The Song of Solomon Paraphrased, Part 4
The Song of Moses.
Deut. 32.
Verse 1.
GIve, O ye Heavens, ear to me,
And I shall silence break;
And thou, O Earth, attend and hear
The words my mouth shall speak.
Ver. 2.
My doctrine as the rain shall drop,
My speech as dew shall pass,
As small rain on the tender herb,
And showers upon the grass.
Ver. 3.
Because I'le publish, and set forth
The Lords most holy Name,
Ascribe ye greatness to our God,
His glorious praise proclaim.
Ver. 4.
He is the Rock, perfect his work,
His ways all judgement be,
A God of truth, in Him no guile,
Most just, and right is He.
Ver. 5.
They are corrupters of themselves,
Nor as his Childrens spot,
Is theirs, they are preverse and crook't,
And all they have begot.
Ver. 6.
O foolish People, and unwise,
Is this the course you take?
And do ye thus requite the Lord,
For all his kindness sake?
Has He not as a Father been,
Who thee redeem'd and bought?
Hath He not made and stablisht thee,
And thy deliverance wrought?
Ver. 7.
Remember now the days of old,
Consider thou the years,
Of many generations past:
Compare thy times with theirs;
Ask thou the Father, and he'l shew,
What in his days befel;
Thine Elders also of their time,
And they to thee will tell.
Ver. 8.
When to the Nations; the Most High,
Their heritage did divide,
When he did separate Adams sons,
And shew them where to bide:
He set the People buts and bounds,
And them dispos'd of then,
According to the numbers made,
Of Israels Children.
Ver. 9.
For He doth for his Portion take
His People and their race,
The lot of his inheritance,
He doth in Iacob place.
Ver. 10.
He found him in a desert Land,
And howling Wilderness:
Lead, taught, and kept him as his eye,
And what there tendrest is.
Ver. 11.
Like as an Eagle stirs her nest,
And flutters o're her young,
Spreads out her wings, and them thereon
Takes and preserves from wrong.
Ver. 12.
So him the Lord sustain'd and led,
The Lord himself alone,
And there was no strange God with him,
None such to Israel known.
Ver. 13.
On the high places of the Earth,
He caused him to ride,
That he might of the fields encrease,
Eat and be satisfied:
Of Honey from the rock it self,
He made him suck his fill,
And Oyl, which from the flinty Rock
In plenty did distil.
Ver. 14.
Butter of Kine, and milk of Sheep,
Were then whereon he fed,
Besides the fat of Lambs, and Rams,
The best that Bashan bred,
With Goats, and with the finest fat,
And Kidneys of the Wheat;
And thou did'st drink the Grapes fresh blood,
Pure clean without deceit.
Ver. 15.
But Iesurun waxed fat and kick'd,
How very fat thou'rt grown!
Thou'rt grown thick, fat and cover'd ore
With fat, puft up and blown:
Then his great Maker he forsook,
And greatly disesteem'd,
The Rock, which his Salvation wrought,
The God that him redeem'd.
Ver. 16.
With strange Gods they provoked him,
And execrable Rites,
Than which his jealousie, and wrath,
There's nothing more excites.
Ver. 17.
They to plain Devils, not to God,
Profanely sacrific'd;
To Gods they never knew before,
Which they themselves devis'd:
To new God's, that came newly up,
That were no God's before,
Such as your Fathers feared not,
Nor offered to adore.
Ver. 18.
But of the Rock, that thee begat,
Thou art unmindful grown;
Forgetting God who formed thee,
As if he'd ne'r been known.
Ver. 19.
This seen, the Lord abhorred them,
His jealousie did smoak,
Because his Sons and Daughters too,
Did him no less provoke.
Ver. 20.
I'le hide my face, said he, from them,
And I their end will see;
For they're a very forward race,
Children that faithless be.
Ver. 21.
Since they, with that which is not God
Mov'd me to jealousie,
And unto anger me provok't,
With every vanity:
Them with a people next to none,
To jealousie I'le move,
And will some foolish Nation raise
Who shall their patience prove.
