the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained? what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. 5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is contin 16 Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from ever-uance, and we shall be saved. lasting. 17¶O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our hearts from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. 18 The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. 19 We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name. IS. LXIV:1-12-B. C. 698 1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, 2 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! 6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, are as filthy rags; and we all do like the wind, have taken us away. 7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. 8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. 9¶ Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity thee, we are all thy people. for ever: behold, see, we beseech 10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and our beautiful 3 When thou didst terrible house, where our fathers praised things which we looked not for, thee, is burned up with fire: and thou camest down, the mountains all our pleasant things are laid flowed down at thy presence. 4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, waste. 12 Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?. HAB. III:17-19-B. C. 626 wicked prosper? wherefore are all 17¶ Although the fig tree shall they happy that deal very treach not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, erously? 2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. 3 But thou, O LORD, knowest I will joy in the God of my salva-me: thou hast seen me, and tried tion. mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, LORD God is my and prepare them for the day of 19 The strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. JER. X:23-25-B. C. 600 23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. 24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. 25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate. JER. XII:1-6—B. C. 608 1 Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the slaughter. 4 How long shall the land field wither, for the wickedness of mourn, and the herbs of every them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end. 5 If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? 6 For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee. JER. XIV:7-9—B. C. 601 710 LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our back slidings are many; we have sinned 9 Why shouldest thou be as a against thee. man astonied, as a mighty man 80 the hope of Israel, the sav- that cannot save? yet thou, O iour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a strang- LORD, art in the midst of us, and er in the land, and as a wayfaring we are called by thy name; leave man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? us not. "Beowulf on his deathbed says, Fifty years have I this folk ruled; I kept mine own well, sought not treacherous war, swore not falsely, waited the appointed time. For all this though sick with deadly wounds I gladness now may have. The ruler of men may not me charge with murder of kinsmen when my life shall depart from this body." Beowulf was an Hebrew, an heathen and "A lost sheep" of "The House of Israel." |