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Repentance of Nineveh
St Ephrem the Syrian, tr. Burgess, 1853
6. Part the Sixth
Jonah numbered up the days,
And the Ninevites counted their sins;
Jonah kept a reckoning of the nights,
Nineveh wept for her offences.
She laboured hard for six weeks,
With tears, and watching, and groaning.
While Jonah was in his bower,
The Ninevites were weeping in the city.
When Jonah saw their tears,
He feared much at their fastings.
To him the gourd afforded shade,
But they bore the heat of the day.
His bower twined itself over him;
Upon them the right hand of God rested.
He saw their souls were poured out
Like water before the Most High;
He saw kings lying prostrate,
In the dust while fasting.
He saw little children crying,
And calves and lambs bleating;
He saw the mothers pouring out
Their tears upon their little ones;
The breasts of sucklings were baptized
With the tears of those who gave them birth.
He saw the old men weeping,
While the aged of his people were living in luxury;
He saw Nineveh was mourning,
While Zion waxed wanton.
He looked on Asshur and greatly despised
Jerusalem, inflated with arrogancy.
Behold! the impure women had become modest,
But the daughters of his people were defiled.
He saw the possessed ones in Nineveh
Were changed, and had learned the truth;
He saw the prophets in Zion,
Were deceivers and full of falsehood.
He saw the idols in public places
Were broken, among the heathen;
He looked into and saw the secret chambers
Of his people were full of idolatry.
He thus, being a Hebrew, received
A proof in respect of the heathen;
And laid aside the wonder that had held him,
That the priest had entertained Moses,
Or the widow woman, Elias,
Or that David, when Saul persecuted him,
Was honoured among the heathen.
He feared lest should now be falsified
The preaching with which he was commissioned;
For he knew that his proclamation,
Might become of no effect by repentance.
He saw that the daughters of the heathen,
Had abjured the idols of their fathers;
But he mourned that the daughters of his people,
Were weeping for Tammuz.
He saw that the soothsayers and diviners,
Were abolished in Nineveh;
But that wizards and Chaldeans,
In Judaea roamed at large.
He saw the priests with their own hands
Root up the altars of Asshur;
But he saw every man in Zion
Built his altar near his door.
When Jonah looked on Nineveh,
She gathered her sons together as a Church.
All Nineveh was purified;
The fast in the midst of her was held in honour;
But the holy temple in Zion,
They had made a den of robbers.
He looked on Nineveh, and the King
Paid adoration unto God;
He looked on Jeroboam,
And he was worshipping the calves.
The sins of the Ninevites made them tremble,
With loud crying before God;
The Hebrews sacrificed their sons,
And offered up their daughters to devils.
In their fasting, the Ninevites
Poured out their tears to God;
But the Hebrews to their graven images
Poured out their wines.
From the Ninevites there was perceived
The fair savour of mourning;
But in the midst of Zion there breathed
The perfume and incense of idols.
The hope of that people was being cut off,
But that of the heathen was increasing;
Among the Jews there was luxury,
Among the Ninevites lowliness;
In the midst of Judaea there was open iniquity,
But great mourning in Nineveh.
There the living weep for the dead,
But the Ninevites wept for the living;
Each one mourned for his son,
And made lamentation for his relative.
The beauty of women faded away,
Through weeping and fasting.
Each man kissed his fellow,
And yet shed tears upon his breast.
Great was the mourning there,
And fearful there the suffering;
For they were invited, while yet living,
To lie low beneath the earth.
As their days became shorter,
Their tears flowed more abundantly;
Like men who were already extinct,
And no longer among the living.
The day was arriving when the city should be overthrown,
The time drew near when it should be destroyed;
And the whole city had become
But mourning, and weeping, and lamentation.
The dust of the ground was moistened,
Their tears made it as clay.
The fathers placed before their sons,
The possessions they should inherit,
That they might, at the same time, weep
For their heirs and their inheritances.
With tears they placed in the same array,
Their betrothed sons and daughters;
In whom could life remain,
By that bitter spectacle?
Brides and bridegrooms arose,
And excited the cries and tears of beholders;
Boys and girls stood before them,
And a cry rose up to heaven,
As they looked upon the beauty of the lads,
And the stature of their sons.
Those who stood upon the earth
Fancied it was rent asunder;
It appeared to be as a ship,
Which was tossed and moved beneath them.
Hoary men and women stood there,
With those who should bury them at their side;
They wailed and wept on this account:—
“Who will close our eyes and enshroud us?”
They lamented for their deaths,
For there would be none to inter them, and comfort their survivors.
They wept on account of their graves,
For who would dig them and place them in them?
They wept for their garments,
For none would put on their shroud.
Every man, with bitterness, depicted
His death before his eyes;
And they howled aloud as they remembered,
To what an end they were invited.
Each became confounded as he reflected
What kind of death awaited him.
All hearts were smitten asunder,
As they heard the earth was yawning;
The colour of their countenance fled,
As they heard the earth was removing.
The kings and queens stood there,
Their crowns upon their sackcloth;
They perceived that for them there was no morrow,
And their mortal pangs were multiplied.
Each man grasped the dust,
And called louder upon God;
All cried out in prayer,
Their palms were filled with ashes.
No lamentable sound was wanting there,
It was all lamenting and weeping,
The sackcloth walls shed tears,
Being sprinkled with bitter ashes.
The very day grew dark,
It became thick with sackcloth;
The air itself was affrighted,
And the heaven trembled,
The cloud and thick darkness enveloped it.
The gloom became thicker and gathered strength;
Loud noises clashed together;
The thunder met its fellow,
And lightnings pressed on lightnings.
Each man beheld the earth,
With consternation and commotion of heart;
For he thought it was near to ruin.
They all wept together
As men who should suddenly perish.
Every one wept with his brother,
And wailed aloud for his friend.
Each man called to his companion,
That he might see him and be satisfied with his presence;
That his speech might end with his,
And they might descend together to the grave!