Chapter 36

And still Eliu would have his say:

Bear with me a little while I declare my thought to thee; I have more to say yet on God’s behalf.

From a deep source I will draw my reasons, proving him, my Maker, to be just;

here is no delusive eloquence, the full truth shall be made known to thee.

He, the all-powerful, does not grudge men power;

it is only to the wicked he denies his aid; the friendless shall have redress.

Never from the just is his favour withdrawn; a royal throne is theirs for ever, so high he exalts them.

If he should leave them in chains, caught in the toils of sore need,

it is but to apprise them of their own ill deeds, their own tyrannous deeds;

he will speak home to them for their correction, warn them to turn back from their guilty ways.

Hear they and heed, they shall live long in ease and renown;

if hear they will not, it is the sword’s point for them, to their last gasp fools still.

It is the cunning, the false-hearted, that are God’s sworn enemies; from them no cry comes when the chains close about them;

the storm sweeps them away, forgotten in death as the temple minions are forgotten;

it is the friendless he rescues in their need, speaks home to them through the afflictions they endure.

From the pit’s mouth, where the ground seems lost under thy feet, he will bring thee out into full freedom; thou shalt take thy ease at a table loaded with dainties.

Is sentence passed on thee such as rebels undergo? Thou shalt have justice yet, and a true award.

Never let the thought that God is angry lure thee into tyranny and corruption;

lay aside thy greatness, forbear to oppress, away with the body-guard which attends thee;

put an end to the dark time when nations must march under their orders.

Do not yield to the rebellious mood thou hast cherished since affliction came upon thee.

God, that is so great and powerful, man’s sovereign teacher,

how should anyone fathom his designs, or charge him with injustice?

Bethink thee, how high beyond thy thought are those creatures of his which men praise;

how mortals see, but see, like mortals, from afar.

Truly there is no measuring God’s greatness, no reckoning his length of days.

He hoards up the rain-drops, or showers them down in full flood

from the cloud-fountains that curtain us overhead.

With those clouds, when it is his pleasure, he spreads his pavilion,

flashes his lightning on high, brings darkness on the depths of the sea.

Has he not a whole world to rule, a whole race of mortals to supply with food?

Now he hides the light away with the shadow of his hand, now he bids it shine out again,

as if to shew a friend at his side that he is the owner of it, that he can reach its high fastness when he will.