Thou also shalt be drunken, thou shalt be hid; Thou also shalt seek a strong hold because of the enemy. All thy fortresses shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs : If they be shaken, They fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; The gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; The fire hath devoured thy bars. Draw the water for the siege; Strengthen thy fortresses: Go into the clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln : There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off. It shall devour thee like the cankerworm: Make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust; Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: The cankerworm spreadeth himself, and flieth away. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, Which camp in the hedges in the cold day, But when the sun ariseth they flee away, And their place is not known where they are. 7 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria, Thy worthies are at rest: Thy people are scattered upon the mountains, And there is none to gather them. There is no assuaging of thy hurt; Thy wound is grievous: All that hear the bruit of thee clap the hands over thee: For upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? 154 A RHAPSODY OF THE CHALDEANS i The Mystery THE PROPHET O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to look upon perverseness? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there is strife, and contention riseth up. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgement doth never go forth for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore judgement goeth forth perverted. THE LORD Behold ye among the nations, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I work a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation; which march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful : |