Select Masterpieces of Biblical Literature Part 10

I

AN ELEGY OF A BROKEN HEART

1

Let the day perish wherein I was born; And the night which said, There is a man child conceived!

Let that day be darkness; Let not G.o.d regard it from above, Neither let the light shine upon it!

Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own; Let a cloud dwell upon it; Let all that maketh black the day terrify it!

As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it; Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; Let it not come into the number of the months!

Lo, let that night be barren; Let no joyful voice come therein!

Let them curse it that curse the day, Who are ready to rouse up leviathan!

Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark!

Let it look for light, but have none; Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:

Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes!

2

Why died I not from the womb?

Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

Why did the knees receive me?

Or why the b.r.e.a.s.t.s, that I should suck?

For now should I have lien down and been quiet; I should have slept; then had I been at rest, With kings and counsellors of the earth, Which built solitary piles for themselves; Or with princes that had gold, Who filled their houses with silver; Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; As infants which never saw light.

There the wicked cease from troubling; And there the weary be at rest.

There the prisoners are at ease together; They hear not the voice of the taskmaster.

The small and great are there; And the servant is free from his master.

Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, And life unto the bitter in soul?

Which long for death, but it cometh not; And dig for it more than for hid treasures; Which rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can find the grave.

Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, And whom G.o.d hath hedged in?

For my sighing cometh before I eat, And my roarings are poured out like water.

For the thing which I fear cometh upon me, And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me.

I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, Neither have I rest: but trouble cometh!

II

THE CREATOR'S JOY IN HIS CREATION

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?

----Declare, if thou hast understanding---- Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest?

Or who stretched the line upon it?

Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened?

Or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of G.o.d shouted for joy?

Or who shut up the sea with doors, When it brake forth, and issued out of the womb; When I made the cloud the garment thereof, And thick darkness a swaddling band for it, And prescribed for it my decree, And set bars and doors, And said, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?"

Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began, And caused the dayspring to know its place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it?

It is changed as clay under the seal; And all things stand forth as a garment: And from the wicked their light is withholden, And the high arm is broken.

Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?

Or hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?

Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee?

Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Hast thou comprehended the breadth of the earth?

----Declare, if thou knowest it all---- Where is the way to the dwelling of light, And as for darkness, where is the place thereof; That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, And that thou shouldest discern the paths to the house thereof?

----Doubtless, thou knowest, for thou wast then born, And the number of thy days is great!---- Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow, Or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail, Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, Against the day of battle and war?

By what way is the light parted, Or the east wind scattered upon the earth?

Who hath cleft a channel for the waterflood, Or a way for the lightning of the thunder; To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; On the wilderness, wherein there is no man; To satisfy the waste and desolate ground; And to cause the tender gra.s.s to spring forth?

Hath the rain a father?

Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

Out of whose womb came the ice?

And the h.o.a.ry frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?

The waters are hidden as with stone, And the face of the deep is frozen.

Canst thou bind the cl.u.s.ter of the Pleiades, Or loose the bands of Orion?

Canst thou lead forth the signs of the Zodiac in their season?

Or canst thou guide the Bear with her train?

Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens?

Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?

Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover thee?

Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go, And say unto thee, Here we are?

Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?

Or who hath given understanding to the mind?

Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven, When the dust runneth into a ma.s.s, And the clods cleave fast together?

Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lioness?

Or satisfy the appet.i.te of the young lions, When they couch in their dens, And abide in the covert to lie in wait?

Who provideth for the raven his food, When his young ones cry unto G.o.d, And wander for lack of meat?

Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?

Or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?

Canst thou number the months that they fulfil?

Or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

They bow themselves, they bring forth their young, They cast out their sorrows.

Their young ones are in good liking, They grow up in the open field; They go forth, and return not again.

Who hath sent out the wild a.s.s free?

Or who hath loosed the bands of the wild a.s.s?

Whose house I have made the wilderness, And the salt land his dwelling place; He scorneth the tumult of the city, Neither heareth he the shoutings of the driver.

The range of the mountains is his pasture, And he searcheth after every green thing.

Will the wild-ox be content to serve thee?

Or will he abide by thy crib?

Canst thou bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow?

Or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great?

Or wilt thou leave to him thy labour?

Wilt thou confide in him, that he will bring home thy seed, And gather the corn of thy threshing-floor?

The wing of the ostrich rejoiceth; But are her pinions and feathers kindly?