And his glory into the adversary's hand.

He gave his people over also unto the sword;
And was wroth with his inheritance.

Fire devoured their young men;

And their maidens had no marriage-song.
Their priests fell by the sword;

And their widows made no lamentation.

Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep,
Like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
And he smote his adversaries backward:

He put them to a perpetual reproach.
Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph,
And chose not the tribe of Ephraim;
But chose the tribe of Judah,

The mount Zion which he loved.

And he built his sanctuary like the heights,

Like the earth which he hath established for ever.
He chose David also his servant,

And took him from the sheepfolds :

From following the ewes that give suck he brought him,
To feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart;
And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

20

lxxix

Jerusalem in Heaps

An Elegy

O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance;
Thy holy temple have they defiled;

They have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven,

The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jeru

salem;

And there was none to bury them.

We are become a reproach to our neighbours,

A scorn and derision to them that are round about

us.

How long, O LORD, wilt thou be angry for ever?

Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that know thee not,

And upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy

name.

For they have devoured Jacob,

And laid waste his habitation.

Remember not against us the iniquities of our fore

fathers:

Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us:

For we are brought very low.

Help us, O God of our salvation,

For the glory of thy name:

And deliver us, and purge away our sins,
For thy name's sake.

Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? Let the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed

Be known among the heathen in our sight. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee;

According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to death;

And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom Their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O LORD.

So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever:

We will shew forth thy praise to all generations.

22

1xxx

The Broken Vine

An Elegy

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock;

Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up thy

might,

And come to save us.

TURN US AGAIN, O GOD;

AND CAUSE THY FACE TO SHINE, AND WE SHALL BE

SAVED.

O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears,

And given them tears to drink in large measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours:

And our enemies laugh among themselves.

TURN US AGAIN, O GOD OF HOSTS;

AND CAUSE THY FACE TO SHINE, AND WE SHALL BE

SAVED.

23

Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt:

Thou didst drive out the nations, and plantedst it. Thou preparedst room before it,

And it took deep root, and filled the land.

The mountains were covered with the shadow of it,
And the boughs thereof were like cedars of God.
She sent out her branches unto the sea,

And her shoots unto the River.

Why hast thou broken down her fences,

So that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?

The boar out of the wood doth ravage it,

And the wild beasts of the field feed on it.

Turn again, we beseech thee, O God of hosts:

Look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this
vine,

And the stock which thy right hand hath planted,
And the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.

It is burned with fire, it is cut down:

They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, Upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.