In their fierce pride, carving images,
Worshipping false idols in their unfaith.
When God heard that, he spurned them all,
And dread fell upon the Israelites. 175
God walked out of their wisdom-house
And abandoned Shiloh, his proper home,
Where he had lived so long among men,
And he delivered them again into captivity,
Passed over power to their enemies’ hands. 180
He gave his chosen people to the sword’s edge,
A blade of unblessing, and scorned his inheritance.
He embraced the young with devouring flames—
No one lamented the death of the maidens.
He put their priests to the killing sword, 185
And their widows were mute and could not weep.
Then God’s heart was suddenly stirred
Like that of a man startled out of a dream
Or a wine-drunk warrior roused from his stupor,
And he slew his enemies and put them to shame 190
With back-piercing wounds and dark diseases,
An endless reproach they could never escape.
Then he justly forsook the house of Joseph
And refused to choose the tribe of Ephraim,
But chose instead the tribe of Judah 195
So dear to him in the stronghold of Zion.
And he built his sanctuary, his holy house,
As singularly sacred as a unicorn on earth,
And commanded that it should exist forever.
Then he chose David, his dear servant, 200
And took him away from his flocks of sheep
To give him food. He accepted him readily.
Then David nourished the people of Jacob
And sustained the rest of Israel’s inheritance,
Just has he had cared so kindly for his sheep. 205
So he will feed them without malice
And lead them forward without fault
In the power and protection of his own hands.
78
Alien peoples have entered into your inheritance,
Eternal Lord, defiling your temple,
Desecrating your house, making Jerusalem
A shabby storehouse in an empty orchard.
They have put to death all of your servants, 5
Offering their flesh to the carrion crows,
The bodies of your holy ones to the wild dogs
And beasts of the wood. These savage people
Spilled the blood of innocent children,
Like water tossed on the streets of Jerusalem. 10
The broken bodies lay prone on the roads—
There were no gravediggers to bury them.
We are now a reproach to everyone around us,
Neighbors and friends, the tribes of man.
How long will you hold us, God of glory, 15
In your jaws of wrath, your bite of anger?
Your flaming rage is searing your people.
Let loose your fury on the alien nations,
Who have never known or worshipped you,
Who have never called out your name in need. 20
They have often unfairly devoured Jacob
And ravaged his dwelling in days of old.
Almighty Ruler, do not recall too frequently
The ancient iniquities we often committed.
In our days of trial, in our deepest need, 25
May we find your mercy and receive your favor.
Help us, Almighty, deliver us from suffering,
Release us from to
rment, our living Lord.
Be mild with our sins, merciful with our misdeeds,
In our urgent need, for your name’s sake, 30
Lest the heathen marauders should mock us, saying,
“Where in the world did your holy God go?”
They will taunt us often in the eyes of men.
Avenge the blood of your beloved servants,
So cruelly shed as you have clearly witnessed. 35
Let the sorrow of your servants, the lament of the lost,
The complaint of those who were kept in chains,
Come before you. Embrace in your almighty arms
The children of those doomed to death,
Those just now hearing their hard judgment. 40
Then render unto the grim-hearted ones
The ghastly reward they have so well earned,
A sevenfold gift of torment and terror
For their sinful souls, their hateful hearts.
Scorn those on earth who have scorned you. 45
We are your people and the sheep of your flock.
We will praise you forever and sing of your glory,
Extolling you in words till the end of time.
79
Listen to us Lord, consider our plea.
Hear our prayer, you who rightly rule
And lead the noble people of Israel,
Guiding Joseph away from his enemies,
Like a loving shepherd with his lost sheep. 5
You are enthroned above the Cherubim.
We beseech you, Lord—reveal yourself
Before Ephraim and Benjamin, and also Manasseh.
Stir up your strength and rescue us now,
Come down in glory and save us on earth. 10
Reveal your gentle face to us, Lord.
Restore us, God of hosts, and redeem us now.
Render us your mercy so we might be saved.
Hear us, O glorious God of hosts!
How long will you seethe and smolder, 15
Angry with the prayer of your own servant?
Will you teach and feed us with the bread of tears,
Bring us a cup of bitter sorrow,
A proper measure for all of mankind?
You set us in strife, a reproach to our neighbors, 20
A living insult, a byword for shame.
Now our enemies will wound us with sharp slander
And harass us constantly with hostile acts.
Turn us around, O God of hosts,
Show us your face, your kind countenance, 25
Your steadfast compassion, so we might be saved.
You brought out of Egypt an excellent vineyard,
Transplanting it here, reviving its strength
In an alien soil, clearing the ground,
Casting out all the indigenous peoples. 30
You prepared the way, planting the roots,
Establishing the stock, pruning the vines,
Guiding our journey, breaking new ground,
So the vineyard flourished and filled the land.
Its broad shadow covered the hills, 35
And its branches ascended the cedars of God.
You stretched out its arms over the rivers
And let them reach the salty sea-streams
Encircling the earth. Why did you break down its fence,
So that all who pass by can plunder the vineyard? 40
Wild boars from the woods root up the vines,
And fierce beasts wolf down the delicious fruit.
Lord of hosts, forceful and mild,
Turn your favorable countenance on us again.