Ver. 22.
For in mine anger, flames of fire,
Which are unquenchable,
Are kindled, and shall fiercely burn
Unto the lowest Hell:
Which shall consume and wast the earth,
With her increased store;
And fire the foundations down,
On which the Mountains shore.
Ver. 23.
On them will I great mischiefs heap,
And all mine Arrows spend.
Ver. 24.
Devouring Famine, which shall burn,
And burning heat I'le send,
On them shall sore destruction come;
The teeth of savage beasts
Shall waste them, Serpents of the dust,
Whose poyson soon infests.
Ver. 25.
The Sword without, Terrors within,
Shall stroy, none shall be spar'd;
Young men, nor Virgins, Sucking Babes,
Nor him that is gray-hair'd.
Ver. 26.
I said, I'de scatter them abroad,
And into corners chase,
And cause, that their remembrance here
With men should have no place.
Ver. 27.
Were it not that I fear'd the wrath
Of the insulting Foe;
Lest their proud Adversaries then,
Themselves should strongly show.
And lest triumphing, they should say,
Our hand is raised high;
It's not the Lord hath done all this.
But our own gallantry.
Ver. 28.
For they're a Nation most unwise,
Of Councel wholly voyd,
Nor do they understand at all
How they themselves should guide.
Ver. 29.
O that at length they would be wise,
That they this understood;
And that they would their latter end
Consider for their good.
Ver. 30.
How should one man a thousand chase,
And two ten thousand foyle,
Except the Lord their rock had sold,
And shut them up for spoyl.
Ver. 31.
For their Rock is not as our Rock,
Our Enemies can tell;
If they themselves were left to judg,
Or make the parallel.
Ver. 32.
For their Vine is of Sodoms Vine,
And of Gomorrah's Feild:
Their Grapes are very Grapes of gall,
And bitter clusters yeild.
Ver. 33.
As strong and deadly is their Wine,
As Dragons Poyson is;
Nor can the Venom of the Asp
More cruel be than this.
Ver. 34.
Is not this thing amongst the rest
Layd up in store with me,
And up amongst my treasures seal'd,
Till there occasion be.
Ver. 35.
Veng'ance, and Recompence belong
To me, and none beside;
In due and most convenient time
Their wandring feet shall slide.
For loe the day draws on a pace,
Which their destruction brings;
The troubles that shall come on them
Approach with open wings.
Ver. 36.
For God shall judg his peoples cause,
(A righteous God is he)
And shall repent himself for them,
That his own Servants be.
Especially when he perceives
That all their power is gone;
And that ther's none shut up, or lest,
But they themselves alone.
Ver. 37.
And he shall say, where are their Gods,
What is become of those?
Their Rock, in whom they did their trust
And confidence repose?
Ver. 38.
Which of your Sacrifices eat,
The fat and pleasant things,
And drank the wine they did present
In their drink offerings?
Let them arise with all their help,
And help you all they can;
And in your great extremities,
Be your protection.
Ver. 39.
See now that I, even I am he,
With me there is no God;
I kill, and I do make alive
In all the earth abroad:
I wound, and I make whole again,
And none can me withstand;
Nor is there any that can save,
Or take out of my hand.
Ver. 40.
For to the Heavens (where I dwell),
I lift mine hand on high,
And do most solemnly profess,
I live eternally.
Ver. 41.
If I my bright and glittering sword,
Shall once begin to whet;
On judgment, if my hand take hold,
And there-upon be set:
I'le render Veng'ance on them all,
That are mine Enemies,
And them reward to their desert,
That hate, and me despise.
Ver. 42.
I'le make mine Arrows drunk with blood,
My Sword shall flesh devour,
Because of blood, and Captives made,
From the first day and hour.
Ver. 43.
Ye wiser Nations, then rejoyce,
And with his people sing;
For hee'l revenge his peoples blood,
And wrongful suffering.
His adversaries hee'l requite,
And veng'ance on them send;
But to his land, and people there,
His mercy will extend.