Ephraim: The Nisibene Hymns
Nisibene Hymn 61: Death Blames the Living for Their Killing
Let us listen wisely to Death, my beloved,
as he accuses us for our weeping and our mourning.
Refrain: Praise to you, who came down to follow Adam,
and found Adam, and in the children of Adam too.
And perhaps he is right when he says:
You kill without mercy, and look, you weep as though you were merciful.
You have made me out to be cruel, you murderers,
for you kill one another without my help!
While Death was only longing to come, the sword came before him.
Let us see, then, against whom the blood of the slain cries out.
Against you cry out the strangled, who were choked to death;
for I am ashamed of the rope of their strangling.
They take away even my rest, for without me,
how could the strangled and the slain enter Sheol?
See, your infants are thrown out, like those in Egypt;
you have sacrificed your sons to demons, you demon-possessed!
While Death was only longing to taste your corpses,
Cain refreshed me beforehand with human blood.
While I was only longing to wait patiently until Adam should die,
before I had power, you gave me power over your bodies.
Cain with his sword broke down the gate of Sheol;
for it was closed, and he opened it first, before its time.
By treading it he made the road to Sheol, without my help;
and on the road you have trodden out for me, look, I walk.
Nine hundred years I sat and waited for Adam to die,
but Cain could not bear his brother for even a day.
Robbers on the highways are worse than I am;
I am asleep while they are awake to kill.
See your slaughtered in the graves, and your murdered on your roads,
and your strangled on your stakes!
“If I rebelled against my lord, yes, and killed him,
who killed all these here?” said Jehu.
And if I, Death, have taken your departed,
who was it that killed the strangled, the slain, and the slaughtered?
You are Satan to each other, and the Evil One is hated;
you are a plague to each other, and Death is blamed!
Your own will is a Satan to you, yes, and a murderer;
but all men complain of Death and of Satan.
You also give each other the poison of death to drink;
see how many Deaths you have besides me!
Tricks, schemes, yes, and snares, sword and poison:
see how many Deaths are born from you and in you!
The judge in the court is a second Death;
he kills for a secret reward, but I for nothing.
I have seen bribery and marveled at it, how it ran and outran me.
How many does bribery slay, and no one notices!
I am ashamed that I conduct myself so clumsily;
if I take even one corpse, everyone notices.
There is weeping in the houses and wailing in the streets as well,
and right up to the gates of Sheol they groan over me.
Groan over yourselves, that you are so hateful, and yet you hate me!
From now on Sheol will groan over you, you murderers!
With torture, scourging, and fire, yes, and with stoning,
you put the children of men to death, and you are proud of it!
I am more modest than you, and more merciful, and reverent too,
for I carry away your departed with reverence.
On the bed I deal gently with the one who is sick,
and quietly I lay him to sleep, for only a little while.