Nisibene Hymn 13: Mar Jacob and His Companions

Three illustrious priests, like the two great lights,

have carried on and handed down, one to another, the See and the Hand and the Flock.

To us, whose mourning for the two was great, this last is wholly a consolation.

Refrain: Glory to you, who chose them!

He who created the two great lights chose these three Lights for himself

and set them in the three dark seasons of siege there have been.

When that pair of Lights was quenched, the other shone out in full.

These three priests were treasures, who held in their faithfulness

the key of the Trinity; three doors they opened for us;

each of them unlocked and opened his own door with his key.

In the first a door was opened for the chastisement that came on us;

in the next a door was opened for the king’s power that came down on us;

in the last a door was opened for the good news that came up for us.

In the first a door was opened for battle between two armies;

in the next doors were opened for the kings from either wind;

in the last a door was opened for ambassadors from either side.

In the first a door was opened for battle because of misdeeds;

in the next a door was opened for the kings because of strife;

in the last a door was opened for ambassadors because of mercies.

See! In these three successions, as in a mystery and a figure,

wrath is likened to the sun: it began under the first,

it grew strong under the next, it sank and was quenched under the last.

The sun too shows forth three figures in its three quarters:

its rising is keen and bright, its noon strong and overpowering,

and its setting, like a torch that has burned out, is mild and pleasant.

Small yet bright is its rising, when it comes to wake the sleepers;

hot and overpowering its noon, when it comes to ripen the fruits;

tender and pleasant its setting, when it reaches its completion.

Who is this daughter born of vows, to be envied above all women,

whose successions go on in this way, whose ranks are so many,

whose steps rise like this, and whose teachers so excel?

Do these likenesses belong only to the daughter of Abraham,

or to you too, O daughter born of vows, whose adorning matches your beauty?

For as your occasion was, so was your help, and as your help, so was its minister.

According to the measure of her need, there came to her the supply of her need.

Her fathers were as her birth was; her teachers as her understanding;

her training as her growth; her clothing as her stature.

Grace weighed out all these things to her and gave them, as in the scales;

she laid them in her balance, so that profit might come from them;

she drew them into succession, so that perfection might come from them.

In the days of the first, peace abounded and peace vanished;

in the days of the next, kings came down and kings went back;

but in the days of the last, armies attacked and armies retreated.

By the first, order came in; it came in with him and went out with him;

by the next, the diadem that gladdened our churches came near and withdrew far away;

but by the last there dawned on us a grace that was not received with thanks.

Against the wrath that came first, the labor of the first contended;

against the heat of noon, the shade of the second stood up;

against a thankless peace, the last multiplied warnings.

For the first invader of the land there was the first and illustrious priest;

for the second invader of the land there was the second and merciful priest;

but the prayers of the last repaired our breaches in secret.

Nisibis is set upon waters, waters hidden and open:

living streams are within her, a noble river outside her.

The river outside deceived her; the fountain within has saved her.

The first priest was her vinedresser; he made her branches grow up to heaven.

See! Now that he is dead and buried within her, he has become fruit in the midst of her bosom;

so when the pruners came, the fruit that was in her midst preserved her.

The time of her pruning came; it came in and took her vinedresser from her,

so that there should be no one to pray for her. She hurried in her shrewdness;

God laid her vinedresser in her bosom, so that she might be delivered through her vinedresser.

Be wise like Nisibis, O daughters of Nisibis!

For she laid the body within her, and it became a wall outside her.

Place the living body within you, so that it may be a wall for your lives!