Look down from the heavens, watch over the vineyard, 45
The generations of growth that you first planted
With the promise and power of your right hand,
When you set up the stock and the son of man,
Whose strength you confirmed, subject to you,
Right from the beginning, our glorious Ruler. 50
Fire devours it, a hand digs through it.
In the face of your terror all evil with tremble;
Before your power, the wicked will perish.
Lay your right hand, your righteous hand,
On the just man and the son of man, 55
Whose virtues you appointed and confirmed,
Endowed and strengthened, Lord of hosts.
Deliver us and we will never depart from you,
Quicken us now as we call out your name.
Turn us around, restore us, [Lord of hosts, 60
Show us your kind face and we will be saved.]
80
* * *
“If you listen, Israel, intently to me—
If you listen, Israel, only to me—
No other god will be newly created
And worshipped among you, no alien god
Adored in Israel, for I am your God, 5
Who long ago led you out of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
Yet my people are reluctant to listen to my voice,
And Israel refuses to hear or heed me
With proper devotion. So I empowered them to live 10
With their headstrong spirits, their unhindered joys,
Carried along by their own counsels,
Drinking the delights of their own desires.
If only my people, the chosen of Israel,
Had listened to me, heeding my words, 15
Willing to walk faithfully in my ways,
Then I could have cut down all their enemies,
Destroying their persecutors, crushing their foes,
With the unmitigated power I held in my hands.”
The Lord’s enemies will lie to him, 20
Their tongues twisted with malicious deceit.
Their time of misery will endure forever,
Their days of dread stretch into doom.
He fed them all with the choicest food,
The fullest fruit, the fat of the land, 25
And after God struck and split the stone,
With wheat and honey that flowed from a rock,
And fed them till they were sated and sustained.
81
Mighty God stood among the gods,
Judging them severely, saying to them:
“How long will you make false judgments?
How long will you listen to the lies of sinners?
Render justice to the orphans and stepchildren, 5
The poor and unprotected, the wretched and wanting,
For these are truly the righteous ones.
Rescue the desperate, save the downtrodden
From the malevolent hands of evildoers.”
They had no knowledge or understanding; 10
The wicked have always wandered in darkness,
While the foundations of earth trembled and shook.
At first I said: “You are gods on high,
A proud progeny exalted over men,
But you will die like men, disappear like princes, 15
Just as the noblest of men drop dead.”
Lord, rise up and judge the inhabitants of earth,
For you are the inheritor and guardian of peoples.
82
Who is like you, eternal Lord?
Do not be silent or hold your peace,
For all your enemies have perished in disgrace.
Those who loathe you have lifted up their heads,
Scheming against you to do you harm. 5
They consult and conspire, plot and persecute,
Hoping to harm your holy ones here,
Openly urging treachery, saying:
“Come, let us cast these people out,
Scatter them all throughout the nations, 10
So that no one will ever again remember
How anyone invoked the name of Israel.”
They all connived and conspired against you
With cunn
ing plots in an evil alliance,
A gathering of tribes striking their tents, 15
Edomites and Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,
Gebal and Ammon, and also Amalek,
Along with the tribes dwelling in Tyre.
The Assyrians have also joined with them,
Conversing on the roads with the children of Lot. 20
Deal with them as you did with Midian and Sisera,
And also Jabin. The spring of Endor
And the surge of Kishon carried them off.
Those wretches became the dung of the earth.
Cast down all of their proud princes 25
As harshly as you did with Oreb and Zeeb,
Zebah and Zalmunna, and all of their elders.
They boasted they would seize God’s sanctuary on earth.
Lord, drive them along like a helpless wheel,
Blow them away like straw in the wind. 30
Set them ablaze like a forest fire,
Like consuming flames on the mountain heath.
Hunt them down in your righteous wrath,
Punish them all and let them perish
In the savage tumult of their own terror. 35
Let their faces forever be filled with shame,
When they desperately struggle to seek your name.
Let them be tormented for a rage of days,
Confounded in their lives and put to shame
When they struggle in anguish to seek your name.
O Lord, you alone abide on high, 40
Above all earth-dwellers, eternal God.
83
How lovely are your houses, Lord of hosts,
How dear are your dwellings. Deep in my soul
I have always longed to live in them.
My heart and flesh eagerly yearn
For my dear living Lord. The smallest sparrow 5
Seeks a home, and the turtle-dove builds
A timely nest where she feeds her fledglings.
These are your altars, God of hosts.
You are my Lord, my beloved king.
Blessed are those who dwell in your houses, 10
Holy Lord, and who praise you forever and ever.
Blessed is the man who seeks only your aid,
Who holds you steadfastly in his heart’s purpose
And sets for himself that same resolution
As he walks alone through the valley of tears, 15
Where grief oppresses him, sadness overwhelms him,
In this earthly existence you appointed for him.
He gave them a blessing who gave them the law,
So they walked the road from strength to strength.
The power and glory of the true God 20
Was manifested on Mount Zion. Holy Lord,
Hear my prayer, lend me your ear,
For you are the God of merciful listening—
You are the glorious God of Jacob.
Our Lord and protector, behold the face 25
The Complete Old English Poems Page 86