Hymn 12

Melody

Give ear, O heavens! Earth, hear my address!
Like gentle rain be all my teaching;
like morning dew upon the grass,
like springtime showers be my preaching.
I will declare the LORD’s great name;
O praise our God and spread his fame.
He is the Rock of our salvation;
his ways are truth and equity.
Proclaim his glory with elation.
How righteous and how just is he!
They did not act as children of the LORD,
that twisted, crooked generation.
Is this how you esteem his word?
You are a senseless, foolish nation.
As Father he established you,
and did not he create you too?
Think back on bygone times: remember
his gracious deeds in days of old.
Your father can reveal their number;
all this your elders will unfold.
When God Most High did parcel out the lands,
dispersing all mankind as nations,
he fixed their bound’ries by his hand
to give all tribes their place and station.
His chosen people formed his share;
he Jacob as his own declared.
The LORD in barren deserts found him;
in howling wastelands he drew nigh
and with his care did he surround him,
just as the apple of his eye.
Lo, as an eagle, hov’ring o’er its young
when it has thrust them from its eyrie,
will catch them, bearing them along
on outspread wings that never weary,
so was the LORD then Jacob’s guide:
no foreign god was at his side.
He made him ride on lofty mountains,
fed him on harvests of the field.
From crags flowed honey as from fountains;
the flinty rock its oil did yield.
The rams and goats of Bashan, rich with fat,
the curds and milk by flocks presented,
the blood of grapes in brimming vats,
the finest wheat to him he granted.
But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked –
how fat you’ve grown, how sleek and thick!
Then he forsook the God who made him;
salvation’s constant Rock he spurned.
With foreign idols he betrayed him:
God’s jealous anger fiercely burned.
On strange new gods or demons did they call;
with sacrifices they revered them
although they were not gods at all;
indeed, your fathers never feared them.
Your Rock and Saviour you ignored,
forgot your Maker and your Lord.
He saw his offspring’s provocation
and, spurning them, said, “I will see
what end awaits this generation,
these children of iniquity.
“With worthless gods have they offended me,
provoking me to indignation.
Since they have roused my jealousy,
I will requite their provocation:
I’ll make them jealous and embrace
instead of them some foolish race.
A blaze is kindled by my fury;
down into deep Sheol it spreads,
consumes the earth, and will most surely
make mountain roots glow fiery red.
“To ruin and disaster are they doomed,
for I will pierce them with my arrows.
By dreadful plagues they’ll be consumed,
by fever and by famine harrowed,
by fangs of beasts and deadly stings
of swarms of loathsome crawling things.
The sword shall in the streets bereave them
of stalwart youth and maiden mild,
and in their dwellings they shall grieve then
for grey old man and newborn child.
“I would have blotted out their name and fame
and scattered them in all directions
had I not feared their foes would claim
that their strong hand wrought this destruction.
‘We are the victors,’ they would scoff;
‘not God but we have cut them off.’”
For they are fools, themselves deceiving,
and nothing do they understand.
If they were not so unperceiving,
they would discern their latter end!
How could but one pursue a thousand men
and two dispel ten times that number,
unless their Rock abandoned them,
the LORD them no more would remember?
Our enemies themselves confess
that they no rock like ours possess.
Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and of Gomorrah’s terraces.
Their only grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters, filled with bitterness.
The poison of the serpent is their wine,
the cobra’s venom is their potion.
“It’s in my storehouse kept confined
until the day of retribution.
Mine is the vengeance. At my call
their foot will slip; they soon will fall.”
The LORD will come with vindication;
he’ll pity those who are his own
when, seeing their extermination,
he knows that all their strength is gone.
He’ll say, “Where are the gods you now await,
the rock in which you sought salvation,
those who your sacrifices ate,
who drank the wine of your libation?
Let them your help and refuge be!
See now that I, yes I, am he,
the only God: there is none other.
With life and death at my command,
I wound and heal, disperse and gather,
and none can rescue from my hand.
“My hand to heav’n uplifted, I, the LORD,
now swear that, as I live forever,
I’ll whet my great and glitt’ring sword
to bring to nought the foe’s endeavour;
my hand on judgment shall take hold,
and I’ll requite the proud and bold.
Then drunk with blood shall be my arrows;
then shall my sword their flesh devour.
Their long-haired princes I will harrow,
revealing my victorious power.”
O come and with his people now rejoice;
shout forth your praises, all you nations!
To thank the LORD lift up your voice
and sing your songs of jubilation.
The LORD is good, his mercy great:
his servants he will vindicate,
wreak vengeance on his adversaries.
His chosen people he has shown
the covenant love that never varies
and for their land will he atone.