Divisions were,

Right thoughtful hearts had they. The bleating of the flocks to hear O! wherefore didst thou stay? For Reuben, where divisions were, Right thoughtful hearts had they. But why did they

Of Gilead stay

On Jordan's other side?

And wherefore then

Didst thou, O Dan!
Within thy tents abide ?
Among his harbours, lurking by
The sea-side, Asher lay;
But Zabulun and Nephthali

Kept not themselves away.
They people are,

Who fearless dare

Their lives to death expose,
And did not yield
The hilly field

Though kings did them oppose. With them the Canaanitish kings At Tanach fought that day, Close by Megiddo's water springs, Yet bore no prize away.

For lo the stars

Fought in their spheres;
'Gainst Sisera fought they,
And some, by force,
The water course

Of Kishon swept away;

Ev'n Kishon river, which was long
A famous torrent known.

O thou, my soul! O thou the strong
Hast bravely trodden down;
Their horse, whose pace

So lofty was,

Their hoofs with prancing wound;
Those of the strong

That kick'd and flung,

And fiercely beat the ground.
A heavy curse on Meroz lay,
Curst be her dwellers all!
The angel of the Lord doth say,
That city curse you shall.
And therefore this

Accursing is:

They came not to the fight
To help the Lord,

To help the Lord,
Against the men of might.

But blest be Jael, Heber's spouse,
The Kenite, blest be she,
More than all women are, of those
That use in tents to be.

To him did she

Give milk, when he

Did water only wish;

And butter set

For him to eat,

Upon a lordly dish.

She in her left hand took a nail,

And rais'd up in the right

A workman's hammer, wherewithal She Sisera did smite.

His head she took,

When she had struck

His pierced temples through;

.

He fell withal,

And in the fall

He at her feet did bow.

He at her feet did bow his head,
Fell down, and life forsook.
Meanwhile his longing mother did
From out her window look,
Thus crying at
The lattice-grate,
Why stays his chariot so

From hasting home?

Oh! wherefore come

His chariot wheels so slow?

As thus she spake, her ladies wise
To her an answer gave;
Yea, to herself, herself replies:
Sure, sped, saith she, they have;
And all this while

They part the spoil:
A damsel, one or twaie,
Each homeward bears,
And Sisera shares
A party-colour'd prey:

Of needle-work, both sides of it
In divers colours are,

Ev'n such as doth his neck befit,

That useth spoils to wear.

So, Lord! still so,
Thy foes o'erthrow;
But, who in thee delight,
Oh! let them be
Sun-like, when he
Ascendeth in his might!

The Song of Hannah.

1 Sam. 2. 1.

SONG IV.

NOW in the Lord my heart doth pleasure take,

My horn is in the Lord advanced high;

And to my foes an answer I will make,
Because in his salvation joy'd am I.

Like him there is not any holy one,

And other Lord beside him there is none :

Nor like our God another god is there;
So proudly vaunt not then as heretofore,
But let your tongues from henceforth now forbear
All vain presuming words for evermore.

For why? the Lord is God, who all things knows,
And doth each purpose to his end dispose.
Now broken is their bow, that once was stout,
And girt with vigour they, that stumble are;
The full themselves for bread have hired out,
Which now they need not do, that hungry were.
The barren womb doth seven children own;
And she, that once had many, weak is grown.

The Lord doth slay, and he revives the slain; He to the grave doth bring, and back he bears; The Lord makes poor, and rich he makes again; He throweth down, and up on high he rears:

He from the dust and from the dunghill brings The beggar and the poor to sit with kings. He rears them to inherit Glory's throne. For why? the Lord's the earth's upholders are: The world hath he erected thereupon; He to the footing of his saints Kath care;

But dumb, in darkness, sinners shall remain; For in their strength shall men be strong in vain. The Lord will to destruction bring them all, Ev'n ev'ry one, that shall with him contend; From out of heav'n he thunder on them shall, And judge the world unto the farthest end. With strength and power his king he will supply, And raise the horn of his anointed high.

The Lamentation of David over Saul, and
Jonathan his Son.

2 Sam. 1, 17.

SONG V.

Thy beauty, Israel! is gone:
Slain in the places high is he.
The mighty now are overthrown!
Oh! thus how cometh it to be?