Ephraim: The Nisibene Hymns
Nisibene Hymn 2: Thanksgiving for the City’s Deliverance
Today our mouths are opened to give thanks.
Those who opened the breaches have opened my sons’ mouths.
Thank the Merciful One, who has delivered the men of our city,
and did not think at that time of demanding the debts we owed.
When those who took us captive rose up,
the worlds tasted your kindness in our deliverance.
Refrain: From all that have mouths, glory to your grace!
He has saved us without a wall, and taught us that he is our wall.
He has saved us without a king, and made us know that he is our king.
He has saved us in each thing and in all, and shown us that he is All.
He has saved us in his grace, and reveals again
that he has mercy and gives life freely.
From every boaster he takes away his boasting,
and gives it to his own grace.
The sound of all mouths is too little for your praise.
For see, in the hour when our light was smoking
and was about to be put out
(since everything is easy for you),
all at once it woke and shone!
Who has seen these two marvels:
that for one whose hope was cut off,
hope has sprung up and grown,
and the hour of mourning has been turned into good news?
This is a festival day, on which the feasts hang.
For if wrath had taken us captive, see, our feasts too would have ceased.
But since our peace has conquered and triumphed, see, our festivals ring out.
This blessed day holds up everything:
on it the city depends, on the city the people,
on the people peace, and on peace everything.
Out of these breaches you have multiplied triumphs.
Praise goes up to the Triune God from the three breaches,
because he came down and repaired them
in his mercy, which holds back wrath.
He struck the enemy, who did not understand that he was teaching us.
He taught those inside, for in his justice he made the breaches;
he taught those outside, for in his goodness he repaired them.
Speak and give glory, my delivered ones, on this day:
old men and boys, young men and girls,
children and innocents, and you, Church, mother of the city!
For the old men have been rescued from captivity,
the young from torture, the nursing babies from being dashed to pieces,
the women from dishonor, and the Church from mockery.
He came to us with hardness, and we were afraid for a moment;
he came in gentleness, and we rejoiced for an hour.
He turned and left us for a little while, and we wandered without end,
like a beast of prey that is trained by coaxing and by fear,
but if people turn away from it,
it rebels and strays and grows savage in the middle of peace.
He punished us, and we did not fear;
he rescued us, and we were not ashamed.
He hemmed us in, and our vows multiplied;
he gave us room, and our crimes multiplied.
When he pressed us hard there was a covenant;
when he gave us breathing space there was straying.
Though he knew us, he lowered himself to establish us.
In the evening we exalted him; in the morning we rejected him.
When need left us, faithfulness left us.
He afflicted us by the breaches, to punish our crimes.
He raised the mounds, to humble our boasting by them.
He made a breach for the seas, to wash away our filth by them.
He shut us in, so that we would gather together in his temple.
He shut us in, and we were quenched;
he set us free, and we went astray.
We are like wool, which takes every color.
We know that when the blessed people of Nineveh repented,
it was not because of mounds that they repented,
nor by means of waters, nor because of a breach,
nor because of bows;
it was not at the sound of the bowstring that they feared and repented.
They listened to a feeble voice;
they made their little ones fast; they made their young men chaste;
they made their kings humble.
You struck us, and we declared you just, for it did not happen by chance;
you delivered us, and we gave thanks, for it was not that we were worthy.
You did not have mercy on us because you were mistaken
in hoping that we would repent.
It was plain to you that when you had mercy on us, we strayed.
You knew that we had sinned; you knew that we are sinners.
You were acquainted with our iniquity, past and present,
when you had mercy on us.
Weigh our repentance, so that it may outweigh our crimes!
But the two weights do not rise evenly in the balance,
for our crimes are heavy and many, and our repentance is light.
He had ordered that we be sold for our debt;
his mercy became our advocate.
Principal and interest, we paid it all with the penny
that our repentance offered.
For that little payment he forgave us our debt of ten thousand talents.
He was bound to demand it, to appease his justice;
he was compelled in turn to forgive, to make his grace rejoice.
We gave him tears for the blink of an eye.
He satisfied his justice by demanding and taking a little;
he made his grace rejoice when he forgave much for a little.
Ten thousand are the crimes he has pardoned;
ten thousand tongues are not enough in the presence of his goodness.
He has pardoned us, and we have not pardoned;
we have repaid him with the opposite;
we write up afresh the guilt already committed.
“Pardon, Lord,” we cry; “Repay, Lord,” we pray:
“pardon,” indeed, when we have done wrong;
“repay,” indeed, when wrong is done to us.
Truly, we have not toiled for our lives as those outside did.
They raised their mounds, but we did not even raise our voices.
They broke through the wall, but we did not break even the chains,
the frail chains on our heart within.
God has rejected the diligent for the sake of the lazy;
he has rejected the work done outside,
though he was rejected inside.
He has set free those who talked, and struck the silent;
the wall was battered, and the people were taught.
He spared those who can suffer; he struck what knows no suffering.
For instead of souls that feel, he struck the stones that do not feel,
to chasten us.
In his love he spared our bodies, and hurried to strike our wall.
Who has ever seen a breach become like a mirror?
Two sides looked into it; it served those outside and those inside.
They saw in it, as with eyes, the Power that breaks down and builds up;
they saw the one who made the breach and repaired it again.
Those outside saw his might; they left and did not wait until evening.
Those inside saw his help; they gave thanks, and still it was not enough.
Let the day of your deliverance rouse you from laziness!
When the wall was broken through, when the elephants pressed in,
when the javelins showered down, when men fought bravely,
then there was a sight for the heavenly ones.
Iniquity fought there; mercy triumphed there;
loving-kindness won the day below; the Watchers shouted on high.
And your enemy wore himself out,
trying by his schemes to strike the wall that surrounded you,
a bulwark for your people.
He wore himself out and achieved nothing.
And so that he might not hope that, if he broke through,
he would also enter and take us captive,
he broke through it, and not once only, and was put to shame;
nor was that enough, but even three times,
so that he was shamed three times in the three.
By God’s grace, let my happiness also be multiplied in your midst!
Since my crimes in you have been many, let my fruits in you be many!
Since I sinned in you in my youth,
let there be mercy in you for my old age!
Through the mouths of your sons, pray for your son,
for I have sinned beyond my strength,
and repented below my strength;
I have scattered beyond measure, and gathered below measure.