Library › St Ephrem the Syrian › Repentance of Nineveh
Repentance of Nineveh
St Ephrem the Syrian, tr. Burgess, 1853
2. Part the Second
The gentle wailing of the little ones,
Caused the whole city to shed tears;
The voice of children as it rose up,
Affected the heart with pity.
Old men sprinkled themselves with ashes;
Aged women plucked and threw away
Their grey hairs, which were their honour,
Putting upon themselves degrading suffering.
When the youths looked upon their old men,
They wailed louder in their anguish;
Aged men wept for the youths,
The fair supports of their old age.
They mourned that they should be buried together,
The buriers and those about to be interred.
The heads of chaste men and women,
Became bald through their mourning.
The mother rose up in the midst,
And her beloved ones surrounded her,
Clinging to the borders of her garment,
That she might save them from death.
The young child, at the sound of the earthquake,
Fled for refuge to his mother’s breast;
And in the bosom of its nurse,
The suckling hid itself with terror.
Day dawned, it became night, and they numbered
The days which every hour shortened;
As the days departed they counted them;
And as each day ended they groaned aloud,
Because it was subtracted from their life.
For with the day as it declined,
Their breath also was departing.
The children enquired, while weeping,
Of their fathers, in the midst of their tears:
“Narrate to us, O parents,
How many days yet remain
From the time which that Hebrew preacher
Hath determined for us?
And what hour he hath indicated,
When we shall go down below to Sheol?
And in what day will it be
That this fair city shall be destroyed?
And, further, when will the last day be
After which we shall not exist?
When will the season arrive
When mortal pangs shall seize on all of us?
And when throughout the world
Shall fly the tidings of our ruin?
And the passing spectators shall gaze upon
The city overthrown upon its masters?”
When the parents listened to these things
From the mouth of their little ones,
Their tears most bitterly
Overflowed and suffused their children,
And dropped, at the same time, on the persons
Of the speakers and the hearers.
And the fathers were not able
To find utterance through sighing;
For their grief had closed up
The straight path of words;
And their speech was interrupted
By the weeping of their beloved ones.
Lest, therefore, the fathers should increase
The torment of their children,
And before the day decreed
They should die of sorrow;
The fathers checked their tears,
And fought with, and restrained, their tenderness,
That they might wisely console
The young ones respecting their enquiry.
For the fathers were afraid
To reveal the truth to their children,
That the coming day was nigh at hand,
According to the declaration of the prophet.
Like Abraham then, with a prophecy,
They comforted their children.
For Isaac enquired concerning the sacrifice,
“Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Lest he should return an answer with a groan,
And there should be a blemish in his offering,
He soothed while he bound his firstborn,
Until his knife was unsheathed.
For Abraham, in regard to his son,
Saw that the question was too hard for him;
Yet he did not use silence,
Lest he should make his son sorrowful;
Neither did he disclose his own suffering,
Lest the offering should be saddened.
Abraham deliberated with himself
How he might satisfy his beloved one;
While avoiding plain discoveries,
He prophesied a hidden mystery;
And while seeking not to reveal the truth,
He plainly declared it to him.
He feared to tell him, “Thou art it!”
He prophesied that there was another.
He thought that he was the sacrifice;
He at the same prophesied that he was not.
For the tongue of Abraham
Was more knowing than his heart,
His mouth before took lesson from his heart,
His heart now learned from it.
His wise intellect was quiet,
His tongue became a prophet;
And his intellect which possessed wisdom,
Was made wiser by the tongue.
“I and the lad will go up,”
Said Abraham to his young men,
“And we will return again to you.”
He thought to deceive, and he prophesied.
Yet he did not become a liar,
For he contended for the truth;
His speech became prophetic,
While he thought to help Isaac.
Thus also the Ninevites acted,
While studying to satisfy their children.
They proceeded, in the midst of weeping,
To speak in this manner to their beloved ones:—
“God is good and gracious,
And will not destroy the image he hath made.
A painter who designs a picture,
Preserveth it with care;
How much rather will the Good protect
His living and rational image!
My children, the city shall not be ruined,
Nor shall the state be overthrown.
By the threatenings of perdition
He calls us to repentance,
And by this fierce indignation,
Would convert us to holiness.
For you, beloved children,
Have ofttimes been chastened by us;
Ye have even been scourged and have borne it,
And have been made wise when punished.
For the rod was not lifted up
In anger, to destroy you;
We corrected because ye acted foolishly,
And we rejoiced because ye were reformed.
Even ye yourselves acknowledged
That in love ye had been afflicted.
Even ye yourselves perceived
That in tender pity ye were chastened.
From the correction ye derived benefit,
And became richer through it.
The sorrow, because ye endured stripes,
Became a source of great joy;
And the endurance of the rod
Proved a treasury of sweetness.
Your anguish was changed,
And became altogether pleasant.
“Learn then, O beloved ones,
From your experience of punishment;
And acknowledge, from the rod
Applied in wisdom by your parents,
That the Father who wisely deals with us,
Is correcting us for our welfare.
His rod is lifted up in terror,
That we may tremble and obtain wisdom.
For as we, who are fathers,
Instructed you with rebuke,
That we might improve and gain you—
That we might make you suffer and do you good—
So He, the Good and Gracious
Teaches by His reproof,
That by His goodness we may save us,
And abundantly bestow the treasure of His mercy.
By His rod He makes known to us His love;
By His stroke He opens His treasure to us.
If this is true regarding yourselves,
That from love to you we inflicted stripes,
How can we think, respecting God,
That He does not correct us in kindness?
Let then this correction on our part,
Be to you as a mirror;
In which you may view this chastisement
Of Grace and Goodness.
For all this our love to you,
Is not so great, beloved ones,
As is the love of God
In His Grace to the children of men.
Our love to you is little,
Compared with His love to us;
And though His chastisement is severe,
His goodness far exceeds it;
For His chastisement is administered
As a gift to the children of men.
“Be comforted, ye mourning children,
And desist a little from your tears;
Soon the earthquake will leave us,
And the fierce anger will pass from us;
The city will soon be consoled,
It will quickly exhibit gladness;
And the Chastiser will rejoice as He sees
That you, His children, are reformed.”
Such things as these the Ninevites
Made mention of to their loved ones;
And while desiring to console,
They prophesied concerning peace.
Because their repentance was speedy,
They predicted like true prophets;
Their repentance was in deed,
Their prophecy was in truth.
But although they said these things,
They desisted not from weeping;
And although they thus administered consolation,
They did not cease from mourning.
Danger disposed them more to fasting,
And fright led them to prayer.
For they prudently considered,
That if the righteous did not desist from grief,
How much ought sinners to mourn,
When destruction was standing at the door!