wareh.org > Prinz Vogelfrei > Deer & Co.
Now, you have conceived and will bear a son,
and you shall name him Ishmael,
for Yahweh has heard your cries of distress.
A wild donkey of a man he will be,
his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him,
living his life in defiance of all his kinsmen.
Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.NJB, translating conjectural text:
Naphtali is a swift hind
bearing lovely fawns.
I have perceived no guilt in Jacob,
have seen no perversity in Israel.
Yahweh his God is with him,
and a royal acclamation to greet him.
God has brought him out of Egypt,
is like the wild ox's horns to him.*
* A difficult text. Alternative translations: "he (Jacob) has the strength of the wild ox," or "he (El) is like the horns of the wild ox."
And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
And there was a very sore battle that day; and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David.
And there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe.
And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner.
Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Art thou Asahel? And he answered, I am.
And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour. But Asahel would not turn aside from following of him.
And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?
Howbeit he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.
For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?
God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.
He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places.
He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
for the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers;
yes, for all the joyous houses
in the jubilant city.
For the palace will be forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens forever,
the joy of wild asses,
a pasture for flocks;
until a spirit from on high is poured out on us,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
Your children are lying helpless
at the end of every street
like an antelope trapped in a net;
they are filled to the brim with Yahweh's wrath,
with the rebuke of your God.
How can you say, "I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the Baals"?
Look at your way in the valley;
know what you have done—
a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,
a wild ass at home in the wilderness,
in her heat sniffing the wind!
Who can restrain her lust?
None who seek her need weary themselves;
in her month they will find her.
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.
Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.
And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like jackals; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.
For who is God, but the Lord :
or who hath any strength, except our God?
It is God, that girdeth me with strength of war :
and maketh my way perfect.
He maketh my feet like harts' feet :
and setteth me up on high.
He teacheth mine hands to fight :
and mine arms shall break even a bow of steel.
Give Yahweh his due, sons of God,The verb translated "convulses" throughout is the same verb translated "calve" in Job 39:1 below. Since the words for "terebinths" and "hinds" are similar, the context has persuaded the NJB (and also, e.g., NRSV) translators to conjecture "terebinths" for the Hebrew "hinds," yielding "convulses terebinths" for "makes the hinds calve." Compare Coverdale:
give Yahweh his due of glory and strength,
give Yahweh the glory due to his name,
adore Yahweh in the splendour of holiness.
Yahweh's voice over the waters,
the God of glory thunders;
Yahweh over countless waters,
Yahweh's voice in power,
Yahweh's voice in splendour;
Yahweh's voice shatters cedars,
Yahweh shatters cedars of Lebanon,
he makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.
Yahweh's voice carves out lightning-shafts,
Yahweh's voice convulses the desert,
Yahweh convulses the desert of Kadesh,
Yahweh's voice convulses terebinths,
strips forests bare.
In his palace all cry, "Glory!"
Yahweh was enthroned for the flood,
Yahweh is enthroned as king for ever.
Yahweh will give strength to his people,
Yahweh blesses his people with peace.
BRING unto the Lord, O ye mighty, bring young rams unto the Lord :
ascribe unto the Lord worship and strength.
Give the Lord the honour due unto his Name :
worship the Lord with holy worship.
It is the Lord that commandeth the waters :
it is the glorious God that maketh the thunder.
It is the Lord that ruleth the sea; the voice of the Lord is mighty in operation :
the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice.
The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedar-trees :
yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Libanus.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf :
Libanus also, and Sirion, like a young unicorn.
The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire; the voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness :
yea, the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Cades.
The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to bring forth young, and discovereth the thick bushes :
in his temple doth every man speak of his honour.
The Lord sitteth above the water-flood :
and the Lord remaineth a King for ever.
The Lord shall give strength unto his people :
the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
He sendeth the springs into the rivers :
which run among the hills.
All beasts of the field drink thereof :
and the wild asses quench their thirst.
Beside them shall the fowls of the air have their habitation :
and sing among the branches.
He watereth the hills from above :
the earth is filled with the fruit of thy works.
He bringeth forth grass for the cattle :
and green herb for the service of men;
That he may bring food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man :
and oil to make him a cheerful countenance, and bread to strengthen man's heart.
The trees of the Lord also are full of sap :
even the cedars of Libanus which he hath planted;
Wherein the birds make their nests :
and the fir-trees are a dwelling for the stork.
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats :
and so are the stony rocks for the conies.
If only my misery could be weighed,
and all my ills be put together on the scales!
But they outweigh the sands of the seas:
what wonder then if my words are wild?
The arrows of Shaddai stick fast in me,
my spirit absorbs their poison,
God's terrors stand paraded against me.
Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass,
or an ox low when its fodder is within reach?
Is not food insipid, eaten without salt,
is there any taste in egg-white?
But the very things my appetite revolts at
are now my diet in sickness.
Why does Shaddai make known the times he has fixed;
why do his faithful never see his Days?
The wicked move boundary-marks away,
they carry off flock and shepherd.
They drive away the orphan's donkey,
as security, they seize the widow's ox.
The needy have to keep out of the way,
poor country people have to keep out of sight.
Like wild desert donkeys, they go out to work,
searching from dawn for food,
and at evening for something on which to feed their children.
They go harvesting in the field of some scoundrel,
they go pilfering in the vineyards of the wicked.
They go about naked, lacking clothes,
and starving while they carry the sheaves.
Two little walls, their shelter at high noon;
parched with thirst, they have to tread the winepress.
They spend the night naked, lacking clothes,
with no covering against the cold.
Mountain rainstorms cut them through,
unsheltered, they hug the rocks.
The orphan child is torn from the breast,
the child of the poor is exacted as security.
From the towns come the groans of the dying
and the gasp of the wounded crying for help.
Yet God remains deaf to prayer!
Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?
Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.
Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them.
Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.
He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.
Will the wild ox be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
Canst thou bind him with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?
And rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.
My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.
And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains.
When the first light of dawn appeared
Gilgamesh said to his friend,
Enkidu, my friend, your mother a gazelle,Cf. the poem's frequent description of Enkidu,
And your father a wild donkey sired you,
Their milk was from onagers; they reared you,
And cattle made you familiar with all the pastrues.
Enkidu's paths led to the Pine Forest.
They shall weep for you night and day, never fall silent,
Weep for you, the elders of the broad city, of Uruk the Sheepfold.
The summit will bless us after our death,
They shall weep for you, the ...s of the mountains,
They shall mourn...
The open country as if it were your father, the field as if it were your mother.
They shall weep for you, myrtle, cypress, and pine,
In the midst of which we armed ourselves in our fury.
They shall weep for you, the bear, hyena, leopard, tiger, stag, cheetah,
Lion, wild bulls, deer, mountain goat, cattle, and other wild beasts of open country.
It shall weep for you, the holy river Ulaya, along whose bank
We used to walk so proudly.
It shall weep for you, the pure Euphrates,
With whose water in waterskins we used to refresh ourselves.
With gazelles he eats vegetation,
With cattle he quenches his thirst at the watering place.
With wild beasts he satisfies his need for water.
I have now noticed that these very lines have been blogged—in Akkadian!
Each soul is the hostage of its own deeds. Those on the right hand will in their gardens ask the sinners: "What has brought you into Hell?" They will reply: "We never prayed, nor did we ever feed the destitute. We engaged in vain disputes and denied the Day of Reckoning till the inevitable end overtook us."
No intercessor's plea shall save them. Why then do they turn away from this reminder, like frightened asses fleeing from a lion?