Burnt offerings XX

And set up over his head his accusation written,

THIS IS RAHEME

THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand,

and another on the left.

And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,

And saying,

Thou that destroyest the temple,

and buildest it in three days,

save thyself.

If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders,

said,

He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him:

for he said,

I am the Son of God.

The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

And about the ninth hour RAheme cried with a loud voice,

saying,

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?

that is to say,

My God,

my God,

why hast thou forsaken me?

*****

Then she said,

Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord;

for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, - though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.

And Boaz said unto her,

At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread,

and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.

And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed,

and left.

  And when she was risen up to glean,

Boaz commanded his young men,

saying,

Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not:

*****

Some of them that stood there, when they heard that,

said,

This man calleth for Elias.

And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge,

and filled it with vinegar,

and put it on a reed,

and gave him to drink.

The rest said,

Let be,

let us see whether Elias will come to save him.

RAheme,

when he had cried again with a loud voice,

yielded up the ghost.

*****

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

And one cried unto another,

and said,

Holy,

holy,

holy,

is the Lord of hosts:

the whole earth is full of his glory.

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Then said I,

Woe is me!

for I am

undone;

because I am a man of unclean lips,

and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

And he laid it upon my mouth,

and said,

Lo,

this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord,

saying,

Whom shall I send,

and who will go for us?

Then said I,

Here am I; send me.

           

And he said,

Go, and tell this people,

Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

Then said I,

Lord, how long?

And he answered,

Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

*****

And,

behold,

the veil of the temple was rent in twain - from the top to the bottom;

and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

And the graves were opened;

and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

*****

Awake,

awake;

 put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem,

the holy city:

for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

Shake thyself from the dust;

arise,

and sit down,

O Jerusalem:

loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

For thus saith the Lord,

Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

For thus saith the

Lord God,

My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

Now therefore, what have I here,

saith the Lord,

that my people is taken away for nought?

they that rule over them make them to howl,

saith the Lord;

and my name continually every day is blasphemed.

Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak:

behold,

it is I.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,

that publisheth peace;

that bringeth good tidings of good,

that publisheth salvation;

that saith unto Zion,

Thy God reigneth

Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.

Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

*****

And came out - The graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching RAheme, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,

Truly this was the Son of God.

*****

Also he said,

Bring the veil that thou hast upon thee,

and hold it.

And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her:

and she went into the city.

ISamuelYea

Burnt offerings XIX

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision,

whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

Yea,

whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.

They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

They were children of fools,

yea,

children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

And now - am I their song,

yea,

I am their byword. They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have - also let loose the bridle before me.

Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters:

in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me. Terrors are turned upon me:

they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud. And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

*

The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.

Oh that I might have my request;

and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand,

***

And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Then saith he unto them,

My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death:

tarry ye here,

and watch with me.

***

Then Abraham fell upon his face,

and laughed,

and said in his heart,

Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old?

and shall Sarah,

that is ninety years old, bear?

***

And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed,

***

And when Esau heard the words of his father,

he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry,

and said unto his father,

Bless me,

even me also,

O my father.

***

And he commanded the steward of his house,

saying,

Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth.

And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn money.

And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

*

And he overtook them,

and he spake unto them

these same words.

And they said unto him,

Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing:

Behold,

the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan:

how then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or gold?

With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondmen.

And he said,

Now also let it be according unto your words:

he with whom it is found shall be my servant; and ye shall be blameless.

Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack.

And he searched,

and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.

And Joseph said unto them,

What deed is this that ye have done? wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?

And Judah said,

What shall we say unto my lord?

what shall we speak?

or how shall we clear ourselves?

God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants:

behold,

we are my lord's servants,

both we,

and he also with whom the cup is found.

And he said,

God forbid that I should do so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.

***

saying,

O my Father,

if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:

nevertheless not as I will,

but as thou wilt.

Then saith he unto them,

My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

*****

Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning,

that if he

will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well; - let him do the kinsman's part: - but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, - as the Lord liveth: lie down until the morning.

And she lay at his feet until the morning:

and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Let it not be known that a workman came into the floor.

ISamuelYeaOn